New figures show double the number of children were excluded from States' primary schools in 2023/24 compared to 2021/22.

42 children were excluded from primary schools the last academic year, 10 more than in 2022/23.

That is also up from 18 exclusions from primary schools in 2021/22.

Exclusions have also risen by 16% across all government schools (ages 4 to 16).

When asked by Channel 103 about the rise in exclusions, Education Minister Rob Ward says they are still 'rare'.

"There are 1.14 million attendances and from there there are 42 suspensions, which is an extremely low number.

"Our schools deal with all of the social issues that arise in our society and they deal with all of our students."

*The 2019/20 and 2020/21 academic years are not comparable with other years due to the impact of Covid on school attendance/school closures. 

Almost half of children dismissed from secondary schools in 2023/24 were excluded because they assaulted another child or a member of staff.

Figures show a total of 332 exclusions, of which 164 were because of physical violence.

Deputy Rob Ward says any suspension is disappointing because that is not what schools want to do.

"What we do have is a situation where we have to deal with behaviour in schools. Now any assault in schools, any violent behaviour, is not wanted.

"I want to make sure that staff are safe in schools and, most importantly, students are safe in schools."

*The 2019/20 and 2020/21 academic years are not comparable with other years due to the impact of Covid on school attendance/school closures. 

There are 193 categories in which a child's negative behaviour can be reported, ranging from lateness, to uniform and homework issues, to assaults.

The government claims it has consistent recording mechanisms to capture the reason for exclusions.

The Education Minister says his department wants to get to a place where exclusions do not happen.

"There's a huge amount of support that's going on in schools.

" It's never going to be perfect. We're never going to get everything right, we know that, because we're dealing with human beings and we're dealing with young people who are going through changes in their lives.

" There is support in terms of one-to-one support. Schools have taken on psychology support and social work support, and (are) creating spaces, understanding their children, working one-to-one with them on a pastoral level."