More than 10,000 stand-downs in primary schools last year (7 June 2025)
- The Post
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Thousands of students being stood down, suspended or excluded from primary school is a “cry for help“ from both students and schools going without adequate support, experts say.
Wellington Regional Primary Principals’ Association president Shirley Porteous said more principals had begun temporarily or permanently removing children from school over the past five years – including those who had never used the mechanisms before.
“It's certainly become something that as a last resort, principals have had to do to keep other kids safe, keep our staff safe,” Porteous said.
Last year, there were 11,787 cases of students between year 1 and 8 being stood down, suspended or excluded from school, according to figures released to The Post under the Official Information Act.
Most – 10,678 cases – were stand-downs, meaning the principal had removed them from school for a period of up to five days.
Suspensions formally removed a student from school until the board decided an outcome, while exclusions was the permanent removal of a student under 16 years old. At that age, there was still a legal requirement to remain in schooling.
The highest number of cases between 2019 and 2024 was in 2023 when there were 12,240 cases of stand-downs. In comparison, there were 9079 cases in 2019.
The data was not a measure of student behaviour but a measure of schools’ responses to the behaviour. But Porteous observed an increase in students not being able to regulate their emotions.
“The needs of the kids coming through have exponentially got more complex, and unfortunately, the support that we have provided to us to support them, has not kept up at the same rate as what we need.”
Reasons for being stood down, suspended or excluded included alcohol, drugs, continual disobedience, physical and verbal assault on other students and staff, sexual harassment and misconduct, smoking, vaping and vandalism.
Physical assault on other students was most common, while boys were almost four times more likely to experience stand-downs, suspensions or exclusions than girls.
This was fairly consistent with data since 2000, said.Nicole Mincher, educational psychologist and lecturer at Massey University. Boys were often more likely to externalise their behaviours than girls.
But it was a recent shift to have more cases recorded in primary schools rather than in secondary schools. What was happening in wider society often reflected in schools and stresses like higher costs of living, contributed to what schools were having to manage, Mincher said.
Research showed the responses were not effective in changing behaviour and it was often devastating for schools, whānau and the students, she said.
“It’s just a really interesting mechanism that exists within our education system, which doesn’t necessarily exist within other sectors; we don’t have an exit in health, for example, but it’s in our legislation for education.”
Madelaine Armstrong-Willcocks, head of programmes at the Neurodiversity in Education Project, said for some students, their behaviours could be a way of communicating that their needs are not being met.

“These issues are spiralling and coming to a head earlier; schools using stand-downs is really a cry for help.”
Armstrong-Willcocks said the data was a signal change was needed – but also that it was needed some time ago.
“Unfortunately, it is the the end of a process, often rather than the first indication of things being challenging.”
In Budget 2025, $646 million was allocated to support children with additional learning needs, including early intervention support. Sean Teddy of the Ministry of Education, said investment included in expanding early years learning support, increasing learning support coordinators, extending the intensive wraparound service and growing the specialist workforce.