Pupil suspensions continue to surge across state secondary schools in Medway.

Across the Towns the number of non-selectives using fixed-term suspensions has increased in all but one school.

So far this year there has been a total of 2838 incidents where a pupil has been temporarily taken out of the classroom environment.

And while this figure will be swollen by the same students being suspended multiple times, this was a 51% increase on the rate of the previous year (1871). There was also a four-fold increase in expulsions from 11 in 2021 to 47 this year.

A suspension is temporary and is where you're taken out of school for a set length of time. Whereas being expelled is permanent and you'll have to find a new school.

The latest data comes following a Freedom of Information request by former Gravesend Grammar head Peter Read.

Earlier this month it was revealed the average suspension rate in Kent's secondary schools both before and after Covid is around 11% – the same as three years previously, with a dip for the two Covid years.

However, in Medway there has been a surge in suspensions, almost half of which came from the mixed comprehensives, the Victory Academy and The Robert Napier School.

The Victory Academy in Chatham has clocked the highest number with 760 recorded this year alone (the equivalent of 72% of its roll).

This was up from 403 suspensions the year before and just 66 at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

It was a similar picture at The Robert Napier School which has seen 605 suspensions this year (the equivalent of 64% of its roll).

This was nearly triple the figure the Gillingham school recorded in the two years prior when it was 206 and 243 respectively (between 23% and 28%).

Both school years were impacted by the pandemic, with the spring term in 2020-21 disrupted by lockdown measures that meant only key worker and vulnerable children were able to attend.

The next highest suspension rate recorded was Waterfront UTC – which has three aged year groups, 9-11. It recorded 101 suspensions but as a percentage of its roll this amounted to 54%,

Elsewhere, among the single sex schools, the two girl's schools – Rainham Girls and Walderslade Girls – recorded 352 and 282 respectively, and the Howard School, which only admits boys, had 100 suspensions.

The boys school has seen its own exclusion rate decrease annually from 24% (the second highest in 2018-19) to 8% in the past year.

There were also 47 permanent exclusions, now called expulsions, which is the same figure as in Kent, an area six times larger.

Of these, nearly a quarter came from the The Robert Napier School (11).

No Medway grammar school has five per cent or more exclusions, with Fort Pitt registering a total of six, and Sir Joseph Williamson's nine across the whole school throughout the year – fewer than one for every hundred pupils in the two schools.

The Robert Napier School serves some of the most deprived wards in Medway.

Former head teacher Andrew Minchin, chief executive at the Beyond Schools Trust which runs the school, said it has high expectations of behaviour of students in all of its schools.

He said: "By maintaining and encouraging high standards of discipline, it enables the school to deliver the best quality of education, which is crucial not only for schools serving deprived communities, but also for all schools following the educational challenges presented post-pandemic.

"The school follows Department for Education guidance on suspensions and exclusions, and this forms just a part of a far wider programme of strategies employed to maintain high standards of behaviour."

The Trust says it is committed to an "inclusive approach to education" and was one of the few in Medway which was represented at a recent inclusion strategy meeting with Medway council.

"The Robert Napier School offers an extensive range of inclusion strategies to support its students with complex social, emotional, and behavioural needs," he added.

"It was one of the Medway schools at the forefront of commencing Trauma Informed Practice training over a year ago, to ensure its staff are trained in supporting students with complex needs.

"The Trust is committed to expanding these strategies further and supporting the local authority's improvements with their own inclusion support strategies, and particularly SEND support, across the primary and secondary phases to ensure students get the appropriate support at the earliest opportunity."

A spokesperson for the Thinking Schools Academy Trust, which runs the Victory Academy, also responded to its poor disciplinary record.

They said: “We uphold the highest standards in every aspect of school life, including the behaviour of our students.

"Where there is unacceptable behaviour, we work with students and put in place plans so they can improve.

"However, as a last resort and in a very small proportion of cases, we sometimes suspend students and, if this suspension is permanent, we ensure they find alternative education."

"Where there is unacceptable behaviour, we work with students and put in place plans so they can improve."

The Trust says it expects suspensions to fall this year due to its actions.

“The reality is that poor behaviour is hugely disruptive to other students and it is simply not fair that their education suffers," they added.

"In these circumstances, we have to take action to create a safe, calm and supportive environment in which young people can experience high-quality learning and achieve great things, and the vast majority of students and families agree with us.”

The number of suspensions is expected to drop across the board.

Ofsted has, in recent years, changed its methodology when inspecting schools.

It means instead of exam grades carrying such a high premium, it now looks at the curriculum and behaviour as key barometers to a school's success or otherwise.

But education expert Peter Read, who has now retired from running his KentAdvice.co.uk website, has raised concerns over the "tough love" disciplinary approaches taken and the enduring impact of Covid.

"Make no mistake the mental health issues brought about by Covid over the last couple of years have not gone away," he said.

"They are going to leave long term effects on many children.

"Unfortunately some schools seem to have said tough we are going to come in hard on misbehaviour. I shudder to think what kid of effect that is going to have long-term.

He added: "I am deeply aware of the additional pressure on Medway schools, too much of which is an area of deep social deprivation, amplified by the consequences of Covid, which has given children a very uncertain couple of years and left many with severe mental health problems.

"I cannot imagine what it is like to teach in such a climate, but am aware that some schools appear to manage the challenges of pupil behaviour much better than others.

"Medway has an additional problem in that virtually all of its non-selective schools are bulging at the seams, and I understand that there are more families with their children moving into the district on a regular basis.

"Amongst other challenges, Medway Council has to find alternative schools for any child who is expelled, which is a colossal problem."