Education, Training and Employment
Exclusions from School
Exclusion from school is a complex area. Misunderstandings between young people, their parents/carers and YOT staff can lead to mis-reporting of a young person’s educational status.
Young people can be excluded from school either permanently or for a fixed period. In the case of a fixed-period exclusion, a young person would be forbidden from attending school for a specified number of days, up to a maximum of 45 days in a school year. It is important to note that while a young person is excluded from school but remains on the school roll, the school has the responsibility to set and mark appropriate work. This applies to young people who are awaiting the final decision with regard to a permanent exclusion, as well as those on fixed-period exclusions.
In all cases the school must inform parents/carers in writing. This notice should include details of rights of appeal. The governing body and the LEA should be informed each term of all students excluded, but they should be notified as soon as possible of any young person excluded for five days or more, or who would miss a public examination.
If a head teacher decides to exclude a young person permanently, the decision has to be ratified by the governing body of the school. Once this has happened it is the responsibility of the LEA to find an alternative placement for them. This could be in another school, or Pupil Referral Unit, or in some other full-time placement suitable to the needs of the young person. Once a permanent exclusion is ratified by the governing body of the school the young person becomes the responsibility of the LEA and they should provide full-time education within the next 15 days. This threshold will be reduced to five days under provisions in the new Education and Inspections Bill.
Sometimes a young person may say they are excluded when in fact they are still on the roll of a school, but have not attended for a while. This is sometimes called an unofficial or back-door exclusion. This may be the result of a young person being sent home after an instance of poor behaviour, where they have been asked not to return to school until the parent/carer has made an appointment to discuss matters with a senior member of staff. This is not good practice, unless the school makes an urgent effort to engage the parent or carer in a discussion to enable the young person to return to school as soon as possible. This is a situation where young people can easily slip through the net and not return to school.
In the worst cases schools are content for the young person not to return and allow challenging children to fall out of the education system. This is very poor practice and is technically illegal. However the best way forward is to engage the school as an advocate for the family to get them back to school or to negotiate alternative provision if that is more appropriate. This can be more effective than threatening schools with legal action.
DfES guidance, issued in March 2004, has cleared up misunderstandings about unofficial exclusions:
"If the head teacher is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, a pupil has committed a disciplinary offence and the pupil is being removed from the school site for that reason, formal exclusion is the only legal method of removal. Informal or unofficial exclusions are illegal regardless of whether they are done with the agreement of parents or carers."
This guidance should help YOTs who have complained that this is a barrier for a significant number of school-age young people. This guidance and further information on exclusions can be found on the TeacherNet website at www.teachernet.gov.uk/exclusion [opens in new window].
Information for parents is available from the Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) exclusions information line, 020 7704 9822, or www.ace-ed.org.uk/advice [opens in new window].