Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve school behaviour.

Behaviour is a priority for the Government. All schools should be calm, safe and supportive environments where all pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.

The Department has an ambitious programme of work on improving behaviour in schools which aims to provide clarity and support for headteachers and staff. This includes the recently updated suite of guidance: ‘Behaviour in Schools’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools--2, the ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-exclusion, and the ‘Searching, Screening and Confiscation’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation. These are practical tools to help schools create environments which young people want to attend.

The Department is investing £10 million through the Behaviour Hubs programme to enable schools with exemplary behaviour cultures to support schools that want and need to turn around their behaviour, alongside a central offer of support and taskforce of advisers. The programme will support up to 700 partner schools during the three years it is scheduled to run.