DUAL HERITAGE girls who are mixed white and black Caribbean were three times more likely to be excluded from school than white British girls between 2020-21, research has shown.

The figures obtained by Agenda, a charity supporting vulnerable women and girls, revealed that the number of permanent exclusions for school children in England between the ages of 4-18-years-old decreased from just over 5,000 between 2019-20 to just under 4,000 in the years 2020-21.

However, in Freedom of Information requests sent to the Department of Education have shown exclusion rates among mixed white and black Caribbean girls during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic remained the same. 

Schoolgirls from Gypsy/Roma backgrounds were also disproportionately affected by school suspensions with up to 1,338 barred from classrooms in the years 2020-21 – three times the rate of their white British peers. 

Gypsy/Roma girls were also suspended at a higher rate than any other ethnic group in comparison to their white British female counterparts. Mixed white and Black Caribbean girls also faced a skyrocketing number of school suspensions at almost twice the rate compared to white British pupils.

The figures come after the Child Q scandal, a black schoolgirl who was strip-searched while menstruating,  at her south-east London school which sparked community outcry and an overhaul on how black girls are treated in education. 

Indy Cross, Chief Executive of Agenda, urged the government to do better for mixed race Caribbean girls and to stamp out the adultification of black children like Child Q. 

“Kicking a child out of school closes doors to opportunities and can define the child’s life. School  serves a vital social purpose and should provide a safe space for girls, especially those who have  suffered trauma, such as domestic abuse, sexual violence, criminal exploitation and racism,” said Ms Cross. 

“It’s devastating to see that suspensions and exclusions for girls from some minoritised communities  continue at a troublingly high rate. It seems that discipline in school has been felt most sharply by  mixed white and Black Caribbean girls and girls from Gypsy and Roma communities. 

“And if we’ve  learnt anything from cases like the girl known as ‘Child Q’, we know discriminatory treatment based on racial and gender stereotypes happens too often. We must do better than this. We call on the government to be transparent about these figures, alongside its exclusion data. It’s just one way to start addressing the racial disparities.”

In the year 2020-21, suspension rates for girls increased by 20% followed by just 11% for boys. The majority of school exclusions and suspensions are understood to have been triggered by “persistent disruptive behaviour” by pupils. 

One 16-year-old girl known as M, said: “School don’t take time to hear [me] and give me a voice to speak. I feel like school is just quick to  kick me out and not understand me… For me, I don’t want to go back because they have already  made me feel like I won’t make it.”

“Being kicked out of school made my life a hundred times worse… I felt misunderstood and  alone… Not understanding mixed black and black girls is a choice that impacts us for the rest of  our lives,” said another 16-year-old girl called J. 

Ebinehita Iyere, founder of Milk Honey Bees, an organisation that supports black and mixed white, and black African and Caribbean girls who have been excluded and those at risk of exclusion, said that their needs are being misunderstood.  

“There are many underlying factors impacting higher exclusion rates for these girls. One factor is a lack  of understanding of their wellbeing and needs. The greater a school’s proportion of white and black  Caribbean and black girls, the higher the likelihood of punitive exclusionary discipline in response to  student behaviours deemed disruptive and problematic,” she said.

“‘Adultification’ means unfair assumptions are made about girls’ behaviour and they’re routinely treated too harshly rather than  having their wellbeing and specific needs addressed.  

“But there are some solutions: research and training within schools led by specialist organisations, creating safe spaces and most importantly, giving girls a voice. We need to hear from mixed white and black Caribbean and black girls as they have the solutions.”

The charity Agenda are calling for the DfE to revise a “gender-specific approach” to dealing with exclusions and suspensions throughout schools and colleges to better support black and minoritised girls. 

They are also calling on the DfE to routinely publish data about suspensions and exclusions data with  analysis by age, sex and ethnicity, while they and other local authorities should contribute to funding trauma-informed services for girls from diverse backgrounds with specific cultural and gender needs.

The Voice has approached the Department of Education for comment.