The rate at which pupils are suspended and excluded from school has fallen year-on-year for the first time since the Covid pandemic. But despite the picture improving overall, schools have recorded more suspensions for racist abuse and sexual misconduct. Annual data released by the Department for Education today shows the suspension rate fell to 10.88 in the 2024-25 academic year, a decrease from 11.31 in 2023-24. The rate of exclusions has also seen a slight decrease from 0.13 in 2023-24 to 0.12 in 2024-25, falling to below 10,000 in total. Suspensions and exclusions saw a sharp rise after the pandemic, with ministers sounding the alarm over more than 950,000 suspensions in 2023-24. This fell to 913,000 in 2024-25. However despite the overall lower rates recorded this year, primary schools have experienced an increase in the rate of suspensions. Certain categories on the rise Comparing reasons for suspensions in 2023-24 and 2024-25, there has been an eight per cent increase in those recorded for racist abuse, 12 per cent for sexual misconduct, and four per cent increase in suspensions for having an offensive weapon. The largest increase was seen for pupils who were found to be “wilful and repeated transgression of protective measures in place to protect public health”. This was introduced in 2020-21 as a measure during the pandemic. For permanent exclusions, there was a nine per cent increase in pupils excluded for carrying an offensive weapon. FSM-pupils and SEND rates remain high Pupils eligible for free school meals or with SEND continued to be more likely suspended or permanently excluded in 2024-25. The suspension rate for FSM-eligible pupils was four times that of pupils who were not eligible (26.66 and 5.41). And FSM-eligible pupils had a rate of permanent exclusions six times higher than non-FSM peers (0.32 and 0.05). Pupils with an education, health and care plan had a suspension rate of 26.45, while pupils with SEN support had a rate of 28.86. Year 9 pupils continued to have the highest rate of suspension at 30.01, and year 9 and 10 had the highest rates of permanent exclusion at 0.35. The suspension rate for boys was more than 1.5 times that of girls last year. Boys also had a permanent exclusion rate more than double that of girls.