Report of the Director of Education

This report provides an update on the development of our inclusion support for all Manchester schools. It also looks at available exclusions data held internally in Manchester for 2023/24 and validated Department for Education (DfE) published school exclusions data for 2022/23.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Education which provided an update on the development of inclusion support for all Manchester schools. It also looked at available exclusions data held internally in Manchester for 2023/24 and validated Department for Education (DfE) published school exclusions data for 2022/23.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• An overview of work to support inclusion in Manchester schools;
• Data on permanent exclusions in 2022/2023 and 2023/2024;
• Data on suspensions in 2022/2023 and 2023/2024; and
• Early indications in relation to the current school year.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Breaking the cycle of pupils being repeatedly suspended;
• Disproportionality regarding the pupils who were being suspended or permanently excluded;
• Sharing good practice;
• A suggestion that officers include a glossary in reports to make it easier for Members and the public to read; and
• Managed moves.

In response to a question about repeated suspensions, the AP Lead and SAFE Taskforce Lead advised that schools were encouraged to involve the Council’s Outreach Services as early as possible where a pupil was at risk of disengaging to prevent suspensions from happening.  She reported that, if a pupil was suspended, it was important to effectively re-integrate them back into school, which the Council could provide support on, and that this re-integration could include providing support to parents, mediation or other actions to demonstrate that it was a fresh start.  In response to comments on disproportionality, she advised that there was a lot of variety of contexts between schools and that city-wide disproportionality might not reflect the population of individual schools but that the Council would provide support and challenge to schools as appropriate where there was a disproportionality of suspensions and exclusions compared to the demographics of that individual school.  She advised that the Council had commissioned a study in relation to Gyspy and Roma pupils, noting that this group was an outlier, and that the Council was also working with Afruca and Dimobi to put together a strategy to address other outliers.  In response to a Member’s question, the Statutory Lead (Attendance and Exclusions) advised that the exclusion rate for Asian Pakistani pupils was 0.14 last year, informing Members that although the number of Asian Pakistani pupils excluded was quite high, the exclusion rate was quite low as there were a large number of Asian Pakistani pupils in Manchester. 

In response to a question about the high number of White British pupils being excluded, the Assistant Director of Education advised that this was a national issue which was linked to disadvantage, low aspirations and negative feelings towards education and that a lot of work was being done by the Council and schools to engage with pupils and raise aspirations.  She outlined how best practice, regarding inclusion and other issues, was shared between schools, including through webinars, Headteacher Briefings, through Senior Schools Quality Assurance Officers and the brokering of formal support between schools.  In response to a Member’s question, she advised that some of the local authorities with a lower exclusion rate were working in a different context from Manchester.  She informed Members how the Council was working closely with other local authorities through its leadership of the North-West Change Programme for the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, including sharing best practice, adding that best practice was also shared through Greater Manchester Education Leads and informally.

The Director of Education informed Members that some of the schools which had had the highest exclusion rates were in areas with a predominantly white population, resulting in higher levels of white boys being excluded, and she advised that interventions were determined at a school level.  She advised that where there were concerns about either the overall level of exclusions at a school or disproportionality in who was being excluded, the Council would provide challenge to the school and support where needed.  She outlined the purpose of Managed Moves, stating that it was a voluntary agreement between two schools to give a pupil a fresh start in another school and that a protocol for this had been developed between secondary headteachers.  She advised that in a lot of cases it worked well but occasionally Managed Moves did break down. She advised that if the Managed Move did not work out, the child would return to the original school and that they remained on the roll of the original school until the receiving school decided that the move had been successful and agreed to take them on roll.  She expressed caution about bringing this process under local authority arrangements due to its voluntary nature and the risk that it might deter schools from agreeing to it but advised that the Council could look at the numbers and in particular any pupil who had had a lot of Managed Moves which had broken down; however, she advised that the forthcoming Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill could change the local authority’s role in relation to this. The Chair agreed that Managed Moves could work well but advised that it was important for the parents to understand what was happening.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People advised that a lot of progress had been made on exclusions.  She highlighted the challenges for teachers of dealing with disruptive behaviour in large classes.  She commented on the issues relating to white working-class boys and emphasised the importance of Early Help in improving attendance and preventing exclusion.

Decision

To note the report.

[Councillor McHale declared a personal interest as Operations Manager for Navigators Alternative Provision.]