Exclusions case study: Cambridgeshire

  • Anglia
TBAP Cambridge Credit: ITV

Every day 40 children are permanently excluded from England's schools. And the number excluded is rising, up three years in a row.

In the East of England the annual number of permanent exclusions is slightly lower than the national average, but still amounted to a total number of 750 children in the last recorded year of 2016/17.

Norfolk and Bedford had the highest rates of permanent exclusions - double the national average - but in Cambridgeshire the number is unusually low, a tenth of the national figure.

Exclusions matter because of the damage it can do to a young person's life chances and education. A high number of prisoners currently serving time in jail - 42 percent - have formerly been permanently excluded.

Ryan Kelsall is the principal of Impington Village College in Cambridgeshire and also chairs a group of 14 heads from the county who meet regularly to discuss students who might be at risk.

Rather than exclude students, the group organise managed moves between schools, to see if a student gets on better in a new environment. If that fails, they turn to alternative provision.

Ryan Kelsall, Principal, Impington Village College Credit: ITV

One of the units which provides that different type of education is TBAP Cambridge, part of the TBAP multi academy trust.The entire Cambridge academy is the size of a mainstream class - just 35 students.

Among them is fourteen year old Levi. He lasted one week at a mainstream secondary school, before being sent here to TBAP Cambridge three years ago.

Levi says before he came here, prison was the only future he could see for himself.

Levi studies at TBAP Cambridge Credit: ITV

The learning style here is very different as most students have problems concentrating. An English class for instance, might be taught as a fast paced game show in order to hold pupils' attention and play into their competitive behaviour.

English teacher Bronson Forshaw says many of his students have had unimaginably difficult lives.

Bronson Forshaw teaches an English class as a quiz Credit: ITV

TBAP does not permanently exclude any of its students and even lays on a bus to make sure they all get here. The headteacher Tony Machin said the school's ethos is not about firefighting bad behaviour but changing aspirations.

Success for Levi has been discovering he has a talent for cooking. He now dreams of running a restaurant. He knows many have a negative view of schools like TBAP but says people need to think again.

Artwork by a student at TBAP Cambridge Credit: ITV

Success for students leaving here is not just about academic results it's about having the skills to cope with life.

Last year 93 percent of students went into education, training or employment and for the two that didn't, the school still provide unpaid mentoring and support.

The headteacher says this support is at the heart of the school's philosophy: that no one should be left behind.