BOLTON head teachers have agreed to share out troublemakers more fairly as a national report blames a minority of schools for a growing exclusion crisis.

Secondary school heads are poised to agree a new deal to take in a pupil expelled from another school every time they expel one of their own.

The agreement aims to stop unruly pupils from all over Bolton being sent to a handful of schools with spare places. News of the voluntary pact came as a "think tank" called on the Government to come down hard on a minority of schools who try to foist off troublemakers onto others and refuse to do their share.

The New Policy Institute suggests schools throughout the country should be forced to agree the same 'one in, one out' deal emerging in Bolton.

It also calls for the setting up of exclusion panels made up of local representatives from the school, businesses, social services etc to stop heads making rash decisions to expel pupils in the heat of the moment.

And it wants financial penalties introduced to halt the situation which has led to one quarter of schools being responsible for two thirds of expelled pupils.

In Bolton, expelled pupils are spread more evenly but, in the year studied, four un-named schools threw out 36 of the 80 excluded secondary school children.

Bolton's Director of Education Margaret Blenkinsop fears financial punishments could hit schools which take in a large number of problem children and believes school exclusion panels already represent a wide section of the community.

But she is keen on the one in-one out agreement and so far 13 of the 16 secondary school heads in Bolton have signed up to carry this out locally, with another school putting the proposal to the governors this term.

Mrs Blenkinsop said: "Since arriving in Bolton I have been impressed by the sense of partnership between the heads and this is a good example of that. They care about all the pupils in the borough and the fact that Bolton has bucked the national trend by achieving a small drop in exclusions, demonstrates a commitment to keeping children in school.

"This agreement will help persuade schools they may be better working with pupils they know rather than taking in another they do not. It will also stop some schools becoming pockets of difficulty."

Education chiefs will not name the schools hesitant about signing up to the agreement but the BEN has learned that two are grant maintained schools and a third is a church school.

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