The following young people from the Advocacy Academy will attend:
· Alex Mcarthur – James
· Christian Fernandez
· Olamide Taiwo
· Chanay Golding
Minutes:
A group of young people from the Advocacy Academy attended the meeting to talk to councillors about their experience of school exclusion.
Christian introduced the group and set out their campaign themes: no lost causes, compassionate education and making the case for increased funding. Some of the group were also part of the IC3 campaign which aims to address the perception of BAME students. He explained that the Advocacy Academy is a social justice fellowship made up of young people from across South London.
Christian had attended Globe Academy. He said that every year one of his friends would get permanently excluded. He had noticed that they tended to have common traits – they were funny, charismatic and struggled to focus. He told the commission how his best friend got excluded and life changed. He knew two excluded students who have died and he saw a link between exclusion and violence. He wanted to draw councillors’ attention to some statistics:
· 35 of the most disadvantaged students get excluded every day.
· Excluded pupils are four times more likely to grow up in poverty, twice as likely to be in care, and seven times more likely to have special educational needs
He suggested that the council could develop a charter on school exclusion. This would mean the council setting targets for schools with upper limits eg a percentage of the school roll – the upper limit might be set at around 3-5%. The council could write to every school about this and offer support.
Chanay told the commission that she had experienced internal exclusion for the first time when she was 8. On one occasion in secondary school she was put in isolation for eating a biscuit in class. She was eating the biscuit because she had missed lunch catching up on work. One another occasion she was put in exclusion for leaving her PE kit at home. Exclusion then led to her falling further behind with work. The point she wanted to make was that these were punishments for petty things and that students did not learn whereas a humane solution might have worked and led to a positive outcome. She felt that the concept behind exclusion is like prison and that it becomes a pipeline to more troubles and eventually permanent exclusion. She wanted to draw councillors’ attention to some statistics:
· 25000 children aged 7 or under were excluded in 2015/16.
· Black students are 3 times more likely to be excluded.
She suggested that councillorsmeet with heads and talk about students’ experience and try to come up with better alternatives for punishments.
Alex told the commission he had had all types of exclusions. He had been sent to the annex in secondary school and felt it was more like a pupil referral unit with bars on the windows, and no teachers but staff whose job was to stop students fighting. He was in there 2 months and had a friend who was there 2 years. He knew one student who spent his whole secondary school time there and got no GCSEs. Alex had been sent to isolation cubicles in college. On one occasion he was excluded for 5 days for opening a door too hard. He was finally permanently excluded for attainment grades, having missed an exam due to illness. Nearly every one of his friend from secondary school had been excluded. He had friends in jail for stupid reasons. He had a couple of friends who had been stabbed. He agreed that racism is a factor – he had been at school with a black student with aspergers who got no support while a white student with worse behaviour was supported by the school. He wanted to draw councillors’ attention to some statistics:
· Pupils excluded at age 12 are 4 times more likely to be jailed.
· 63% of all prisoners have been temporarily excluded and 42% permanently.
He suggested there should be limit on the amount of time students can spend in exclusion. If they cannot see any hope of getting back to mainstream school they have no motivation to improve.
Olamide told the commission she had been excluded a few times, sometimes because of the actions of students she associated with although she might have been in another class at the time of the incident. She had two friends dead, and four that she didn’t now what had happened to them. Many others were in gangs. She felt that the system lets young people go so easily and doesn’t care about the root of the problem. She felt that much of the difficulty stems from how teachers treat pupils. She was sad to see how normalised it is to have your friends excluded and then you won’t see them any more. She pointed out that everyone should have an equal chance at their education. Troublesome behaviour can be a cry for help. Teachers say come and talk to me but students will not do this if the system is not working in a humane way. She wanted to draw councillors’ attention to some statistics:
· Every cohort of permanently excluded students costs the state £1.5BN.
· 1% of excluded students go on to get 5 GCSEs.
She felt that schools give out exclusions without understanding the impact on pupils’ lives. She agreed that there are links between exclusion and knife crime. She said some really petty and silly incidents can lead to exclusion which can then result in the student’s life being taken away and they never get the chance to make up for it. Children will do dumb things because they’re learning. A punitive culture demonises instead of teaching them what they did wrong.
She suggested there should be an annual report on exclusions, addressing the targets and holding schools accountable. She pointed out that many statistics are not available – there is not enough holding to account
Councillors thanked the group for their excellent evidence and asked some further questions:
· Do you have suggestions about preventive measures to avoid exclusions? Special educational needs is a big issue. Schools should provide support early to stop things progressing. Alternative provision in the school done well could be a preventive measure. Teachers should let the student cool down and don’t immediately move to issue a sanction. Time to cool down would make a huge difference. If someone shouts at you, you will not learn. One student had positive experience of a wellbeing room in their school (Globe 6th form). No devices allowedand students can go in for 15 minutes to use it as a reflective space.
· When I talk to social workers/teachers/police they talk about having to take a tough line with a person because they need to think about the big picture. What would you say? Far more students need access to a mentor who could help ensure the child understand what they did. Don’t treat them like a criminal sitting in a box. Schools could change the whole idea of how it works when a student is sent out of class. They need someone to speak to. The aim should be to get them back into class. Teachers should not be passive-aggressive - that’s just as bad. There should be reflection for teachers about how they are speaking to students. Get them to reflect on it. Teachers need to be approachable.
· What was your parents reaction to exclusion? Is there a role for parents? I was excluded many times and my mum didn’t find out.
· You have gained insights that are not being presented to people closely involved in education. Do you think your insights have been communicated to teachers, for example to improve training? Do you have any tips for teachers? It is very difficult to communicate with teachers. It took a lot for us to be here. It’s hard to find out how to reach governors and hard to get a meeting with headteacher. School council has limited power. It would mean a lot to the students to ask them how engagement could be improved. Some young students see teachers as police and assume they will be against you automatically. School tries to teach you about the world of work but bias creeps in. Young people need the emotional side of teachers to be available.