Braintree district: Almost all pupils excluded had special educational needs (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Braintree district: Almost all pupils excluded had special educational needs

2:00pm Monday 4th February 2013 in News

Almost all children excluded from Braintree and Witham primary schools in the past two years had special educational needs, according to council figures.

Thirty-three of the 36 given a fixed term exclusion between September 2010 and Easter 2012 had special educational needs (SEN).

Essex County Council has admitted the “over representation” of pupils with SEN being excluded is a county-wide and national concern.

A Witham mother-of-two, whose son has SEN and was excluded twice, said: “I am so appalled, I didn’t for a second think anybody else would be going through this.

“Exclusion doesn’t work, which is why good schools don’t exclude.”

See The Times for the full story.