Worksop secondary school has highest exclusion rates in county

Department for Education figures show Outwood Academy Portland, on Netherton Road, had the highest rates of excluded students across the 299 schools in Nottinghamshire with at least 100 pupils in the academic year of 2020/21.

The secondary school, led by Outwood Grange Academies Trust, gave no permanent exclusions, but carried out 931 temporary exclusions – a rate of 59 exclusions per 100 pupils.

Outwood Academy Valley, on Valley Road, came in second place with a rate of 37.5 exclusions per 100 pupils, followed by The Samworth Church Academy, in Mansfield, with 37.4, Hall Park Academy, in Eastwood, with 28.8, and The Dukeries Academy, in Ollerton, with 27.

At the other end of the scale, 135 schools in the county did not exclude a single pupil during the academic year.

Outwood Academy Portland, currently rated as ‘outstanding’ by education watchdog Ofsted, was brought under scrutiny in January this year by Nottinghamshire County Council’s children and young people’s committee for its high rates of suspensions.

The meeting revealed there were 1,279 suspensions at the school in the academic year 2019/20.

A spokesman for the school at the time said it had reduced its number of suspensions by ‘more than a quarter’ since 2019/20, and continues to reduce the rates ‘year-on-year’.

The academy has been approached for comment on the latest figures.

In a previous statement, a spokesman said the academy delivers ‘outstanding education’, based around the belief ‘all students deserve the very best education possible and nobody should have their education jeopardised by poor behaviour’.