Why was the possession of a weapon removed as a reportable reason for exclusion from the Welsh Government's guidance on exclusion from schools and pupils referral units?
The Welsh Government committed to a comprehensive review of the Exclusions from Schools and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) guidance. The review is taking place in three stages.
The first stage was completed in April and involved amending the guidance to reflect duties set out in the Curriculum and Assessment Act and the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal Act. The categories against which exclusions are recorded for data collection purposes were also amended to reflect the actual data being collected by schools. The amendments included removing the category of possession/use of a weapon as this data had not been collected since 2012/13 and did not feature as part of schools’ management information systems.
Removing the data collection category has no impact on a Head Teacher’s ability to exclude a learner from a school or pupil referral unit (PRU). I do, however, recognise the importance of collecting data about exclusions which result from learners being in possession of, or using, weapons in school and the concerns raised by unions in this regard. I am therefore taking the necessary steps to reintroduce the collection of this data and officials are reviewing how this information can be collected.