School suspensions hit highest level in six years

Suspensions in Guernsey's States-maintained secondary schools are at the highest level they have been in at least six years.

For the 2023-2024 academic year, there were 2,861 suspended sessions - almost five times higher than 2018-2019.

The school day is broken down into two sessions, morning and afternoon, which means if a student is suspended for a full day it would be noted down as two instances.

The Committee for Education Sport and Culture said the increase could be down to a number of factors, including having higher expectations of students, enhanced safeguarding practices and greater consistency in reporting.

The figures come from a Freedom of Information request (FoI) made by the BBC.

Committee President Paul Montague said the numbers were expected to come down for 2024-25, but that data was yet to be released.

Across the six years, poor behaviour - which included damage, misconduct and threats - was the most common reason for a suspension, with 2,760 recorded suspended sessions.

That was followed by physical/verbal abuse or threat against an adult as the second most common.

The figures jump significantly between 2022 and 2024, with suspensions increasing by almost 80%.

Montague said the spike was partially down to the overhaul in education.

The Transforming Education Programme saw the island go from four 11-16 schools to three, merging the Grammar School and La Mare de Carteret into Les Varendes High School in 2023.

During that year, Les Varandes had the highest number of suspensions.

Montague said resulting staff turnover was "hugely impactful" and led to more suspensions.

He said: "Young people need to develop a relationship of trust and understanding with their teachers.

"If you keep having new teachers all the time... that really doesn't build those relationships".

He added "young people - all people - need to know that there are consequences for their actions" and the situation was "genuinely improving".

Another element of an increase in suspensions were rules around vaping, he said.

"We don't tolerate vaping in any of our settings and, if you're caught with a vape or caught vaping, you're suspended."

Across primary education, the numbers are much lower, with the academic year 2022-2023 seeing the largest number of suspended sessions at 171.

Physical/verbal abuse or threat against an adult were the most common cited reasons for a suspension over the past six years.

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