Permanent Exclusion

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A short guide for parents/carers

September 2008

Use of permanent exclusion

Headteachers use exclusion as one of the strategies available to schools for managing the behaviour of pupils. Exclusion is appropriately used as a way of giving clear messages to the pupil involved and the whole school community that certain kinds of behaviour are unacceptable.

A permanent exclusion is used as a last resort by Headteachers when it is acknowledged that, despite interventions, the school can no longer manage the behaviour of a pupil or when the incident is so serious that a pupil’s return to the school is considered inappropriate.

What happens next?

Advice can be sought from the Inclusion team at the local office but an Education Welfare Officer will make contact with you as soon as possible to advise on the process.  If your child has not previously been able to record his or her version of the incident(s) for which permanent exclusion was the response, this would be a good opportunity to do so.

You will be contacted by a member of the Education Inclusion Service (EIS) who will discuss with you the educational provision for your child from the 6^th day of the exclusion.  Work will be set by the school for your son or daughter to complete at home during the first five days of the exclusion.  During this time you have a duty to ensure that your child is not present in a public place during school hours unless there is reasonable justification for this. You may receive a penalty notice from the Local Authority (LA) if your child is present in a public place during school hours during the period of the exclusion.  

You and your child will be given the opportunity to make any representations about the exclusion to the Governors’ Discipline Committee.  The Clerk to the Committee will write to you about this but Governors must meet between the 6^th and 15^th school day after notification of the exclusion.

At the meeting, Governors will consider the views of the Headteacher, you and the LA and have the power to either uphold the exclusion, reinstate your child or reduce the permanent exclusion to a fixed period exclusion of a stated number of days.  Should Governors uphold the permanent exclusion you then have a legal right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel.

If you consider that your child has a disability and you feel that he/she has been discriminated against in this exclusion claims should also be made through the Independent Appeal Panel process.  For further advice on disability discrimination please contact the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) helpline for further information 08457 622 633 (Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm).  

If you do not wish to appeal, or an Independent Appeal Panel upholds the exclusion, you have the right to find a new school for your child (unless this is the second time they have been permanently excluded).  However, the EIS who will have been providing an education for your child from the 6^th day of their exclusion will discuss with you future arrangements. It is important that parents/carers work in partnership with whoever is providing education in order to address the behaviours that led to the exclusion and to reintegrate your child back into an appropriate provision so they can successfully complete their statutory education.

Statutory guidance from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) covers the law and what the Government expects from schools, Discipline Committees, the Local Authority and Appeal Panels if pupils are excluded. This guidance is contained in Improving Behaviour and Attendance: guidance on exclusion from schools and Pupil Referral Units (DCSF September 2008) and its suite of associated documents which can be found at

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/exclusion/2008guidance

Data Protection Act 1998: You are advised that information on pupils is routinely registered on manual and electronic systems as part of their records. Everyone working in Children’s Services has a legal duty to keep information confidential.

(page updated 12 February 2009)