More than 1000 students were suspended from NSW schools every week last year as a surging number of children were issued sanctions for bullying, violence, vaping, disruptive behaviour and verbal abuse.

The new figures released by the NSW Education Department come more than a year after a radical overhaul of the state’s public school behaviour policy which handed principals the power to extend the length of suspensions and send students home for persistent bad behaviour.

Across the state’s public primary and high schools, 41,125 students were suspended last year, escalating by 21 per cent compared with 2023. Another 107 pupils were expelled.

Students engaging threatening or violent behaviour were the most common reasons children were sent home, while suspensions for bullying, discriminat

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