Education: Gold Coast school with most expulsions revealed. Full list
A no-nonsense Gold Coast principal is expelling on average one unruly student every week – and he has the backing of parents. READ THE TALE
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A NO-nonsense Gold Coast principal is expelling on average one unruly student every week – and he has the backing of parents.
New State Government data shows Pacific Pines State High School (PPSHS) cancelled the enrolment of 51 students last year, more than double the next school.
Overall, 281 students were excluded or had their enrolments cancelled at Gold Coast public schools in 2019, 17 per cent less than the year before.
PPSHS principal Mark Peggrem said he planned to continue to engage with the school community on their high expectations for student behaviour.
Proof in the tough stance was reflected in soaring enrolments, he said. The school now has 1840 students as of February this year.
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Last month, PPSHS announced plans to introduce weekend detention as a new discipline alternative, which had the support of parents.
“At our recent parent forum we had great feedback regarding our plans to increase our support for students and parents,” Mr Peggrem said. “It is great to see that Pacific Pines State High parents, teachers and students support our strong stance towards poor behaviour.
“The community’s support is reflected in the school’s substantial increase in enrolments over the last five years. Students are happier and performing at higher levels than ever before.”
A mother of two students at PPSHS said she backed the school’s strong stance, and the numbers reflected an active behaviour management strategy at the school.
“Parents appreciate the hard-line approach,” she said. “The numbers don’t reflect bad behaviour, they reflect the tolerance of teachers and they allow those who want to be there the chance to learn. It is very popular for that reason.”
A student’s enrolment may only be cancelled when they are in Year 11 or 12 and are not longer required to attend school.
Keebra Park State High School’s 22 exclusions/cancellations for 2019 was the second highest on the Coast behind PPSHS. Keebra has 813 students.
Nerang State High School expelled 14 students.
More than a dozen Gold Coast primary and high schools had no expulsions.
A spokesman for the Education Department said a majority of Queensland state school students never received a disciplinary absence during their 13 years of education.
In 2019, approximately one in five state schools reported no disciplinary absences being used during the entire year.
“Additionally, the total number of disciplinary absences fell in 2019, after several years of annual increases,” he said.
In total, there were 82,944 disciplinary absences reported in 2019, 2718 from 2018.
“Only around 7 per cent of the student population are subject to disciplinary absences. This demonstrates that strategies and boundaries put in place by our principals and teachers are effective.”
GOLD COAST SUSPENSIONS 2019
GOLD COAST teachers are less likely to suspend students than in years prior, new state education data has revealed.
In the latest release from the Queensland Government shows that in 2019 local students faced 6154 suspensions as punishment for poor behaviour, a drop of 10 per cent on the year before.
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Across the city the student to incident rate sits at an average of 0.10 suspensions per child, down from an average rate of 0.11 last year.
The data comes as some local schools move away from traditional punishment opting for alternatives like community service, in school isolation and detention.
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In July, Pacific Pines State High School was the latest educator to reveal its plans to pursue alternative behaviour management steps by proposing Saturday detentions.
Locally, Nerang State School topped the list of highest rate of suspensions with 117 incidents in the 2019 school year, out of its 284 students – an average rate of .41 suspensions per child.
Average suspension rates are calculated by dividing the number of suspension incidents with the school population.
Nerang State High School followed with an average rate of .27 suspensions per student or 295 incidents among its 1097 students.
The lowest average on the Gold Coast occurred at Pimpama State School with just one suspension occurring in the last school year.
Queensland Academy of Health Sciences, was the high school with the lowest average rate of incidents, recording just seven suspensions in 2019.
Originally published as Education: Gold Coast school with most expulsions revealed. Full list