I鈥檓 always sceptical about statistics. Seventy-five per cent of them are wrong. With two kids in primary school and another starting this September, I鈥檓 no stranger to dad jokes. So I thought it pertinent to open with my current favourite. In all seriousness though, like most school leaders, I do prefer to balance the numbers with the evidence of my eyes and ears. Sometimes the statistics are misleading. Sometimes the eyes and ears deceive. But when both the numbers and your senses are telling you the same thing, you know there is a good chance something is up. In the suspension and exclusion stats, the numbers married up with what we have been seeing when working with primary schools across the country. There has been a steep rise in the number of five and six-year-olds being suspended and excluded from school. Our analysis puts an even finer point on it: nearly 2,000 children across primary and secondary were suspended ten or more times in a single term. That number has doubled in two years. The reality also tells us that headteachers are beyond desperate for solutions, and the situation could worsen as the tide of need rises quickly. Edge of despair I鈥檝e met many leaders who are at the edge of despair. Suspension is always the last resort, especially for children of this age. But some leaders are left without any alternatives and little resource to do anything else. Questions will inevitably arise about why school readiness in the early years is becoming such a huge barrier. I put my dad-hat back on and say with my chest that it’s a hard time to be a parent right now. A combination of the cost-of-living-crisis, the rise of screen-time and families working all hours to make ends meet reduces opportunities for play, singing, storytelling and the critical connection that is crucial to early development. At the more extreme end it is even harder. Housing instability, food insecurity, poverty and depleted and non-existent early intervention and support services are all ravaging communities nationwide. This all has huge implications. Teachers and leaders are seeing delays in physical development, toilet training, pencil grip, core-strength, physical coordination. Special educational needs follow suit. Speech, language and communication delays. Sensory-needs. Developmental delay. The list goes on鈥� Schools guiding the way So what can we do? The good news is it isn鈥檛 all fumbling around in the dark for light switches. Thanks to the ingenuity and creativity of school leaders we are seeing some schools guiding the way. Some of the steps taken are simple, like opening a three-year old provision to get to know families early and well. Others are slightly less simple. At Percy Main Primary in North Shields, where 60 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, headteacher Kathryn Thompson鈥檚 team has issued just one one-day suspension and no permanent exclusions in three years. The school put inclusion at the centre of school improvement plans, created regulation areas in every class, engaged staff in CPD on asset-based practice and community engagement. Families are regularly invited into school. Reading attainment across the school has risen in unison. A local authority-funded resourced provision for pupils across EYFS to year 3 at risk of disengagement or exclusion is having an impact on children鈥檚 ability to socialise with their peers and return to learning alongside them. What鈥檚 working well is the balance between support and reintegration. Children aren鈥檛 simply removed from mainstream learning. Instead, they鈥檙e supported to remain connected to their peers and their learning journey. Other primary schools have set up more informal 鈥渋nclusion bases鈥� from their own funding. Clarity needed Take Alderman Jacobs Primary School in Peterborough. Headteacher Martin and his EYFS team developed 鈥淓xplorers鈥�, a sessional support space for the duration of the autumn term for learners who need more support to be school ready. It gave learners a higher staff-to-pupil ratio to support high quality interactions and develop shared attention which enabled them to respond, play and communicate with peers and adults more effectively. Through upskilling support staff, funded by the school鈥檚 own budget, the team was able to support learners and develop provision progressively so that pupils used the areas of provision effectively and safely in their learning. It鈥檚 had an impact and suspensions have fallen, as well as a drop in the number of temporary reduced timetables, but funding remains a constant threat. There will never be such a thing as inclusive mainstream if we don鈥檛 have the practice and systems to help our youngest pupils upstream. While the push for mandatory inclusion bases focuses on secondary settings, we must get clarity on how we support primary schools – many of which have been left with no choice but to set them up in some shape or form across the key stages. However you feel about the numbers, and whoever you want to blame, I鈥檝e never seen a five-year old who looks like a statistic. Have you?