New figures have revealed which school in Swindon excluded pupils most often last year.

Department for Education figures shows there were a total of 1,797 permanent or temporary exclusions across the 85 state schools in Swindon in the 2020-21 academic year.

This works out at a rate of 5.0 exclusions for every 100 pupils – above the average of 4.3 across England.

And of the 78 schools in the area with at least 100 pupils, this rate was highest at Nova Hreod Academy – a state-funded secondary school.

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The secondary converter academy ordered one permanent exclusion and 223 temporary exclusions – a rate of 25.6 per 100 pupils.

At the other end of the scale, 23 schools in the area did not exclude a single pupil.

Around 37% of schools across England did not suspend or permanently exclude any students in 2020-21, while almost a dozen issued more exclusions than they have pupils.

A spokesperson for Nova Hreod Academy said: "The data referred to is from the 2020/21 academic year which was a challenging year for every school in re-establishing routines and behaviour for students following the pandemic lockdowns.

"Our priority was to quickly and effectively return all students to the expected standards of behaviour and the routines of learning together so that every child is able to learn well in every lesson.

“We have high standards across the school which we uphold carefully but consistently. Exclusions only occurred for issues that merited them and we ensured that students did not lose out on their learning when they occurred”.

“Behaviour across the school is good but this was a necessary step after Lockdown to re-establish everyone’s expectations of how students need to behave”.

The schools with the highest exclusion rates in Swindon in 2020-21 were:

  • Nova Hreod Academy – state-funded secondary – 25.6 exclusions per 100 pupils
  • Lawn Manor Academy – state-funded secondary – 23.4
  • The Dorcan Academy – state-funded secondary – 18.4
  • Swindon Academy – state-funded secondary – 16.2
  • UTC Swindon – state-funded secondary – 12.9

The Department for Education said it supports headteachers to choose how and when to use suspensions to maintain a calm, safe, and supportive environment.

A spokeswoman added: "We are clear that permanent exclusion should only be used when absolutely necessary, as a last resort and this should not mean exclusion from education.

“Our updated statutory guidance, coming into force this academic year, sets out how and when to use suspensions in particular circumstances as a behaviour tool, and supports decisions to exclude when required.