The new children’s commissioner has said multi-academy trusts can make exclusions “a thing of the past” by running alternative provision that gives pupils a “revolving door back into mainstream” schools.

Dame Rachel de Souza also told MPs on the Commons Health Select Committee today that supporting pupils with behaviour issues in primary schools can pay dividends throughout their education. 

She said that nobody wanted school exclusions and that, as a headteacher, these “are the things which keep you awake at night”.

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She was asked by MPs whether off-rolling and long-term exclusions need to be reduced in schools, given that pupils have already spent time out of school through Covid isolation and those with mental health issues have been missing out on support.

Tackling school exclusions and off-rolling

Dame Rachel told the committee that off-rolling was not legal and should not happen.

She added: “The exclusions question is constantly debated. I think the answers lie in a range of places.

“Nobody wants to see exclusions, or an exclusion of any child. I think picking up on early issues about getting the right support in for children early, and particularly when we have got behaviour issues in the primary, picking those up with the proper support pays dividends right the way through.

“But I think there are also bigger structural answers as well.

“There are some great models of groups of schools, trusts now, creating provision within those trusts so exclusion can be a thing of the past, so that is really good: what would have been called alternative provision but doesn’t need to be called that any more - really good provision that meets the need of young people, both in terms of therapy and curriculum, and provides a kind of revolving door back into the mainstream can happen. I think we are going to see a lot more of that.”

She said this approach meant pupils would stay within “the school’s family” rather than being moved out.

Dame Rachel has told Tes that, as children’s commissioner, she wants to see “exclusion down to nothing and off-rolling not happen”.

Speaking to MPs today about preventing exclusion, she added: “Nobody is more committed to that than me because, having worked in very disadvantaged areas where schools have had difficulty in the past, I have had to manage some of those issues and they are the things which keep you awake at night as a headteacher.

“Nobody wants to do that. We must provide structural and individual support answers for children.”

When she appeared before MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee at the end of last year, Dame Rachel denied accusations that there had been “a pattern of off-rolling and exclusions” in schools at Inspiration Trust, in Norfolk, while she was its chief executive.