Pupil exclusions

But what about the children who merely want to be different, who opt not to wear school uniform, or who choose to adorn themselves with make-up or jewellery? Should they be sent home and deprived of their education when they are doing no harm to anyone else?

Certainly not, according to the Children’s Commissioner for England, Maggie Atkinson, who says it is never appropriate to exclude children for “minor infringements”.

Yet who is Dr Atkinson to say that such infringements are minor? Schools set their own uniform policies for good reasons and the pupil who refuses to follow them is openly defying the school’s authority and setting a bad example to other pupils, one which can foster a corrosive culture of disrespect and indiscipline within the school.

Just as schools must have the freedom to set their own rules, they should also have the right to discipline those who break them as they see fit. They should decide on a suitable punishment with due consideration for the circumstances of the offence and the record of the pupil involved, but they should not have to defer to the beliefs of the Children’s Commissioner.

At a time when schools are being encouraged to become more independent, with their own rules on homework and even deciding how much their teachers are paid, this freedom should not be impinged by yet more centralised diktats, whoever they come from.