MORE than 300 Barnsley youngsters have been suspended from their schools due to racist, homophobic or disablist abuse, the Chronicle can reveal.
The shocking figures, which were recorded between 2020 and 2025, came from the Department for Education and show that 373 children were guilty of so-called prejudicial bullying which led to their suspension.
More than 32,000 kids were suspended over the five-year period, with 481 being permanently excluded during the period.
There’s been a 68 per cent rise in mentions of abuse linked to race, gender identity, sexuality or disability between spring term 2021/22 and spring term 2024/25, excluding 2020/21 due to the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on school attendance.
Education bosses blamed the high amounts on being driven by cuts to anti-bullying initiatives in schools and wider societal issues.
Charities, unions and teachers also cited less tolerance of discrimination and discriminatory language in schools, heightened awareness and a growth in the use of suspensions overall as reasons for the increase.
Martha Boateng, director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, said: “Exclusions and suspensions are not a measure of how much bullying is happening, but they are a measure of how schools respond once behaviour starts to escalate.
“It’s clear identity-based bullying and issues are affecting large numbers of children.
“When bullying targets someone’s identity, it really gets to the core of who they are, and it goes against the Equality Act and can have legal consequences there.
“We know the ramifications of that and of how children feel about themselves as they get older, and about who they are, which is nothing they can change.
“That can have a massive impact on self-esteem, mental health and overall wellbeing well into adulthood.
“We know children are exposed and see the behaviour adults post online - if we’re posting things that are racist, sexist and homophobic, children are going to be watching and seeing that, whether we like it or not.( “Children are seeing this rhetoric and therefore it’s likely that it will trickle down into school life.”
A total of 285 kids have been suspended for racism alone, the figures revealed.
Pepe Di’lasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said schools only exclude or suspend pupils as a ‘last resort’ but would not tolerate discriminatory behaviour.
“Schools only exclude or suspend pupils as a last resort, but they have to safeguard the welfare of other pupils and staff, and they absolutely will not tolerate discriminatory behaviour.
“They do a great deal of work to educate young people about the importance of mutual respect and community cohesion, but the problems we are seeing are huge societal issues which cannot be solved solely in the classroom.
“There are a number of factors which are feeding into this situation including inflammatory content shared on social media, and the divisive rhetoric we hear from some politicians and commentators.
“It feels as though we are living in an increasingly abrasive era.
“We would encourage people in public life to be careful about their language and the message they are sending to young people.
“Words matter - we would also welcome the opportunity to
discuss with the government how we might work together to tackle racist attitudes and behaviour and promote community cohesion.”
