Coping with violent pupils

Smaller classes and specialist support are needed to deal with violent pupils as young as four, say teachers.

But they insist that taking children out of school should still be used to protect other pupils and staff, despite Ofsted calling on primary schools to avoid suspending young children.

The Ofsted inquiry discovered that some schools had suspended pupils for swearing, biting, kicking, hitting, throwing chairs, climbing over the school fence, running away from staff and even inappropriate sexual behaviour.

But it found that whether or not schools excluded pupils depended on their ability to cope with bad behaviour and the support they received from local authorities.

It recommended that schools minimise exclusions by developing ways to manage behaviour.

Ofsted is also appealing for urgent Government advice for schools on identifying sexual behaviour and when to refer a child to social services.

In 2007, 4,000 children under five were excluded from school or nursery.