4,000 children excluded a year for racial abuse

4,000 children a year are excluded from schools in England for racially abusing their peers, according to analysis by the New Schools Network.

The number means around 20 pupils were excluded a day in the 2014-15 academic year, with more than 27,000 exclusions linked to racist abuse since 2008-9.

In response to the figures, the New Schools Network celebrated the inclusion of the new category of ‘social need’ into the free school application criteria. It believes this will allow proposals to be brought forward with the explicit intention of creating more integrated schools in areas where schools are often divided by racial lines.

Sarah Pearson, interim director of New Schools Network, said: “Free schools are already doing great work in their communities to break down barriers between children of different classes, ethnicities, and cultures. The addition of a ‘social need’ category in the free school criteria opens the door further for schools, charities and other community organisations to come forward with ideas to create schools designed to build community cohesion.

“We are already in discussion with a number of groups who have a particular interest in community integration, and we anticipate that more will now follow in their footsteps.”