In October 2011 the Department announced the start of a three-year school exclusion trial to improve the education of children who have been permanently excluded.

Over 300 schools in 11 local authorities are taking part in the trial, which will see schools taking on responsibility for ensuring that permanently excluded pupils continue to receive a good education.

The trial will also enable schools - working in partnership with each other and the local authority - to try out new ways of tackling challenging behaviour. There are already places where good quality alternative education helps difficult pupils succeed; trial schools will be able to learn from these and find out what works best for them.