Roger Titcombe (TES, 16 July) is absolutely right. Exclusion does not start at school. One study shows that more than 80 per cent of permanently excluded pupils had been in trouble with the police a long time before being excluded. Mr Titcombe is also right to support other programmes to maximise social inclusion.
Allowing schools to focus primarily on their educational role is the best way of preventing “marginal youngsters” from going seriously off the rails.
Nigel de Gruchy, General secretary, NASUWT, 5 King Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E
