Exclusions

• ​​​​When a school excludes your child this is a legal process, it means your child is not allowed in school for the length of the exclusion.
• Exclusion must be lawful, proportionate and fair.
• Exclusion should be a last resort where there has been a serious breach (or multiple breaches) of a school’s behaviour policy.
• It is best for the school to find an alternative to exclusion.
• Any exclusion, even short ones, must be noted on the register by the school.

Fixed term exclusion

This is when the school sets an amount of time that your child should be kept at home. This will usually be between 1 and 5 days sometimes it might be longer than this. Once this time has passed your child should then go back to school. Usually the school will ask you to go to a meeting to talk about what happened and how they can support your child in the future.

• A fixed term exclusion should only be as long as it takes to make arrangements for a risk assessment to be completed and for anything that needs to be put in place to support your child to stop that behaviour from happening again.

Permanent exclusion

If the school tells you that your child is permanently excluded then they will not be returning to that school.

You child will be given a place at an alternative provision (a place where they will learn that is not a school). This will be set up by the 6th day from the day they were excluded. You will be contacted by a member of ESBAS (Education Support, Behaviour and Attendance Service)  to organise the next steps and to get your child into education.

What can my child be excluded for?

• Dangerous behaviour that puts them or others at risk
• Behaviour outside school that is dangerous or poses a risk to staff or pupils at the school

What my child cannot be excluded for

• It is against the law for a school to tell you that they cannot meet your child’s needs so they cannot come to school, even if is just for part of the day; your child has a right to attend school full time.
• A school must not send your child home early to ‘cool off’ or because ‘they aren’t coping’ – this is against the law.

Schools must

• Send a letter explaining;
  • Why your child has been excluded
  • How you can contact the governors to appeal (If the exclusion is more than 5 days)
• Provide work and mark it for the time your child is off school
•  For an exclusion that is longer than 6 days they must provide work for the first 6 days and then set up full time education from the 6th day.
• Exclusions must be used as a last resort and other routes must be explored first.
• All exclusions must be recorded as ‘E’ on the school register. If you want to check how their absence is being recorded, you can ask for a copy of your child’s attendance record at any time,

Parents can

• Ask for a meeting with the headteacher to discuss an exclusion 
• Ask for a meeting with the governors to talk about the exclusion and allowing a pupil back to school.
• Ask the school to set up support from ESBAS

Ask advice and guidance from ESBAS or call ISEND

• A school must not set up a part-time timetable without your permission.  You have the right to say no to a part-time timetable for your child. 
•  If you do agree to a part-time timetable, it must not be for more than 6 weeks and there should be a written plan to start adding more time in school as soon as they are ready. This is called a reintegration plan.
•  Your child may be asked to leave their classroom for a short period of time, to help them with their behaviour and/or reduce their stress. This does not count as an exclusion if they are still in school.
• If your child is removed from the classroom a lot, they are separated from their friends and this is not a good approach. If this is happening to your child, it may mean that they have a special educational need or disability that the school needs to support.

 

Attending a new school.

After a permanent exclusion, a pupil will be allocated a new school to attend. They will be supported into the new school. ESBAS will offer sessions to help your child settle in.   You will be asked to go to an admissions meeting with ESBAS to make a support plan for your child. Even if you do not attend you child will still have to attend the new school or placement.

Information adapted from link below 

Permanent exclusion from school – East Sussex County Council