Our kids are 'best behaved'
THE number of students banned from state school classrooms across the Darling Downs has dropped to a little more than 6000 but Warwick's major state schools are among the best behaved .
A report by the Department of Education discloses the total amount of short suspensions (1-5 days), long suspensions (6-20), exclusions and expulsions.
According to the report students have not been expelled or excluded from any of the Rose City's major state schools since 2009.
Students from Warwick State High School were the most improved in the report with only 298 short suspensions, 100 less than last year.
In 2011 six students were given long suspensions compared to 39 recorded in 2010.
But the number of students suspended from Warwick state primary schools has increased.
West State School increased their short suspensions by four from 13 to 17.
Central State School's suspensions increased from zero to 17 and East from five to 19.
Suspension decisions are made by the school principal and the Department of Education corporate services deputy director-general Jeff Hunt said there were many reasons why students could be suspended.
"The most common reasons for suspension from a state school are physical misconduct and verbal or non-verbal misconduct," he said.
"Inappropriate behaviour is not tolerated and the department supports principals taking disciplinary action against students whose behaviour is deemed unacceptable.
"Every state school in Queensland has a Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students, which clearly sets out the school's expectations for student behaviour and the consequences for students when these expectations are not met.
Mr Hunt said suspensions were an effective behaviour management tool.
