Wow, a school excluding a child for shoplifting in school uniform - the @educationgovuk and @Ofstednews must start to pull up schools on exclusion and give better guidance. This is how exclusion to prison pipeline starts - schools must support these families not throw them out

This is how it plays out

Exclusion allows time on streets with older peers

Gets into gang culture

Family try to stop but it’s too late

Child gets sent to PRU

Meets more marginalised peers and learns new shoplifting tricks so he won’t get caught next time

Gets introduced to drug culture and begins running for dealers

Police involved and raise their eyebrows when they find out child was excluded for one off shop lifting offence - they’ve seen it before - majority of crimes and drug incidents come from boys excluded for one off

Family at wits’ end

PRU see a decline in behaviours and notice him mixing with undesirable role models

Social services have to intervene for child exploitation, MACE set up - social worker assigned - again shake their heads as they’re so busy with really complex families

The money and the time this takes up

When a strong warning from school and second chance could have nipped this in the bud

It drains resources from police, social services and PRUs and yet school no longer has involvement and likely better exam results

Most importantly tho

Child becomes criminalised from one event and joins the exclusions to prison pipeline completely unnecessarily

Where @educationgovuk and @Ofstednews is the accountability?

#exclusions

@NExclusions @IPSEAcharity @CathMurray_ @DrCEJohnston