10:54am Tuesday 7th November 2006
By Alison White
NEARLY 50 pupils were expelled in Gravesham during the last school year.
Among the children permanently excluded were three pupils from junior and primary schools, aged as young as nine.
Figures requested by News Shopper under the Freedom of Information Act also showed two Year 2 pupils, aged around seven, have recently been suspended from school.
In the school year running from 2005 to 2006, 46 pupils were expelled from schools across the borough.
Thamesview School in Thong Lane, Gravesend, topped the chart, with 14 expulsions of pupils from Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10.
Saint George's Church of England School, Meadow Road, Gravesend, permanently excluded nine pupils - three from Year 8, two from Year 9, three from Year 10 and a pupil from Year 11.
Another nine schools also expelled pupils.
Information about the number of fixed-term suspensions since term resumed again this year shows two pupils from Year Two have been punished by a period away from school.
These were at Holy Trinity CE Primary School, Trinity Road, Gravesend, and Wrotham Road Primary School, Wrotham Road, Gravesend. The average suspension lasts three days.
So far this term, Gravesham schools have made 113 suspensions.
Kent County Council (KCC) head of attendance and behaviour Bob Rose says persistent bad behaviour, verbal abuse and physical assaults on fellow pupils are the most common reason for youngsters being expelled.
He added pupils expelled from junior and primary schools often have complicated needs.
Mr Rose says most expulsions happen in Year 9 and Year 10 when "hormones kick in and they start getting very aggressive".
KCC aims to place pupils in alternative education within 15 days of them being expelled.
Younger pupils may be referred to a school with a specialist unit offering additional support before being placed back in mainstream schools.
In the short term, pupils in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 may be sent to a pupil referral unit, with staff experienced in their needs, before being resettled in a mainstream school.
Older pupils may be helped into vocational education to help prepare them for further training in colleges.
Mr Rose added: "The school balances up the needs of the individual child and the needs of the rest of the school.
"We do try very hard to get them back into learning."
Headteacher Geoff Wybar says expelling pupils is quite unusual at his school, Gravesend Grammar School in Church Walk.
The recent expulsions of three Year 9 pupils, including two for drug-related offences, was the first time the school has had to expel students since 2001.
Mr Wybar says the school follows Government guidelines when it comes to expulsions.
Reasons to expel might include persistent bad behaviour, a serious assault on another pupil, sexual abuse, drugs or carrying weapons.
Mr Wybar said: "Sometimes the incident is so serious we have to exclude."
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