LABOUR vowed today to tackle the so-called off-rolling scandal, in which schools have kicked out thousands of students with low predicted grades in order to boost league table rankings.

The party hopes that its new measures, such as making schools accountable for the exam results of pupils who leave their rolls until they have found another permanent school place, will remove the perverse incentives that the offloading schools have been taking advantage of.

In June, analysis seen by Ofsted suggested that about 10,000 children leave the roll of a mainstream school before year 11 but do not then appear on the roll of another mainstream school.
 
The analysis also found that students who are already disadvantaged are the most likely to be affected. Those with special educational needs and disabilities, children eligible for free school meals, and children in care are more likely to be affected.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: “We must all take responsibility for our must vulnerable children, and that is why we will be reforming the accountability system to support them, while working with schools to move towards a system that is co-operative and does not drive workload, and giving them the resources they need to support all their pupils.

 “That is why Labour will close the loopholes and end the perverse incentives. This will ensure that there is no unintended reward for so-called off-rolling and give schools an investment in ensuring that excluded pupils move on to the best possible provision.”