by Jess Banham

A Kent education expert warned today pupils with special needs are getting a raw deal in our schools – and make up more than half of all children expelled.

Former head teacher Peter Read claims pupils with learning difficulties in the county are far more likely to be expelled from class than those without.

Figures from the last academic year reveal 22 secondary school children with statements of Special Education Needs (SEN) were expelled out of a total of 168.

A further 68 were also children with learning difficulties.

That means more than half the total number of children expelled had some form of learning difficulty.

The stats, released under the Freedom of Information Act, also showed nearly all of Kent’s 34 primary school exclusions were children with SEN.

A further 13 had statements and another 18 had other difficulties.

That’s despite government policy that "schools should avoid permanently excluding pupils with statements, other than in the most exceptional circumstances".

Mr Read, a former president of the National Association of Head Teachers Kent branch, said: "There is a major concern about what happens to these children.

"They finish up in secondary schools that are struggling because they’re the ones with vacancies and that just doubles the problems in those particular schools."

He added more could be done to keep these children in school.

"In Kent I believe there is not sufficient in-service training of teachers in how to manage children with disabilities.

"Given these alarming figures, we ought to be making more special provision for children, where there is the expertise available to support them properly."

However, KCC cabinet member for education, learning and skills, Cllr Sarah Hohler (Con), said: "I have every confidence that Kent’s head teachers are using exclusions appropriately and fairly and it is worth noting that the number of permanent exclusions has reduced in recent times.

"Excluding a child or young person is a last resort and tends to be after other preventative options have been exhausted.

"We monitor trends for exclusions regularly and work with schools to offer any assistance that may be required."

In contrast to the Kent statistics, last year schools run by Medway council did not expel a single child with a statement of SEN.