Almost 130 children are being sent home from school every day after being caught with alcohol, cigarettes or drugs, shocking new figures reveal.
Incidents include children arriving to school drunk or high, as well as pupils caught trying to deal drugs.
They also include students caught with alcohol or drugs at school, as well as pupils smoking cigarettes.
The figures obtained by The Sun include at least one pupil as young as five-years-old, according to the newspaper.
More than 24,000 suspensions for drugs and alcohol rule breaches occured for the year ending July 2023, figures revealed.
There were a further 590 incidents where children were expelled from school, the figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws show.
Almost 130 children are being sent home from school every day after being caught with alcohol , cigarettes or drugs, new figures reveal (Stock photo)
The Department for Education said: We are determined to get to grips with the causes of poor behaviour.
It comes as children as young as four are being sent home from school after being accused of racism, it was revealed last week.
Reception students were among the thousands of pupils who were suspended or excluded for racist behaviour in 2023.
Last year, 11,619 children were sent home from school for alleged racist behaviour - up 25 per cent on 2022.
This means that last year almost 60 children a day were suspended from school for racism.
Among those excluded for the day - or even longer - were seven four-year-olds in reception class. Just over 1,400 children sent home in these circumstances, around one in ten of all cases, were primary school children.
Meanwhile, teachers and pupils have been left terrified at the scourge of knives and violence plaguing Britians schools, it was reported in April.
Children as young as five have been revealed to be bringing blades into their classrooms, with one charity boss branding the battle a cancer that is spreading across the country.
Knifemen have been spotted casually brandishing their weapons near primary schools and several teachers have already been stabbed in the line of duty this year.
In February, it was reported that teachers across UK schools are locking classroom doors to keep aggressive pupils out amid a surge in disruptive behaviour by students.
Shocking stories emerged of teachers being assualted, pupils throwing objects across classrooms and skipping lessons as well as students beating each other up.
Teaching unions and groups said they have been contacted by frightened teachers who are fearing for their jobs and several who are acting like social workers.