Exclusions and Suspensions

If your child or young person has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) an annual review should be held if they are at risk of being excluded to discuss provision and education setting.

Department for Education Suspension & Exclusion Guidance says

57. Where a pupil has an EHC plan, schools should contact the local authority about any  behavioural concerns at an early stage and consider requesting an early annual review prior to making the decision to suspend or permanently exclude. For those with SEN but without an EHC plan, the school should review, with external specialists as appropriate, whether the current support arrangements are appropriate and what changes may be required. This may provide a point for schools to request an EHC assessment or a review of the pupil’s current package of support.

‘Internal exclusion’ is when a pupil is excluded within the school for disciplinary reasons. This may include being removed from their class to
a separate room within the school.  The school's behaviour policy will outline the school sanctions which may include detentions, internal exclusions, suspensions and permanent exclusions.

The Department for Education Behaviour in Schools Guidance outlines that  removal from a classroom should be used for the following reasons:

• to maintain the safety of all pupils and to restore stability following an unreasonably high level of disruption;
• to enable disruptive pupils to be taken to a place where education can be continued in a managed environment; and
• to allow the pupil to regain calm in a safe space.

Pupils should be in isolation no longer than is necessary and their health, safety and welfare must always be put first. Again, the creation and application of behaviour policies has to be in accordance with the Equality Act 2010

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The use of removal should allow for continuation of the pupil’s education in a supervised setting. The continuous education provided may differ to the mainstream curriculum but should still be meaningful for the pupil.

 

Removal from the classroom should be considered a serious sanction. It should only be used when necessary and once other behavioural strategies in the classroom have been attempted, unless the behaviour is so extreme as to warrant immediate removal. Parents should be informed on the same day if their child has been removed from the classroom.  As with all disciplinary measures, schools must consider whether the sanction is proportionate and consider whether there are any special considerations relevant to its imposition 

 

Removal should be distinguished from the use of separation spaces (sometimes known as sensory or nurture rooms) for non-disciplinary reasons. For instance, where a pupil is taken out of the classroom to regulate his or her emotions because of identified sensory overload as part of a planned response.

It is important to note that if the exclusion may be related to disability discrimination (within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010), parents can make a claim to the First Tier Tribunal in relation to any type of exclusion and the Tribunal will have the power to reinstate.

The Equality Act says a disability is a physical or mental impairment which has substantial and long term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day to day activities (s.6 EqA 2010) 

However, some characteristics aren’t protected under the Equality Act, regardless of their cause:

• a tendency to start fires or steal
• a tendency to physical or sexual abuse of others
• exhibitionism or voyeurism

You can read about Disability Discrimination Tribunal Appeals and SEN Support in Education Settings