Exclusions

Exclusions Information

Guidance on school exclusions and attendance can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page or here.

The Education and Inspections Act 2006 made changes to the legal framework for the discipline, behaviour and exclusion of pupils in local authority maintained schools and pupil referral units (PRUs).

The changes are based largely on the recommendations of the Practitioners’ Group on School Behaviour and Discipline, a group of headteachers and other school practitioners chaired by Sir Alan Steer, set out in the report ‘Learning behaviour’, published on 21 October 2005.

The revisions aim to make exclusion a more effective sanction by ensuring that exclusion from school does not mean exclusion from education. The new regulations strengthen the need to ensure continuing education for excluded pupils and make explicit parents’ responsibilities during the process.

The main legislative changes are:

· Parents are to be legally responsible for the whereabouts of their child during days 1-5 of any exclusion. Local authorities will have the power to issue a £50 penalty notice if their child is found in a public place without reasonable justification

· Schools must arrange full-time education from day 6 of any fixed period exclusion of 6 days or longer – normally to be provided off- site

· Local authorities must arrange full-time education from day 6 of any permanent exclusion

· Headteachers must arrange a reintegration interview following all fixed period exclusions from primary schools and exclusions over 5 days from secondary and special schools.

Who needs to follow the guidance?

The revised procedures apply to all maintained schools and Pupil Referral Units and all pupils in them, including pupils who may be below or above compulsory school age. They also apply to maintained nursery schools.

Headteachers, teachers in charge of Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), governing bodies, local authorities (LAs) and Independent Appeal Panels (IAPs) must by law have regard to this guidance when making decisions on exclusions and administering the exclusion procedure. This means that, whilst the guidance does not have the force of statute, there is an expectation that it will be followed unless there is good reason to depart from it. The guidance is not exhaustive and judgments will need to take account of the circumstances of individual cases.

Academies, by virtue of their funding agreements, must have exclusion procedures, which are consistent with those set out in the new guidance. This means that the procedures followed by Academies should not depart significantly from those in this guidance without good reason.

The guidance also contains further information/revised guidance on:

· Record keeping (paragraph 21 f)

· Breach of school rules on appearance (paragraph 24 e)

· Actions following a fixed period exclusion (paragraphs 35-38)

· Reintegration interviews (paragraphs 39-41)

· Actions following a permanent exclusion (paragraphs 48-49)

· Parenting Orders and Contracts for behaviour (paragraphs 42-44)

· Looked after children (paragraphs 64-70)

· Model letters

· Exclusions panels on combined hearings and factors to consider when deciding whether or not to uphold an exclusion (paragraphs 111, 112, 147,148)

Separate guidance on implementing the requirement for full-time education provision for excluded pupils from Day 6 can be downloaded using the following link: www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=11386

Updates on exclusions can be accessed at the following address: www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/exclusion/.

Exclusion Notification Procedures

Schools are asked to notify the Social Inclusion Unit of all exclusions (fixed and permanent) by sending an electronic copy of the letter to the parent and the exclusions record sheet which can be downloaded on the right hand side of this page. The record sheet has two tabs with the instructions included on the ‘explanation’ tab.

It is essential that the local authority be notified of a permanent exclusion on day 1 to ensure necessary provision arrangements can be put in place.  Headteachers should also notify the pupil’s home local authority if the pupil does not live in Islington. A list of local authority exclusion contacts can be found at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12745 or from the Social Inclusion Unit on 020 7527 5744.

School Disciplinary Committee

A sample agenda outlining the hearing procedure and an exclusion report checklist can be downloaded from this page. For further guidance please contact Governor Services on 020 7527 5897.