We should support the ban on children being excluded from primary school

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Commission on Young Lives report today argues for a ban on primary school exclusions from 2026, alongside support and resources for schools to provide specialist provision that keeps children in school. Exclusions are also disproportionately used with Black Caribbean boys and young men, as well as Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, children with special educational needs or disabilities and those eligible for free school meals. I don’t want them to look at his past and think about that rather than his future.” To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here At the moment there is just not enough specialist help available – we see children who are on waiting lists for specialist support when they are first referred to us. One school we work with says: “It would be much easier to exclude than to do all the work that the school is doing, but the children are worth the effort.” There is some brilliant work going on in our schools and they do a good job for the majority of their students but we can’t look away from the difficulties some of our children face – for them the system is not working.