Primary School Children Face Serious Disciplinary Action

Nearly 2000 primary school children were sent home last year following serious disciplinary matters - including 75 whose behaviour was so bad they were told not to bother returning.
In many cases the disciplinary action was a last resort by desperate principals - not designed to teach the child a lesson but to get help for them or protect other students following violent, antisocial and occasionally sexually motivated behaviour.
Figures released to the Herald under the Official Information Act reveal that in the 11 months to November more than 21,000 school students faced serious disciplinary action.
Of those, 1874 were aged under 10 - including 170 5- and 6-year-olds - and 75 were banned from returning to their school after going before the board of trustees for a disciplinary hearing.