PUPILS who carry weapons could be excluded for a first offence, in a tightening up of the rules which has been welcomed by heads and teachers.
Appeals panels will be told not to reinstate youngsters thrown out for carrying knives, or for persistent bullying, in new guidance due out for consultation next week.
Education Secretary Estelle Morris has been disturbed by recent high-profile bullying cases in which some victims committed suicide, said a departmental spokeswoman. But she was unable to give any figures on whether bullying was on the increase.
Last November, Morgan Musson, 13, from Nottingham, killed herself after being bullied because she was 6ft tall, while Elaine Swift, 15, from Hartlepool, overdosed on pills after four years of torment following her donation of bone marrow for her sick sister.
Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said the move was “a long overdue step back towards reality and commonsense”.
“These violent bullies, often with weapons in the background, were behaving with impunity. On the streets, they would have been arrested and imprisoned, whereas in schools they could just get away with it,” he said.
John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads’ Association, said it was important that schools retained the flexibility to deal with individual cases as they saw fit. “Ministers can’t deal with every individual case by legislation. This is going to be very helpful to schools in maintaining good order and in turning around the malign influence of the Government’s targets on reducing exclusions and previous guidance.”
David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the guidance, combined with proposed reforms of appeals panels, would go a long way to supporting schools dealing with increasing pupil misbehaviour.
Plans to ensure former or serving teachers are in the majority on the three or five-member panels emerged with the publication of last year’s education White Paper.
Ministers have already dropped targets for reducing exclusions, after the figures fell from a 12,700 peak in 1997 to 8,400 this year.
Miscreants will be sent to pupil referral units: there are around 300 at the moment, with around 380 expected by September 2002 - when the Government has pledged all excluded pupils will receive a full-time education.
