Manchester councillors warn against school exclusions

Manchester councillors have warned against excluding children from pupil referral units as figures show the number of expulsions in the city has risen.

Coun Sean McHale said that continued exclusions ‘reinforce to a young person that they are a failure.’

“It puts them at a disadvantage for the rest of their lives,” he said in today (Wednesday)’s full council meeting.

The number of fixed term exclusions at pupil referral units (PRUs) jumped by 131 from 2016 to 2017, according to figures from a council report in February.

PRUs are alternative education providers run by the local authority. Often children are referred to one after being excluded from mainstream education.

Coun McHale, who used to work in a PRU, said he was ‘shocked’ when he requested information on exclusions in the city.

“169 exclusions, hundreds of days lost from education for some of Manchester’s most vulnerable young people, including looked-after children, children with SEND and young people involved in gangs,” he said.

He gave one example of five children getting excluded because a colleague could smell cannabis and suspected they’d been smoking.

“What makes the exclusion even more ridiculous is that one young person had been missing from education for three months. For another, it was her very first day at the PRU.”

He presented a motion to council which called on PRU heads to ‘cease the practice of excluding pupils at PRUs’ and asked the council’s chief executive to undertake a review.

He argued that exclusions ‘punish’ the family of pupils who are expelled, who often can’t stay at home to look after their children – who are then ‘left to their own devices.’

“Exclusions are a simple short term solution that add to a long-term problem to society,” he said.

Coun Leigh-Ann Igbon said that PRUs offer ‘support, stability and emotional guidance’ for pupils who have already faced ‘many barriers.’

“To exclude these young people only intensifies the risk of harm and exploitation from criminal activity,” she said.

And coun Richard Kilpatrick said the Liberal Democrats supported the motion, saying: “The thought that some of the most vulnerable pupils in PRU are excluded and purposely left behind is utterly inexcusable.”

Councillor Luthfur Rahman, who is the council’s executive member for schools, said that the council has been working with schools on an inclusion strategy.

Children at PRUs often have other underlying problems, he said, and government cuts to education, SEND services, youth services and mental health programmes ‘exacerbated’ the situation, he argued.

Avoiding exclusions is ‘an absolute priority,’ he argued, and said they are applied ‘only as a last resort.’

But Manchester council chief, sir Richard Leese, said too often this is not the case.

Leese, who also has a background in education, said fixed-term exclusions are not just a problem for PRUs but also mainstream education centres where they are often used as an ‘easy way out.’

“I’ve no illusions about how difficult it is sometimes to work in some of our schools – I’m an ex-teacher and ex-youth worker – but I do think there is clear evidence that sometimes these are tools that are used far, far too easily.

“Schools are an absolutely crucial partner of the council in delivering for our young people – as are the PRUs – but with any partner, as well as supporting them we also have to challenge them occasionally, which is what I think this notice of motion is asking us to do.”

Coun Bernard Stone said that while he was concerned about fixed-term exclusions and said that some stories were ‘disturbing,’ neither the primary PRU nor the secondary-age PRU in the city – where he is a governor – had permanently excluded a pupil for a ‘number of years.

• Manchester