Education Outcomes for Looked After Children 2022/23

School Exclusions

This section presents data on the numbers and rates of exclusions of the estimated 511 pupils who were looked after within the year at publicly funded mainstream and special schools, and who experienced an exclusion.

Headline findings

• Exclusion rates for pupils looked after within the year have risen for the first time in 12 years, from 78 exclusion per 1,000 pupils in 2020/21 to 97 exclusions per 1,000 pupils in 2022/23.
• The exclusion rate for looked after pupils was almost six times the rate for all pupils in 2022/23. This gap has reduced overall since 2012/13, but, in the latest year, widened for the first time since 2009/10.

Rate of Exclusions Per 1,000 Pupils

Table 5.1 shows the number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils. As children can be excluded more than once per year, a single child may be counted more than once in these figures. The rate of exclusions among pupils looked after within the year was 97 per 1,000 pupils in 2022/23. This is almost six times as high as the rate of 17 per 1,000 pupils for all pupils. 

The exclusion rate for pupils looked after in the last year for was lowest for pupils looked after within the year in primary school in 2022/23, at 27 per 1,000, compared with 157 per 1,000 pupils for those in secondary school and 136 per 1,000 for those attending a special school.

In general, the more recently a pupil was looked after, the higher the exclusion rate. For instance, the exclusion rate for secondary school pupils who experienced care since turning 5 was 124 per 1,000 pupils. This increases to 130 per 1,000 pupils for pupils who experienced care since turning 12, and 157 per 1,000 pupils for pupils looked after within the last year. 

Table 5.1. Number of exclusions per 1,000 by sector

Number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils by sector for looked after children and all pupils, 2022/23.

The rate of exclusion cases for pupils looked after in the last year increased from 78 per 1,000 pupils in 2020/21 to 97 per 1,000 pupils in 2022/23. This is following a decade long trend in reduction of the rate of exclusion cases for looked after children (Chart 7). However, this increase is echoed by a similar increase in the exclusion rate for all pupils between 2020/21 and 2022/23. The increase in the last year following a consistently decreasing rate is present in both primary and secondary schools, both for children looked after in the last year and all pupils (Table 5.2). 2022/23 is also the first year since 2009/10 which has seen a widening of the gap in the exclusion rate between all pupils and those look after within the last year.

Table 5.2. Number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils by sector 2009/10 - 2022/23

Number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils by sector for looked after children and all pupils, 2009/10 to 2022/23.

Chart 7: Number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils, 2009/10 – 2022/23

Number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils for looked after children and all pupils, 2009/10 to 2022/23.

Number of Pupils Excluded 

Where Table 5.1 presents data on the number of exclusions, including potential multiple counts of the same child, Table 5.3 presents data on the number of individual children excluded; the number of pupils excluded per 1,000 pupils shown in Table 5.2 are therefore lower than the number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils shown in Table 5.1.

In 2022/23, the rate of pupils excluded was 52 per 1,000 pupils for children looked after within the year. This is over three times as high as the rate of 17 per 1,000 pupils for all pupils. Since the exclusion case rate is almost six times as high, we can conclude that pupils looked after within the year who are excluded are more likely to be excluded multiple times than all pupils who are excluded.

Table 5.2. Number of pupils excluded and exclusion rate per 1,000 pupils by sector.

Number of pupils excluded and the exclusion rate per 1,000 pupils by sector  for those who were looked after in the last year and all pupils, 2022/23.

Placement type and number of placements

As with attendance rate, there is a similar disparity in rates of exclusion according to the type of accommodation in which pupils looked after within the year are placed. Children in local authority homes, in voluntary homes, and at home with parents tend to have higher rates of exclusions than those looked after in foster care or with friends or relatives or other residential placements (Table 5.3). 

Table 5.3. Cases of exclusions per 1,000 pupils for pupils by accommodation type

Cases of exclusions per 1,000 pupils by accommodation type for pupils looked after within the year, 2022/23.

[Note 1] Includes 'with prospective adopters'.

[Note 2] Includes 'in residential school', 'in secure care accommodation', and 'crisis care'.

Pupils who were looked after within the year with 3 placements had a higher rate of exclusion (Table 5.4). There were 89 cases of exclusion per 1,000 pupils for pupils with only one placement, increasing to 143 cases of exclusion per 1,000 pupils for pupils with 2 placements and 172 cases of exclusion per 1,000 pupils for pupils with 3 placements. Pupils with 4 and 5 or more placements have lower exclusion cases per 1000 pupils (104 and 108 per 1000 respectively), but it should be noted this was for a very low number of total exclusions.

Table 5.4. Cases of exclusions per 1,000 pupils by number of placements within the year

Cases of exclusions per 1,000 pupils by number of placements for pupils looked after within the year, 2022/23.