CYP Now - Disadvantaged children worst hit by suspensions amid sharp rise

Children living in poverty are now the worst impacted by lost learning due to suspension from school, after a sharp increase in England-wide suspensions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Students from disadvantaged areas more likely to lose learning through suspension, research finds. Picture: Arrowsmith2/Adobe Stock

For the first time, the majority of suspensions are of children living in poverty, with the numbers of suspensions experienced by this group of children rising by 75 per cent post-pandemic, analysis of recent Department for Education data has found.

This comes amid a 30 per cent rise in the number of overall suspensions following the pandemic, with 250,000 more days of learning lost since 2018/19.

More than 3,000 children a day lost access to learning through suspension in 2021/22, and children living in poverty were 3.7 times more likely to be sent home from school than their peers.

Children with special educational needs and disabilities also experience higher rates of suspension, with the analysis finding that this group of children were four times more likely to be sent home.

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