More than 600 pupils in Sussex were sent home from school for hitting a teacher in a single year, Government figures show.

Statistics released by the the Department for Education and Skills reveal 637 pupils were suspended from secondary, primary and special schools for physical assaults on an adult.

A total of 39 were permanently excluded.

The figures, published to MPs in a Parliamentary written answer, cover 2004/5 - the latest year for which data is available.

A breakdown suggests teachers at East Sussex schools suffered the highest number of serious attacks - 262 pupils were suspended for physical assault against an adult over the year and 16 expelled.

In West Sussex 228 were suspended and 12 expelled and in Brighton and Hove 147 were suspended and 11 expelled.

Across England, 18,480 pupils were sent home for a fixed period and 1,270 were permanently excluded.

Teachers' leaders said yesterday the number of physical attacks on staff was rising and called for headteachers to be given more powers to kick violent children out of the classroom and keep them out.

A spokesman for the National Union of Teachers' South East region, which covers Sussex, said: "We are certainly dealing with more cases of assaults than we have done previously. It's growing year on year and there is a culture that teachers are fair targets."

He added: "If a pupil assaults a teacher he or she is generally excluded for a fixed period but quite frequently readmitted by an appeal panel."

Headteachers can try to move the pupil into a different class with a different teacher, but they are still at the same school, he said.

If teachers did not want to teach a pupil with a record of violence the only option left was industrial action.

The NUT spokesman called for headteachers to be given the power to overrule appeal panels, which were usually made up of governors from other schools and local authority officials.

He said: "Heads' professional judgement should be more important than an appeal panel."

The NUT would like all violent pupils to be examined to determine what would be the "proper place" for them.

It would also like to see an increase in sin bin-style learning support units, which can help pupils deemed ill-suited for mainstream schools.

The spokesman said: "We will protect our members against violent attack but we are mindful of children's needs too."

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