About this report

The suspension report provides a high-level view of a school’s suspension data.

Executive Directors and Directors, Educational Leadership can view all schools within their Network. Principals can only see their own school data.

The suspension report provides school leaders with an overview of suspension data for their school. It supports them to make informed decisions about wellbeing by analysing the characteristics of suspended students.

The suspension report supports the collection of a school’s entry of suspensions, formal cautions and potential expulsions. On a daily level, the suspension report represents a data set that is not validated until the Suspension and Expulsion collection is conducted at the end of each Semester. At this time, suspension data may adjust slightly once anomalies and errors are rectified. Once the data is validated, a high-level suspension and expulsion factsheet is published publicly twice per year.

The data in these reports are consistent with the department’s Student Behaviour policy 2024 and the Suspension and Expulsion Procedures. It also reflects the previous Student Behaviour policy between T4 2022 and 2023 and the previous Student Discipline in Government Schools Policy prior to T4 2022.

Changes to the Suspension report

From the beginning of Term 1, 2024, the Student Behaviour policy and Suspension and Expulsion Procedures, replacing the previous Student Behaviour Policy and Student Behaviour Procedures which were in place from T4 2022 – 2023. This includes changes to the grounds of suspension, the removal of DEL approvals on extensions and the number of times a student can be suspended in a calendar year, the removal of a formal caution needing to be in place prior to a suspension being issued, the introduction of immediate suspensions, and the ability to carry a suspension over a calendar year in consultation with a DEL. DEL approval is still needed for students who reach the maximum number of days allowed in a calendar year (30 days for K-2 and 45 days for 3-12).

For the first time, the suspension report will be a single report that allows users to filter down to student-level information. It will include previous student-level information and will show metrics for formal caution data, when a student receives their first kindergarten suspension and when there's a notice of a potential expulsion.

As the new grounds for suspension are vastly different to the two policies previously in place, the suspension report is now split into three:

• Student Behaviour Policy – new suspension report starting from Term 1 2024
• Student Behaviour Policy – suspension report between Term 4, 2022 and 2023
• Student Discipline Policy – historical suspension report prior to Term 4, 2022

Note:

• For shared enrolment students and students who have changed schools, the ‘Total Days Suspended’ figure represents the total days the student has been suspended, whereas the ‘Suspension actual days’ represents the specific subset of suspensions at your school.
• For shared enrolment students, where a student is suspended by School A and School B chooses not to carry out the suspension, School A will see this in the ‘Suspension Actual Days’ being less than the ‘Suspension Planned Days’.
• For shared enrolment students, where a student is suspended by School A and School B carries out the suspension, the ‘Suspension Actual Days’ & ‘Suspension Planned Days’ for School A should match the duration of the suspension. School B is not expected to see a record of the suspension as it is associated with School A.
• When isolating data in the ‘Student List’ & ‘Student behaviour summary’ Tables, press & hold control <CTRL> then click the desired row.

Student Behaviour Policy commencing Term 1 2024

Under the Student Behaviour policy and Suspension and Expulsion Procedures, the following grounds for suspension for a behaviour of concern include, but are not limited to:

• continued/persistent disobedience and/or disruptive behaviour
• malicious damage to or theft of property
• verbal abuse
• bullying and cyberbullying
• misuse of technology
• discrimination, including that based on sex, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Due to the immediate and/or significant risk of harm to students or staff, it is important principals consider issuing an immediate suspension to any student who engages in serious behaviour or behaviours of concern that could include but are not limited to:

• being in possession of, uses or supplies tobacco, vaping devices, alcohol and e-cigarettes
• being in possession of, uses or supplies a suspected illegal/restricted substance
• being in possession of, or using weapons including knives (excluding Kirpans, in line with guidance set out in Legal Issues Bulletin 22 – Knives in schools) and firearms
• using an implement as a weapon
• seriously threatening or engaging in physically violent behaviour
• engaging in serious criminal behaviour related to the school
• engaging in sexual harassment, sexual assault or other sexualised behaviour that may pose a risk of or has caused physical, psychological or emotional harm to others.

Note: The report will show Behaviours of Concern – Other and Serious Behaviours of Concern – Other. This should only be used if the suspension does not fall into the suspension grounds above.

Note: The maximum duration for an initial suspension is 5 school days for a student in K-2 and 10 school days for a student in 3-12. This can be extended for blocks of 5 school days if the number of consecutive school days are insufficient to implement appropriate supports for the student.

What does the Suspension report provide?

In historical reports, the report is represented with multiple report pages. Commencing in the 2024 report, there will be a single report page with the ability to filter down to individual student information. Some filters below are new, and some only appear in the historical reports. They include:

• Executive Director Group (all reports)

• Network name (all reports)

• School type (new 2024 report)

• School name (all reports)

• Calendar years (historical reports only; be sure to view the correct report)

• Term (Student Behaviour Policy – T4 2022-2023 & 2024)

• Outcome type (new – 2024 report)

• Behaviour of concern (new – 2024 report)

• Scholastic year (all reports)

• Gender (all reports)

• Aboriginality (all reports)

• EALD (all reports)

• Students with X suspensions (new – 2024 report)

• Grounds (Student Behaviour Policy T4 2022 – 2023 only)

• Descriptor (Student Behaviour Policy T4 2022 – 2023 only)

• Reason category name: Short or Long (for Student Discipline Policy pre-T4 2022 only)

• Reason name (for Student Discipline Policy pre-T4 2022 only)

Suspension Overview

This page displays four tables:

• Number of suspensions for each calendar year in each category of suspension
• Suspensions per enrolled student, shown as a percentage of students per cohort for each calendar year in each category of suspension
• Total suspension days for each calendar year in each category of suspension
• Average suspension length for each calendar year in each category of suspension.

Suspension Length Distribution

This page displays a box and whisker chart for each reason for suspension, including:

• Minimum and maximum number of days suspended

• Mean and median number of days suspended

• The interquartile range for each reason for suspension

Suspension by Scholastic Year

This page displays four tables:

• Number of suspensions for each calendar year for each scholastic year

• Suspensions per enrolled student, shown as a percentage for each calendar year and scholastic year

• Total suspension days for each calendar year in each scholastic year

• Average suspension length for each calendar year for each scholastic year

These four charts may be filtered by suspension type.

Suspension by Aboriginality

This page displays three tables:

• Number of suspensions for each calendar year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and students who are neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander

• Total suspension days for each calendar year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and students who are neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander

• Average suspension length for each calendar year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and students who are neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander

These three charts may be filtered by suspension type.

Suspension by Gender

This page displays three tables:

• Number of suspensions for each calendar year for female and male students

• Total suspension days for each calendar year for female and male students

• Average suspension length for each calendar year for female and male students

These three charts may be filtered by suspension type.

Suspension by EAL/D

This page displays three tables:

• Number of suspensions for each calendar year for students according to EAL/D need:

• To be assessed

• Not required

• Beginner

• Emerging

• Developing

• Consolidating

• Not specified

• Total suspension days for each calendar year for students according to EAL/D need

• Average suspension length for each calendar year for students according to EAL/D need

These three charts may be filtered by suspension type.

Suspension by Length

This page displays a table and a chart:

• The Number of Suspensions table shows the number of suspensions for each calendar year for each duration in days

• The chart is a graphical representation of the number of suspensions in days per calendar year

These charts may be filtered by suspension type.

Suspension Across Schools

This page displays one table to be used by Executive Directors and DELs:

• Suspensions per enrolled student for each school in a network or operational directorate.

This chart may be filtered by suspension type.

Please note that charts have coloured cells that indicate whether the data shows a positive trend (green), a neutral trend (yellow) or a negative trend (red).

Student Centric Report

This report shows student suspensions across schools for the purposes of:

• assessing the total number of days a student has already been suspended across two schools or has reached the maximum number of suspensions allowed in a calendar before DEL approval is required. Both schools can view the suspension history.
  

• showing where a student is in a shared enrolment between schools or has applied to enrol in a new school, and a risk assessment is required. Only the new school is able to see the suspensions in this circumstance.

The report can be filtered by individual students to show suspensions and total number of days suspended in a school calendar year.

How can I use the Suspension report to support my school self-assessment?

The report allows users to identify student cohort groups that are being suspended in their school community (for example, scholastic year, reason name, gender, etc.). This supports schools in developing school programs to address the needs of these identified groups.

The report can allow users to identify the wellbeing needs of their students and assist in identifying trends and impacts of anti-bullying policies and practices.

What should I look for?

The visualisations can help answer questions about the wellbeing needs of students in a school.

For example, is the school’s provision for behaviour management and wellbeing support sufficient? Could the school employ Community Liaison Officers to assist in communicating with families?

Where does this data come from?

The data comes from the department’s student enrolment and registration system, ERN. Third-party vendor systems feed all their data into ERN in real-time, and this is reflected in the suspension report the following day.

How frequently is data updated?

Daily (overnight). Any changes made to the data in ERN will be visible in the Suspension report the next day.