Isle of Wight schools had some of the highest covid exclusion rates in the south of England last year.
Figures from the Department for Education show Island schools gave pupils breaking rules, which were introduced to slow the spread of the virus, as a reason for 168 temporary exclusions.
The Island had the fourth most in the south. Only three local authority areas in the region had more exclusions: West Sussex (274), Somerset (240) and Kent (212).
Of the pupils sent home for covid breaches, 19 were primary pupils and 149 were secondary school students.
The Isle of Wight Council said "relatively high" exclusion rates were because of new coding introduced by Government.
It said this allowed school leaders to issue suspensions for ‘wilful and repeated transgression of protective measures.’
A council spokesperson said:
"These would have been issued when students failed to follow public health safety instructions designed to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. These factors contributed to the relatively high use of fixed term suspensions on the Island.”
Cabinet member for Children's Services, Education and Lifelong Skills, Councillor Debbie Andre said she expects figures to decrease now that protective measures aren't in place.
She said:
“I can understand why school leaders took a harder line with students during the pandemic to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, but we need to ensure that the high use of suspension reduces now that protective measures are no longer required.
"Children and young people have had a disrupted education over the past two years and next academic year we need to get back to business as usual with the emphasis on ensuring high attendance and providing outstanding learning opportunities. Headteachers have access to high quality advice in relation to behaviour management and can draw upon a wide repertoire of approaches to change behaviours where this falls below expectations.
"Fixed-term suspensions should only be used as a last resort.”
In total, there were 1,376 temporary exclusions and 11 permanent exclusions on the Island in 2020/2021.
Persistent disruptive behaviour (30 per cent), verbal abuse or threatening behaviour against an adult (23 per cent) and physical assault against a pupil (16 per cent) were the most common reasons given.
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