The Children’s Society and the National Children’s Bureau are very concerned about the numbers of children being excluded from school and want the Government to advise schools only to exclude children as a last resort.
However, although there has been some evidence from thesociety’s work in schools that lunchtimes can be a flashpoint, we do not have the historic data to comment on whether the numbers of exclusions during lunchbreaks is on the rise.
What we do know is that working with children who are at risk of being excluded to help them change their behaviour can have very positive results. We need to invest more time in helping children overcome any difficulties that they may have at the same time support schools to achieve this.
Lisa Payne
National Children’s Bureau
Naomi Chunilal
The Children’s Society
Margery Street, London WC1
