School Exclusions

Children with SEN account for approximately 60% of all fixed-term exclusions and 70% of all permanent exclusions. A fixed-term exclusion can last from 0.5 up to 10 school days, and the child will return to school after the specified length of the exclusion.

A permanent exclusion means that a child has permanently been excluded from their school and they are unable to return. If a child is permanently excluded, then the local authority has a duty to find another school placement for them. This is often in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), which is a specialist provision set up specifically to teach children with behavioural difficulties. The child may be on roll there for a temporary period until another mainstream school is found, or they may remain there until the end of their formal education career. They may also be placed in a school specifically for children with SEND.

In order to exclude, headteachers have to follow certain guidelines and regulations. When making the decision to exclude, the exclusion must be in line with the law and it must be fair, proportionate, rational, and reasonable. The headteacher must also ensure they comply with the SEND Code of Practice. If a child is exhibiting disruptive behaviour, then this could be due to an unmet need. The headteacher must therefore ensure that the exclusion is fair when dealing with a child who has SEND and should provide intervention at the earliest opportunity to assess and address the cause of the disruptive behaviour.

If the provision that is in place for the child is not appropriate, then the school should look to see what else it can do to support the child’s needs to prevent a reoccurrence of the undesirable behaviour.

It is against the law for a school to exclude a child for anything other than discipline. Therefore, a school should never exclude a child if they are unable to support their SEND or if the parent is at fault (e.g., not providing the child with the correct uniform). Some schools will ‘unofficially’ exclude children by contacting home to ask the parent to collect the child so they can cool off or if there is an issue at a certain time of the school day and asking the parents to collect the child early to prevent the issue from occurring. These informal exclusions are unlawful, even with the parent’s agreement, and the school should either formally exclude the child or they should look for ways to prevent the issue or similar issues from occurring again.

A child can only be excluded for a maximum of 45 days or 90 half days in any academic year. Once this amount has been reached, a school may look to permanently exclude the child.

All exclusions must be formally recorded, no matter how short they may be. The headteacher must also report back every exclusion made to the governing body of the school and local authority once per term. The headteacher must also report back to the governing body and local authority any time a child reaches 5 full days or 10 half days of exclusions in a term.

Where there are concerns over the behaviour of a child with SEND, the headteacher, in partnership with others such as the SENDCO, should consider whether the support the school is providing the child is enough and whether they are still able to meet that child’s needs. If it is found that the school is no longer able to meet the child’s needs, then an alternative placement should be sought.

The headteacher should avoid permanently excluding any child with an EHCP plan unless they are left with no other option. The headteacher should work in partnership with parents and other school staff to support the behaviour of children with additional needs to try to avoid a situation where a child may be at risk of permanent exclusion.

If a child has a learning disability or autism, then they may have a ‘tendency to physical abuse’. There has been a recent case which was taken to tribunal that found that children who have a learning disability or autism may be aggressive, but this type of behaviour is not a choice. Before this case, schools were able to exclude children who displayed aggressive behaviour, even if the school had not done anything to support the child’s needs. Since the case, schools must justify that the exclusion was reasonable and proportionate to the behaviour displayed by the child and that they have made reasonable adjustments for that child to manage their behaviour.

If you are concerned about your child’s behaviour in school, then the best thing to do is to contact your child’s class teacher, their head of year, or the SENDCO to discuss a strategy to help your child. The school may implement a positive behaviour plan which lists your child’s trigger points, strategies for de-escalation, and the procedure to follow if your child is struggling to manage their behaviour in school.

If you feel that your child has been excluded from school unfairly and has been discriminated against because of their disability or SEND, then you are within your rights to appeal against the exclusion. The discrimination that you feel occurred could be direct, indirect, or failure to make reasonable adjustments. Whenever a child is excluded from school, you should receive a letter to advise the reason for exclusion, the length of exclusion, and details of a reintegration to school meeting. The letter should also clearly detail the appeals process and who you need to contact to initiate this.