THE number of yobs being thrown out of borough classrooms for violence has dropped by almost 100 cases.
Assaults, threats and sexual abuse on teachers and fellow pupils, resulting in suspension, has fallen from 590 in 2005/06 to 491 last year.
Nationally, headteachers sent home a record number of kids for violence, with more than 1,000 thug pupils s
uspended every day.
The lowest number of suspensions was in North East England, where there were 9,060 in total.
But education bosses have vowed not to sit on their laurels.
Coun Jim Foreman, lead member for children and young people at South Tyneside Council, said: "We are committed to improving behaviour and outcomes for our pupils.
"While our 2006/07 figures for the proportion of children excluded from school for assaults were better than in previous years, we still see it as a challenge to reduce these figures even further.
"A wide range of in-house strategies are in place, as well as good partnership working between council officers and other professionals supporting both schools and parents, to engage our young people in positive, rather than negative, behaviour."
Suspensions for physical assaults against teachers and other staff in South Tyneside schools dropped by 29
to 30 in 2006/07, while the number
of pupils thrown out for assaults on classmates dropped from 218 to 167 last year.
Suspensions for sexual misconduct fell by six to 13, while pupils punished for verbal abuse and threatening behaviour towards an adult, dropped by 18.
Verbal abuse and threats to other pupils saw a slight increase of five cases. Overall, temporary exclusions also dropped from 990 in 2005/06 to 860 in 2006/07. The figures come from official Government data, analysed by the Conservatives.
Tories claim yobs are getting off scot-free because Labour has made it harder to expel them.
Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said: "Heads need discretion to choose the appropriate sanction when a child is seriously disruptive or violent. They don't have the necessary powers to exclude."
But Behaviour Minister Delyth Morgan said: "Heads have the clear statutory power to exclude pupils where they believe it necessary.
"More schools use suspensions to clamp down on misbehaviour before it escalates to the point where permanent exclusion is necessary."
