AN MP has expressed his concerns at the number of school exclusions in his constituency.

School exclusions for secondary pupils in Stockton have risen five-fold over the past four years.

Data released by the Government has shown that from 902 fixed term exclusions in 2014/15, this year up until May has seen the figure increase to 4,676 – and this is expected to raise further when figures until the end of the school year are added.

Paul Williams, MP for Stockton South recently asked questions on this increase in Parliament and was able to secure a meeting with the Minister of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb, in order to discuss the issue.

He said: “This is a concern for many children and families across Stockton.

“Many schools are adopting zero-tolerance behaviour models and consequence systems. This sounds good and can have positive impacts on school discipline and cultures but it can also create problems for the mental health and well-being of individual children and, as we have seen from the new figures released on exclusions, a large number of lost children which schools are leaving behind.”

One resident shared the concerns of the MP,.

She said: “As a parent I’ve been concerned about the effect that zero-tolerance systems in schools can have on children.

“The reasons that a child can receive disciplinary points can be very minor, such as uniform infringements, being distracted and forgetting pens.

“The systems are so strict that there is a constant stream of children in and out of the consequence room, how many hours of education are children losing?

“It’s great that Dr Paul has raised these issues in Parliament and that these issues have been heard by the Minister.”

A Parliamentary report, Forgotten children: alternative provision and the scandal of ever increasing exclusions, was released this week on school exclusions and had a number of criticisms of the state of school discipline throughout the country, which closely echo the concerns of Mr Williams.

He said: ‘”I was pleased to be able to meet with the Minister on this and that he has agreed to look into the high numbers of exclusions in Stockton.

“I took the concerns of children and families, as well as some teachers in to the meeting and hope there is now a wider discussion on discipline systems in schools as well as the well-being of children.

“There are currently over 60,000 lost hours of education per year across Stockton, we cannot accept this kind of failure. Education has to be for all children.”