Repeat suspensions: why the same pupils keep being suspended, and what breaks the cycle

How concentrated is it?

Very. Of the 326,700 pupils suspended in 2024 to 25, 94,400 missed more than a school week in total. Pupils receiving SEN support were suspended at 28.86 suspensions per 100 pupils, against 6.78 for pupils with no identified special educational needs. Pupils eligible for free school meals were suspended at 26.66 per 100, against 5.41. Persistent disruptive behaviour was 52% of the reasons given. The North East had the highest rate in England, 17.41 per 100 pupils against 10.88 nationally.

Why does the cycle repeat?

It is rarely one bad decision. Usually a system built for most pupils is working as designed for a pupil it does not fit. Five things tend to sit behind it.

The ladder counts incidents, not needs. A consequence system treats the fifth incident like the first. Each step is fair on its own, and together they lead the same pupil to the same place.

The return changes nothing. The pupil comes back to the same lessons, the same triggers and the same adults, often after a reintegration meeting that records the incident rather than agreeing a plan.

The need is not identified, or the plan does not reach the classroom. Many pupils who are suspended repeatedly are on SEN support or have needs nobody has assessed. A support plan in a file does not change what happens in period five.

Suspension can give the pupil what the behaviour was for. Where behaviour helps a pupil get out of a lesson, away from a person or out of school, being sent home meets that need, and the behaviour becomes more likely, not less. A functional assessment asks what the behaviour gets the pupil, or helps them avoid.

Nobody owns the pupil across incidents. The head of year sees the incidents, the SENCO sees the plan, the attendance lead sees the absences, and nobody sees all three together.

What does the 2026 guidance expect?

The guidance says that where suspensions are becoming a regular occurrence for a pupil, headteachers and schools should consider whether suspension alone is an effective sanction and whether additional strategies need to be put in place. It expects a reintegration strategy after a suspension, communicated at a reintegration meeting before or at the start of the pupil's return, and it is clear that a pupil should not be kept out of the classroom because parents cannot or will not attend that meeting.

Where a pupil has an EHC plan, schools should contact the local authority about behaviour concerns at an early stage and consider asking for an early annual review before deciding to suspend. A pupil cannot be suspended for more than 45 school days in one academic year, and days spent out of school before an exclusion is cancelled still count. Governing boards are expected to look at instances of repeat suspension and whether there are patterns.

What breaks the cycle?

Decide in advance what changes after the second suspension. The behaviour policy should say that a second suspension triggers a review, owned by one named leader working with the SENCO, rather than another step on the ladder.

Ask what the behaviour is for. Look at when, where, with whom and in which lessons it happens, and what happens straight after. The pattern usually points to a lesson, a time of day or a particular demand.

Change something in the classroom before the pupil returns. A reintegration plan with two specific changes, reviewed after two weeks, does more than a long plan nobody reads.

Check the need. Review the SEN support plan, consider an EHC needs assessment where the evidence points that way, and for a pupil with an EHC plan, speak to the local authority before the decision, not after it.

Look across the records. The same pupils tend to appear in restraint records, part time timetables, base use and attendance. Reading them together shows whether a pupil is being moved around the school's systems rather than having the need met.

Give governors the pupils, not just the total. The number of pupils with three or more suspensions, the days each has lost, and what has changed for each of them.

Sources: DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England, 2024 to 25, published 9 July 2026; DfE, Suspension and permanent exclusion guidance, in force from 26 July 2026.