More school pupils face suspension

More students were stood down or suspended from state and state-integrated schools last year than in 2004, latest Ministry of Education statistics show.

The stand-down rate was 30 per 1000 students, up from 28 per 1000 in 2004. The suspension rate was 7 per 1000 students, up from 6.5 in 2004.

A third of schools did not use stand-downs and three-quarters did not suspend any students.

Ministry operational policy manager Jim Matheson said the reason stand-down rates rose was that schools favoured the method over traditional suspensions.