Concerns Raised Over Powys Education Chiefs Setting High School Exclusion Target

CONCERNS have been raised with Powys education chiefs that they have set too high a target for school exclusions.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on Thursday, October 15, councillors and an independent lay member went through a performance report that looked at how services had been delivered against a number of targets.
These targets are contained in the Corporate and Strategic Equality Plan 2023–2027 update report for quarter one of 2026/2027, which covers April to the end of June.
Several of the measures in the report related to education and schools.
Cllr Claire Hall (Liberal Democrat – Crickhowell, with Cwmdu and Tretower) brought up “Measure 327”, which relates to the number of fixed-term exclusions of school pupils in Powys.
Cllr Hall said: “I was a bit concerned about us having a target of 750 for that, which I find astonishing.
“We don’t really want to have any fixed-term exclusions if everything is working as we want it to.
“I worry whether some individuals are skewing figures.”
“Why do we have that figure as a target and is it appropriate?” asked Cllr Hall.
Education support services manager Sarah Quibell said: “The 750 that’s put in for exclusions was a benchmarking target and we have been reducing those exclusions year on year.
“There was a peak back in 2023/2024 when there was just over 900 and that came down to 714 and has reduced in the last academic year as well.”
Head of additional learning needs, inclusion and wellbeing Judith Hickey added: “We want all our children to be in school and none of them to be excluded and that’s our ultimate goal.
“We are making great strides in reducing exclusions over the last two years and are making sustained reductions and our ultimate goal is to have nobody excluded – we’re on this road to make these reductions as quickly as possible.”
The corporate plan shows that Measure 327 is reported on annually during quarter two, which runs from July to the end of September.
This coincides with both the end of one academic year in July and the start of the next in September.
It would be expected that the figure would appear in the next quarterly report.
Looking back at the plans shows that there were 696 exclusions reported in Q2 2025/2026, 897 in 2024/2025 and 867 in 2023/2024.
Recommendations and comments from the committee will be provided to cabinet. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​