Parents and teachers call for action as figures show more young children in England being permanently excluded
Sam Bates* was excluded from school for the first time when he was five years old. After moving into year 1, he struggled to sit still, became frustrated with staff and pushed chairs over. He was sent home for one day and was then allowed back for only two hours a day, separated from his classmates, with a teaching assistant. From there, things unravelled.
“That went on for seven months, the two hours a day,” says Amanda Bates*, his mother, based in the east of England. “It really didn’t work.” She asked if Sam could go back but repeat a year, as he was young for his year group, but this was refused. Instead the school applied for the local authority’s “specialist resource space”, an alternative to mainstream school. “But there was a huge waiting list and they wouldn’t take him,” says Bates.