Number of primary-age kids sent home from school for racism triples

Number of primary-age kids sent home from school for racism triples EXCLUSIVE: The number of all school suspensions for racist abuse rose 8% last year, hitting a record 16,434 across primary, secondary and special schools Pupils as young as four have been sent home for their racist behaviour, with such incidents in primary schools trebling in five years, official figures reveal. There were 2,580 incidents when primary pupils were kicked out of lessons for racism in the last school year, official figures show. This is a 270% increase from 698 in the school year ending in 2021. It means the rise among the youngest pupils is steeper than for teenagers, with secondary school suspensions for racist abuse doubling over the same five-year period. Meanwhile 26 primary pupils were permanently expelled for racist behaviour in the last school year, up from two in the year ending 2021. The number of all school suspensions for racist abuse rose 8% last year, hitting a record 16,434 across primary, secondary and special schools. It comes as classrooms are settling down elsewhere, with total suspensions for any reason across all English schools falling by 4% last year. Experts fear children isolated at home during the pandemic may have developed racist views, often fuelled by the internet, which went unchallenged as they were not at school. When schools reopened these bigoted ideas became apparent, with teachers of even the youngest classes having to take firm action. Most cases were believed to involve unacceptable behaviour such as racist language, but in others it was more severe such as physical racist attacks and race-hate graffiti. And youngsters are increasingly getting in trouble at school for making racist posts on social media. Of last year’s racism suspensions, 36 were of reception class pupils, who begin the school year aged four and finish it aged five. A further 63 were of Year 1 pupils and 183 to those in Year 2. Campaign group Show Racism the Red Card said: “The rising figures mirror the rise in discrimination being evidenced throughout society – reflected in rising hate crime statistics and rising instances of racism and discrimination within services like the NHS. “This suggests to us that this is not a school or young people issue specifically, but rather that as discrimination in society increases, naturally this has consequences within the education sector too.” The Department for Education said: “Racism and discrimination have no place in our schools. “We will always support our hard-working teachers to provide safe and calm classrooms, starting with new attendance and behaviour hubs targeting the schools with the highest need, alongside wider support for schools across the country. “This sits alongside protections for children under the Online Safety Act.”