Questions have been asked about whether more could be done to stop Norfolk children being permanently excluded from school, despite a five-year effort to bring down the numbers.

In 2015/16 a record 246 children were permanently excluded from school, a big jump from 154 the year before.

The rise prompted Norfolk County Council to spend £480,000 in the last five years on inclusion support.

But data for the following years shows while numbers have dropped from the 2015/16 peak, they are still higher than before the spike, and have remained steady over the last three years.

The latest verified data for the academic year ending in 2019 shows 209 children were permanently excluded from schools in Norfolk.

The council said unverified data for the 2019-20 academic year showed a 26pc drop on the same two terms last year. And it said temporary exclusions had also dropped by 10pc.

This paper previously reported concerns that children with special education needs are being disproportionately affected by a rise in fixed-term exclusions amid a drive for better school results.

The council created a new inclusion support service in 2018, including a dedicated support line for headteachers work with the council to find alternatives to exclusion.

This year, more money was found for the service, allowing for the creation of five new jobs.

But Labour lead for children and young people on the council, Mike Clare-Smith, has suggested more could be done.

“Permanent school exclusions represent undeniable barriers to learning, but the greatest barrier is a broken educational system,” he added.

John Fisher, children services committee chairman at the council, said exclusions should only ever be a last resort.

“Schools have a very difficult balance to strike when children are displaying challenging behaviour, because all schools want to do their best for every child and are mindful of the impact on other pupils and staff,” he said.

“However, there are always reasons that children behave the way they do and part of our collective work is to understand why this happens and make sure those children are getting the right support and care.”