Exclusion from school

Exclusion should be the last resort available to a head teacher when responding to the unacceptable behaviour of a pupil.

Exclusions must be:

• lawful
• reasonable
• fair

Head teachers can only exclude your child on disciplinary grounds.

For a permanent exclusion there must have been either a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school’s behaviour policy, and where allowing your child to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of your child or others in the school.

Before excluding your child, the head teacher should consider whether the incident took place because of any unmet needs your child might have. Where a school has concerns about your child’s behaviour, they should check your child is receiving the right level of support in school.

For the first five days of any exclusion, the child must not be in a public place during the school day.

There are two types of exclusion. Depending on the circumstances the headteacher will decide which to give your child.

Suspension

Suspensions can last for a specific number of days. The number of days and when your child should return to school will be made clear by the head teacher and communicated in a letter.

Your child cannot be excluded for more than 45 days in one school year. If your child exceeds 45 days exclusion, they may be permanently excluded.

For the first five days of exclusion, work should be set and marked by the school. From day six onwards, the school will need to ensure that education is provided and should be suitable and full-time.

A suspension can also be for parts of the school day. For example, if a pupil’s behaviour at lunchtime is disruptive, they may be suspended from the school premises for the duration of the lunchtime period. The legal requirements relating to the suspension, such as the headteacher’s duty to notify parents, apply in all cases. Lunchtime suspensions are counted as half a school day in determining whether a governing board meeting is triggered.

Permanent Exclusion

Permanent exclusion should be the last resort that a head teacher uses in response to a persistent or serious breach of the school’s disciplinary policy. This should only be done after a range of strategies have been used to support a pupil’s behaviour in school and off site.

Permanent exclusion means that the child is no longer able to attend the school. The school must notify its governing body and the local authority of the exclusion.

The first five days after exclusion, school should send suitable work home. From day six onwards it is the local authority’s responsibility to provide suitable full-time education. Your child will be provided with an education by The Voyage Learning Campus which is a pupil referral unit (PRU) to continue their education whilst a new school is found.

Any exclusion of a pupil, even for short periods, must be formally recorded.

It would be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have SEN or a disability that the school feels it is unable to meet. Other reasons are academic attainment or ability, or the failure of a pupil to meet specific conditions before they are reinstated such as to attend a reintegration meeting. If any of these unlawful exclusions are carried out and lead to the deletion of a pupil’s name from the register, this is known as ‘off-rolling’.

An informal or unofficial exclusion, such as sending a pupil home ‘to cool off’, is unlawful when it does not follow the formal school exclusion process. This is regardless of whether it occurs with the agreement of parents.