These are the schools in Milton Keynes that excluded the pupils the most times last year

The data reveals huge differences in the rate of exclusions in schools across England, and this has prompted The Children's Society to call for stronger government guidance on the issue.

Figures show there were a total of 1,878 permanent or temporary exclusions across the 110 state schools in Milton Keynes in the 2020-21 academic year.

This works out at a rate of 3.9 exclusions for every 100 pupils, which is below the average of 4.3 across England.

However, of the 96 schools in the area with at least 100 pupils, this rate was highest at Sir Herbert Leon Academy in Bletchley.

The secondary sponsor-led academy ordered no permanent exclusions but carried out 212 temporary exclusions – a rate of 39.4 per 100 pupils.

Other local schools with the highest exclusion rates were Milton Keynes Academy (24.4 per 100 pupils), Lord Grey Academy (12.2 per 100 pupils) Kents Hill Park all-through school (11 per 100 pupils) and Water Hall Primary School (10.3 per 100 pupils)

At the other end of the scale, 29 schools in MK did not exclude a single pupil.

Around 37% of schools across England did not suspend or permanently exclude any students in 2020-21, while almost a dozen issued more exclusions than they have pupils.

The Children’s Society said there may be a number of reasons for the wide discrepancies in exclusion numbers between schools.

Iryna Pona, policy and impact manager for the organisation, said: "Behavioural issues that could lead to exclusion, are often an indicator of larger issues children are experiencing, such as unmet special educational needs, bullying, abuse or exploitation.

“Some schools may have more children that require additional support, some may lack resources or awareness and training so they don’t know how to support the child and tackle any issues before resorting to excluding.

“Whatever the reason, the numbers show that there is the lack of consistent child centred approach that allows for the needs of the child to be understood and supported across all schools in the same way that would reduce the number of exclusions."

She also called for stronger government guidance that requires schools to work with partners in social care and the community to ensure greater oversight of exclusion decisions.

The Department for Education said it supports headteachers to choose how and when to use suspensions to maintain a calm, safe, and supportive environment.

A spokesperson for Sir Herbert Leon school said: “The vast majority of students at Sir Herbert Leon are well-behaved and a real credit to our school. Our aim is always to keep students in school and learning, as that is the best place for them. We have high expectations on behaviour during the school day, and the new leadership team has been focused on making sure our students fully understand what these expectations mean in practice. We are already seeing the impact of this, and will continue to work hard to reduce the number of suspensions.”