Skip to main content

School Exclusions



Throughout Ryan’s school life he has been subjected to many exclusions, some of which have certainly not been the best way of dealing with the situation and quite likely simply used as an easy way out.

The following information is what was given to me when I was battling against Ryan’s first school instead of us all working together. It is all taken from the SNAP Cymru website. www.snapcymru.org.  They have provided me with valuable support and guidance over the years that I am very much appreciative of.



Voluntary Exclusion - what does this mean?

Voluntary exclusion is where schools ask parents/carers to keep their child at home as a way of dealing with behavioural difficulties. This is not good practice and denies pupils their rights to an education and denies both parents and pupils the right to appeal against this form of exclusion. Local Authorities (LA) will consider appropriate measures where schools are found to be using voluntary exclusion.

What can parents/carers do?

  • Parents/Carers sometimes feel pressurized to take their child out of school.
  • If parents are asked to keep a pupil at home, they should ask the school to make it official i.e. ask the Head Teacher to put it in writing.
  • Ask the school for a meeting to discuss the problems to see if something can be done e.g. change of class, extra support. Parents and carers must remember that it is an offence to fail to secure regular schooling for a child and parents may be at risk of prosecution. 

Fixed Term Exclusion - what does this mean?

This is an exclusion where it has been decided that a child cannot attend school for a given number of days because of an incident or a series of incidents that have happened which are considered to be a breach of the school’s behaviour policy.
Fixed term exclusion can be anything from half a day up to a maximum of 45 days in a school year. Only the Head Teacher or the most senior teacher on site can exclude.


How should parents/carers be informed?

School should inform parents/carers immediately by telephone whenever possible. This should be followed by letter within one school day and must explain:
  • the length of exclusion e.g. two school days
  • the reason for the exclusion
  • the parent/carers and pupil's right to make representations to a Pupil Disciplinary Committee (PDC). The PDC is not always required to meet but they must consider any representations from the parent/carers and pupils. Most schools PDCs do meet and invite representations.
  • the date and time when the pupil should return to school. (Often the school will request to see the parent before the pupil returns to school).
  • the arrangements for the pupil to receive work set by the school and for the work to be marked
  • parents’ rights to view and/or obtain their child’s school records upon written request under the Education (Pupil Records) Wales Regulations 2001
  • the contact details of someone in the Local Authority (LA) who can give advice on the exclusion process
Some LAs give the number of their local Parent Partnership Service. In Wales this is usually SNAP Cymru.

What the school will do

  • Allow the pupil a chance to give his/her version of what happened.
  • Interview other witnesses including other pupils and staff.
  • Write an account of the reason for the exclusion in readiness for the PDC, if one is to be held.
  • Gather information on any support that the pupil may have received, including who provided the support and for how long.
  • If a PDC is to be held, circulate to all parties within 5 days of the meeting any written statements (including witness statements) and a list of persons who will be present at the meeting.

Additional Information

Exclusion should always be a last resort. Strategies and individual plans to meet needs should have been explored beforehand. Exclusions should not be given in the heat of the moment unless there is an immediate threat to the safety of individuals. In all cases of more than a day’s exclusion, the school should set and mark work, which parents/carers need to arrange to collect and return.

Permanent Exclusions

Permanent exclusion is when a school feels a pupil has broken the school rules (behaviour policy) and that pupil should no longer remain at that school because of an incident or incidents that took place.
Only the Head Teacher or the most senior teacher on site can exclude. A Head Teacher may permanently exclude for a first offence under certain exceptional circumstances.
Permanent exclusion is a serious decision and should normally be used as a last resort when all other strategies and support have been tried without success.


How should parents/carers be informed?

The school should inform the parent/carer by telephone immediately, whenever possible, followed by a letter within one school day which should explain:
  • that the exclusion is permanent
  • the reasons for the exclusion
  • the parent/carers and pupil’s right to make representations to the Pupil Disciplinary Committee (PDC) and the latest date the meeting can take place
  • the parents/carers rights to view or obtain their child’s school records upon written request under the Education (Pupil Records) (Wales) Regulations 2001
  • the contact details of the clerk to the PDC
  • parents/carers will need to inform the clerk if they wish to attend the PDC and if they will be accompanied by a friend or a supporter such as a SNAP Cymru Independent Parental Supporter.

What can parents/carers do?

  • Talk over the incident(s) with the child and take notes.
  • Find out details of the incident, by asking how?, where?, when?, and by whom? type of questions.
  • Ask the school for a copy of its behaviour policy.
  • Look at possible causes and if sufficient levels of support were in place.
  • Compare your child’s version with the accounts of others.
  • List any questions or queries you may have regarding the exclusion.

What the school will do

  • Allow the pupil a chance to give his/her version of what happened.
  • Interview other witnesses including other pupils and staff.
  • Write an account of the reason for the exclusion in readiness for the PDC.
  • Gather information on any support that the pupil may have received, including who provided the support and for how long.
  • Circulate to all parties within 5 school days of the meeting any written statements (including witness statements) and a list of persons who will be present at the meeting

Additional Information

Exclusion should always be a last resort. Strategies and individual plans to meet needs should have been explored beforehand. Exclusiosn should not be given in the heat of the moment unless there is an immediate threat to the safety of individuals.

The school should set and mark work, which parents/carers need to arrange to collect and return.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment. We appreciate having you along for the ride.

Popular Posts

Missing Education due to Illness

The Importance of Attendance If you read any news articles on education, correspondence from your child’s school, or are simply clued up on parenting then you will know the importance of school attendance. Schools place a great deal of focus on targets and will often offer incentives and competitions to encourage and increase attendance figures, but what if your child has a serious illness. What happens if they really are not well enough to attend school. What happens then? Attendance targets at Ryan's school are currently set at 95% attendance for the school year. Therefore realistically your child can only miss 10 school days due to illness. Medical appointments such as GP or Dentist do not count, but you are encouraged to make these appointments outside of the school day where feasibly possible. If your child consistently misses school, even if it is only one day a week, that equates to 39 days over the school year. Even missing one day in a week results in pressure on the
11 comments
Read more

Questions to ask after Cancer diagnosis

Cancer Sucks I have shared with you Ryan's lymphoma journey where we have talked about the ups, the downs, the protocols for drugs, the side effects, but I realised recently I have never shared the questions. This post is all about what to ask when you receive a diagnosis of cancer. Receiving a cancer diagnosis is never ever going to be seen as good news. It can never be dressed up or made pretty. It is devastating, it is gut-wrenching, it is life-changing. There is so much information to process you will not think of the questions you need to ask or you will have hundreds of questions you want to ask all at once. These are just some of the questions you can ask once you have processed the news, in order to gain a better understanding of your fight ahead. General Information What type of cancer do I have? Where is it located? What are the risk factors for this disease? Is this type of cancer caused by genetic factors? Are other members of my family at risk? What lifestyle c
5 comments
Read more

3 Years in Remission

  3 Years in Remission In May 2017 Ryan finished his 6 gruelling cycles of Chemotherapy and was in remission for 3 months before his cancer returned in September 2017. I wrote about our first 3 month cancer free milestone in our blog post here . In August 2020 Ryan once again finished treatment. This time he completed 3 years of Immunotherapy treatment and in November 2020 Ryan had tests done to confirm he is once again in remission. This is, of course, outstanding news but we were muted in any celebrations as it was such early days and we had been here once before. Ryan has been having regular check-ups every 3 months and in May 2021 we were able to confirm he has reached the 9-month milestone which was phenomenal news. Massive Scare - Relapse #3, ALMOST. Tuesday 4 October 2022. Ryan mentioned to me about an Ulcer on the roof of his mouth. I took photos and monitored for a couple of weeks before we start to panic too much.😳 Thursday 27 October 2022. Sadly Ryan has had to have yet a
Post a Comment
Read more

Swansea Community Farm

Swansea Community Farm In April 2021 Ryan began volunteering at Swansea Community Farm (Welsh - Fferm Gymunedol Abertawe). For now, he attends one day a week on a Tuesday from 10 am to 4 pm but there is a possibility that he could also volunteer on Thursdays as well also 10 am to 4 pm. About the Farm Swansea Community Farm is the only city farm in Wales set in 3.5 acres of land with a variety of animals, an allotment, wildlife habitats, beehives and a café. The animals include donkeys, goats, sheep, ducks, geese and chickens. The farm aims to improve wellbeing, build skills and create a sense of community engagement by caring for the animals, producing local food and caring for the local environment. Duties Ryan has enjoyed a variety of different duties so far. He has walked the Donkeys, Sheep and Geese from their barns out to their fields and pond. Collected eggs from the Chickens, and has mucked out the donkey sheds. He has also cleaned out the chicken coops, cleaned and refilled all
Post a Comment
Read more

Worrying About the Future

  Worrying About the Future. Ryan said to me recently. "Childhood gave me Autism. My teens gave me cancer. What will adulthood bring?" Big worries for someone so young. So much pressure and conditioning are placed upon us about the importance of education and the set path that the majority of us will take through the system to university and/or the job market. What happens if you do not follow that path or miss so much education that the path is no longer open to you. How do you plan for the future? What options are there available to you? Ryan was excluded from his primary school in year 2 and I home schooled him for a year while we worked with the Educational Psychologist to find a placement that would suit his complex needs at the time. Due to his speech, language and communication difficulties the decision was made to withdraw him from Welsh-medium education and focus on English only which meant our choices were limited in the area of Wales that we call home. We
Post a Comment
Read more