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10 Jul 2025

The Department for Education have today (10/07/25) released updated statistics for suspensions and permanent exclusions across state-funded schools in England for the academic year 2023/24.

The data shows:

  • Exclusions of girls are continuing to rise, with a 10% increase from the previous year (2022/23). The vast majority of these exclusions - 94% - occur in secondary education, highlighting this as a critical stage for targeted support and systemic change. (1)
  • The rate of increase in exclusions for girls is outpacing the growth of the female pupil population, suggesting deeper systemic issues may be emerging. Over the past three years, there has been a 71% increase in the exclusion rate for girls, despite overall pupil numbers remaining relatively stable. This indicates that the risk of exclusion for girls is rising sharply. (2)

In total across all genders, there were 955,000 suspensions last academic year, a 21% increase on the previous year. There was also a 16% increase in permanent exclusions, a total of 10,900. The most common reason given for both suspensions and permanent exclusions was ‘permanent disruptive behaviour’.

In response, Indy Cross, CEO of Agenda Alliance said:

“The ongoing rise in girls’ exclusions from school is really concerning: these figures just continue to climb year on year. We’re also concerned about potentially disproportionate impacts on Black and minoritised girls; we have made Freedom of Information requests in previous years that have repeatedly shown some groups of minoritised girls being excluded at significantly higher rates than their white peers.

We’ve evidenced in our research that girls often connect being excluded to experiences of violence, abuse and trauma, and feel punished for ‘misbehaving’ when demonstrating signs of distress. Girls are facing an onslaught of sexual violence in school, and recent NHS data shows that the share of young women reporting a mental health condition has risen to the highest on record, the worst affected of any group.

Given the limited availability of specialist support and practice for girls and young women, it’s no wonder these exclusion figures show no signs of slowing. To turn this tide, the government must invest in expanding access to support services for girls, and properly resourcing staff in schools to respond.”

Further information:

  1. Figures are based on published DfE data on permanent exclusions in England for the academic years 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24:In 2022/23, a total of 2,895 girls were permanently excluded from schools in England. In 2023/24, this figure rose to 3,190 girls, an increase of 295, equivalent to a 10.19% rise.
  2. 2996 girls were excluded from secondary schools, compared to 180 from primary, and 14 from special educational settings.
  3. In 2021/22, girls were excluded at a rate of 0.45 per 1,000 pupils across England; by 2023/24, it had risen to a rate of 0.77, representing a 71.11% increase over two years. The exclusion rate was calculated using the total headcount of female pupils in state-funded primary, secondary, and special schools in England, as reported in the same DfE dataset.
  4. In July 2022, Agenda Alliance asked 157 local authorities in England and Wales, “Does your local authority have a local strategy for Children and Young people? If yes, does your strategy include reference to the needs of ‘girls’ and/or ‘young women’?” Only 15% of local authorities who responded included any commitments to specific provision for girls and young women, such as funding and commissioning of gender-specialist services. 60% provided no gender-specialist services for girls and young women. 90% did not provide any gender-specialist support Black, Asian and minoritised girls and young women. (Agenda Alliance (2022), Pushed Out, Left Out)

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