Exclusion of black pupils in our schools

The persistent underachievement of pupils from some ethnic minority backgrounds
in our schools is unacceptable. Government want to ensure that all education
provision, in the widest sense, plans for and takes into account the needs of minority
ethnic pupils as part of all strategic planning and development.

The ‘Aiming High, Raising the Attainment of Minority Ethnic Pupils’ strategy (DfES
2003) gives greater impetus to ensure that the needs of minority ethnic pupils are
being met with effective and targeted mainstream provision.

The “Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners” (DfES 2004) makes it clear that Government is wholly committed to promoting equality of opportunity in our schools and to narrowing the educational achievement gap that exists between pupils from some minority ethnic groups and their peers.

The creation of initiatives such as the Ethnic Minority Achievement grant (EMAG) has helped DfES make great progress to ensure minority ethnic children are supported and have an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential and succeed. DfES is aware that some minority ethnic pupils do well in schools and the latest Government statistics published in November 2006 showed that the percentage of Black Caribbean pupils achieving 5 good GCSEs is up 10 percentage points since 2003, compared with a national increase of 6 percentage points.

You can download the report here