Children as young as four are being excluded from schools in England due to persistent disruptive behaviour, a report from Ofsted has revealed.
The report, ‘The exclusion from school of children aged four to seven’, said children were being excluded from schools for biting other children, persistently refusing to follow instructions, swearing, running away from staff, kicking or hitting staff, throwing chairs, and climbing over the school fence. The majority of excluded children were boys.

Ofsted inspectors visited 30 infant or primary schools that had excluded several young children more than once, 27 neighbouring schools that had not excluded any child during the same period and 12 schools that had excluded only one young child – but on several occasions.

Almost all of the schools served communities with high levels of deprivation and faced many challenges as all had children who were in families experiencing severe problems around child protection, domestic violence and family breakdown. All of them had some young children with complex behaviours that could stop them from taking part in learning.

The report said, “All the schools visited described young children who had experienced trauma, to a greater or lesser extent. An extreme case was a child who had come to England from a refugee camp, having seen his mother killed.
“Many of the children had experienced family breakdown. Many of the schools perceived domestic violence as a significant influence on their pupils’ behaviour.”
The report said that in the best scenarios, these children’s behaviour was managed well, they were given the support they needed and exclusion was avoided. “Whether the schools did or did not exclude depended upon whether they believed exclusion was appropriate for young children, their ability to cope with challenging behaviour and sometimes the support received from their local authority, “ it added.

When children started school many had difficulties adjusting to the environment and did not understand what was expected to them or that adults were in charge. This related partly to their experience before they started school, and one school noted, “Children who have been through the children’s centre come in as more mature and better rounded individuals.”

This view was reflected particularly by the other schools that had close working relationships with a children’s centre.
Important factors in preventing very young children from being excluded from school were the school’s philosophy, a supportive and stable school environment, and strong relationships between the school and parents, with relationships with parents pivotal in preventing or reducing exclusions, the report said.
lmost all the schools visited worked hard to build positive relationships, particularly with parents whose children were the most challenging to manage.
Teaching young children how to behave well and how to get on with each other, coupled with effective management of minor disruptive behaviour were key to reducing or avoiding the use of such exclusions, the report added.

Christine Gilbert, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, said, “Exclusion of children aged under seven is still very rare.
“Ofsted inspectors found that almost all children in the schools they visited knew how to behave properly. Only a small number of children found this difficult but, with proper guidance and support, the need to exclude them can be avoided.”

School strategies that help children included Circle Time, weekly meetings where they gather together to talk and develop negotiating, listening and response skills, and Nurture Groups, small support groups that help children from difficult backgrounds to develop their social skills.