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Ed Sheridan, Local Democracy reporter Published: 2:10 PM May 14, 2021
Hackney school exclusions have decreased in Hackney while home-schooling has increased. - Credit: Royalty-Free/CORBIS School exclusions in Hackney have plummeted over the past year while the number of families opting to home-educate their children has jumped, according to new data. The disproportionate representation of children from Black and Traveller ethnic backgrounds in the figures paints a “damning” picture, according to Cllr Sophie Conway, chair of the children and young people’s scrutiny commission. In an update from Hackney Education, the commission was told that since September 2019 there have been 42 permanent exclusions from local secondary schools and none from primary schools. ....
“I know we will be joined by many local authorities up and down the country, and the concern is, where are those children.” She added that the situation had also been exacerbated by “central policy developments” including the opening up of free schools, which have a provision of places which “does not necessarily relate itself directly to what local authorities [are] providing”. Falling primary school rolls are far from a Hackney-specific issue. As London house prices continue to rise and birth rates fall, it poses a threat to schools whose government funding is directly linked to the numbers of pupils they admit. ....