Described by General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Geoff Barton as ‘beyond repugnant’ (TES, 2017), ‘off-rolling’ is the removal of pupils from the school roll via various unofficial means. This study positions a plethora of triggers for this form of exclusion, its prevalence and wider social implications. These perspectives will be evaluated alongside current national data and media perspectives, integrated with the outcomes of narrative accounts from practitioners in schools across England in 2018. The study concludes by commenting on the impact of performance-driven school cultures on limiting the choices parents and pupils are able to make when confronted by the prospect of exclusion from education. The longer-term social dangers presented by labelling a cohort of young people as marginal to education and society are considered, as is the fitness for purpose of the current education system in the meeting of pupil needs