Blimey
Just found this thread. I think the school has taken the issue fairly seriously.
I tend to take the view that if pupils dont feel safe in school, they wont want to come, and if they do they certainly arent going to learn as well.
Duck girl has got it wrong by suggesting that we dontlike excluding pupils on the grounds that we lose money. Central legislation has certaily made it significantlyy harder to exlude pupils on a permanent basis, with changes to even the wording guiding the Headteacher's judgement tieing our hands to a degree. We certainly are severely financially penalised, but no self respecting Head would allow this to cloud our judgement.
However, in this case, the other child has admitted the offence, and the Head has to choose between temporary exclusion and permanent, depending on the seriousness of the offence, track record, provocation ( where there has been some). In extreme cases a permanent exclusion for a first offence is a possibility, but often the school will opt for temporary and see if the family will work with the school to improve the child's behaviour.
