We'll create fresh WordPress site with CleanCodeNZ Exclude Pages Plugin installed. You have 20 minutes to test the plugin after that site we'll be deleted.
This plugin allows you to define the custom field to be attached to a page to be excluded from navigation and(or) search results.
As the exclusion is done through highly optimized cached general wordpress query, and queried once for even hierarchical data, this would provide best performance and scalability.
It is using custom fields without creating field or table, it is done in the most unobtrusive way.
Pages that have parent and child relationships are fully supported without any hassle.
Any issues: contact me.