Government figures reveal soaring numbers of pupils permanently excluded in Spring 2025
- 3,320 pupils were permanently excluded in Spring 2025: this is higher than in Spring 2024 and a rise of 21 per cent from the last Spring term pre-pandemic (Spring 2019).
- School suspensions have also increased compared to the previous year. There were 312,562 suspensions given in Spring 2025.
- Spring 2025 marked an all-time record for the number of primary school children expelled from school – a 23 per cent rise compared to Spring 2024.
- In Spring 2025, the rate of permanent exclusion for children in receipt of free school meals (FSM) was almost six times the rate of children who were not eligible for FSM. Similarly, the rate of permanent exclusions for children in receipt of SEN support was nearly six times the rate of children with no identified SEN.
England’s schools are in the midst of a “behaviour crisis” with rising levels of violence against teachers and pupils. Permanent exclusions for physical assault against teachers have increased from 339 in Spring 2022 to 549 in Spring 2025 – a 62 per cent rise. An April 2025 NASUWT survey found that 81 per cent of teachers believe the number of pupils exhibiting violent and abusive behaviours has increased.
Daniel Lilley, Head of Youth at the CSJ, said:
School exclusion rates in our primary schools are on an alarmingly upward trajectory, driven by a behaviour crisis that is depriving children of a safe, orderly learning environment.
The current system is letting down everyone: the teachers who are fearful of coming into work, the pupils desperate for an education free from disruption, and the children who are excluded when earlier interventions would have put them on the right path.
Exclusion is an important protection for teachers and other pupils’ education, but the Government must now get a grip of the mayhem going on in our classrooms. We need an urgent review of behaviour standards in schools, to reset the relationship between schools and parents, and swift action on SEND reform.
On the day analysis of the stats was published here: Behaviour crisis in classrooms as exclusions reach Spring term high – new data – The Centre for Social Justice
