MORE than a hundred Merseyside students have been thrown out of school for assaults on classmates and teachers within two years, new figures show.

But education officials last night took heart in the government data which shows an annual drop in the number of students expelled and suspended from the region’s schools.

The Department for Education statistics show that since 2008, 133 students across schools in Liverpool, Knowsley, Wirral, Halton and Sefton were permanently excluded for carrying out both physical and verbal assaults on other pupils and teaching staff.

But the figures, which include attacks at primary, secondary and special schools as well as academies, reveal that such assaults have plummeted from 100 in 2008 to 33 last year.

The fall in physical and verbal assaults was matched by an overall fall across Merseyside in the number of pupils expelled or suspended for any offence, which also had an annual decline.

Across Merseyside 180 students were permanently shown the door in 2008, but only 150 were expelled in 2009, the government statistics reveal.

The overall number of Merseyside students suspended – known as fixed-term exclusion – fell from 7,320 in 2008 to 6,580 last year.

During the same time in Liverpool the number of pupils permanently excluded dropped from 80 to 70 – with 11 children given their marching orders for assaulting other students in 2009.

However, the number given suspensions rose slightly from 1,800 to 2,040.

Last night a Liverpool council spokesman said: “We believe that every young person deserves an education and we do everything we can to make sure no pupils slip through the net, so we are very pleased with these exclusion figures.”

School workshops with agencies such as anti-bullying charity Bullybusters were among measures credited for the improvements.

In Sefton permanent exclusions remained at 30 in 2009 with 11 children guilty of assaulting other pupils. Fixed term exclusions rose by 100 to 970.

The number of Wirral students expelled fell by 10 to 30 in 2009 and suspensions also dropped from 2,640 to 2,030. Six students were asked to leave for attacking another pupil.

Knowsley enjoyed a double helping of success with permanent exclusions falling by 10 to 20 in 2009 and fixed-term exclusions tumbling from 830 to 550.

Not a single child was expelled for assault.

Jim Donnelly, a Merseyside convener for the Association of School and College leaders and headteacher at Litherland high school, said while exclusions were always a last resort, headteachers “have a duty” to eject disruptive and violent pupils.

He told the Daily Post: “Parents rely on headteachers to act when there are assaults on children. First and foremost schools need to be safe and in many cases where pupils are excluded they are not first-time offenders.”

Less 1% of the region’s school population are expelled and Mr Donnelly stressed “Considering the number of children we have in the region, there will be more than a million interactions every day and only a few will lead to exclusion.”