Exclusion in England
Information for parents whose children have been excluded from schools in England.
Being excluded from school can be very worrying and upsetting for you and your child. The information on these pages and in our advice booklets will help you understand what should happen next and how to put forward your views about the exclusion.
What is exclusion?
Exclusion can be used as a disciplinary sanction by schools if a child does something that is against the school behaviour policy. It means that a child must stay away from school. There are two types of exclusion: Fixed term exclusion is for a set number of days and your child will return to school after that time. Permanent exclusion means that your child is not allowed to return to that school.
Fixed term exclusion
What happens now?
If your child has a fixed term exclusion you must receive a letter from the school telling you the reasons for the exclusion and its length. For the first five days you are responsible for your child and must make sure they are not in a public place during school hours. The school should set and mark work during this time.
If the fixed term exclusion is longer than 5 days, your child’s school must arrange full-time alternative education from day 6.
When your child goes back to school there will be a reintegration meeting to discuss how everyone can work together to avoid further problems in school. The meeting might look at whether your child needs extra support in school.
Challenging the exclusion
If you are not happy with the fact of your child’s exclusion or the way that the school has dealt with it, you can put your views to the governors of the school. You can do this in writing. You may also ask for a meeting with the governors. More details of timescales for meetings are in the ACE booklet ‘Fixed period exclusion’. The governors will review the exclusion and decide whether the exclusion was justified. They will put a note of their findings on your child’s school record. For longer-term exclusions where your child has not already returned to school, the governors have the power to reinstate your child.
Permanent exclusion
Permanent exclusion should normally only be used by schools as a last resort. Generally this is after the school has tried a lot of different ways of trying to deal with a child’s behaviour. In some serious cases such as violence, drugs or weapons children may be permanently excluded for a ‘one-off’ offence.
What happens now?
You must receive a letter from the school telling you the reasons for the exclusion. For the first five days you are responsible for your child and must make sure they are not in a public place during school hours. The school should set and mark work during this time. From the sixth day the local authority where you live must provide full-time alternative education for your child. This is likely to be in a pupil referral unit. Your LA should also be assessing your child and drawing up a longer-term reintegration plan for a new school or other placement.
Challenging the exclusion
The governors of the school will have to meet to review the exclusion. You will be invited to that meeting and you and your child can put your views. The governors can decide either to uphold the exclusion or to reinstate your child. If they uphold the exclusion you have a further right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel.
