MORE children were excluded from schools for bullying last year than in the previous school year.

Department for Education data found that in Wiltshire there was a 24 per cent increase from 34 up to 42 in the number of school exclusions for bullying between 2016/17 and 2017/18.

Overall in the South West there was an 11 per cent decrease in exclusions due to bullying.

The East of England saw the biggest decrease with 29 per cent fewer peoples being disciplined by being excluded because of bullying.

However exclusions in Warrington more than quadrupled, with a 333 per cent increase. Dr Nick Smith, principal at Oxford Home Schooling, which carried out the research said: “It is encouraging in many areas the numbers of exclusions for bullying are decreasing. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that bullying is becoming less of an issue, it might suggest schools are taking measures to deal with the problem, rather than just removing the children involved."