The No More Exclusions scandal has at least had the effect of exposing the extremist, anti-child ideologies that trouble mainstream discourse around school behaviour. Put simply: some people really do believe every child just needs a kind word and everything will be ok

It won’t. Children, like grown ups, are complex. Their behaviour is often amazing, and sometimes horrific. Like adults.

Some children commit violent and ghastly crimes against one another and staff. It’s tragic. We can rightly weep at the circumstances that brought them there, while still acting decisively to protect other children from further torture.

Caring about every child means caring about every child- including the victims. And sometimes our response needs to be optimal, not perfect. Removals and exclusions are necessary at times. Wishing they weren’t doesn’t change that.

Caring alone isn’t enough. Believing really, really hard isn’t. Anti-exclusionists can teach us all how to deal with these extreme cases, so we can all benefit from their expertise. They can show us themselves how to do. They can provide case studies and research showing success

They can point to schools where sex offenders have happily coexisted with their victims without threat or loss of dignity.

Which of course they can’t. Their theories are fantasies. And as I often say, they wouldn’t dream of sending their own children into such an environment, rightly. Just other people’s children

We can care about improving destinations for excluded children. We can seek to reduce exclusions organically, by reducing the need to do so. But we can’t do without necessary exclusions.