Unlawful Exclusions and Off Rolling

 The Department for Education Suspension & Permanent Exclusion Guidance says:

18. Telling or forcing a pupil to leave school, or not allowing them to attend school, is a suspension (if temporary) or permanent exclusion (if permanent). Whenever a pupil is made to leave school, or forbidden from attending school, on disciplinary grounds, this must be done in accordance with the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012 and with regard to relevant parts of this guidance.

19. Suspending a pupil for a short period of time, such as half a day, is permissible but the formal suspension process must still be followed. Each disciplinary suspension and permanent exclusion must be confirmed to the parents in writing with notice of the reasons for the suspension or permanent exclusion

 

Parents sometimes contact their SEND IAS Service and say their child has been sent home from school; they may have been told it is “just to cool off” and they have never received an official letter regarding the exclusion. These are all classed as “unlawful” exclusions.

Why do parents agree to this?

• They may not want it recorded on their child’s school record.
• They are worried if they do not agree to this the school may permanently exclude their child.

What are the benefits of an exclusion being made official?

• If there is no official record of a suspension it doesn’t highlight the fact that there are difficulties and it appears as if the school are managing the child’s behaviour.
• If nothing is recorded or evidenced a parent or carer may lose the right to speak to, or appeal to, the Governors of the school.
• The appropriate support agencies may not be involved if the exclusion is managed this way, as it would appear there are no problems.
• Parents or carers will be unaware of the fine that can be imposed if a child is seen in a public place when they are excluded.
• Unofficial exclusion/suspension is unlawful

Off Rolling

Government guidance is clear that if a school cannot manage a child and requests that the child be removed from site then it should only be done as an official exclusion.

The Department for Education Suspension & Permanent Exclusion Guidance states:

20. Any exclusion of a pupil, even for short periods, must be formally recorded. It would also be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have SEN or a disability that the school feels it is unable to meet, or for a reason such as, academic attainment/ability; or the failure of a pupil to meet specific conditions before they are reinstated, such as to attend a reintegration meeting.  If any of these unlawful exclusions are carried out and lead to the deletion of a pupil’s name from the register, this is known as ‘off-rolling’.

 

An informal or unofficial exclusion, such as sending a pupil home ‘to cool off’, is unlawful when it does not follow the formal school exclusion process and regardless of whether it occurs with the agreement of parents. 

 

21. A further example of off-rolling would be exercising undue influence over a parent to remove their child from the school under the threat of a permanent exclusion and encouraging them to choose Elective Home Education or to find another school place.

 

22. If a parent feels pressured into electively home educating their child or that the suspension or permanent exclusion procedures have not been followed, they can follow the school’s complaints procedure with the governing board and in the case of a maintained school, the local authority. Ofsted considers any evidence of off-rolling and is likely to judge a school as inadequate if there is evidence that pupils’ names have been removed from the school admission register without a formal permanent exclusion or by the school encouraging a parent to remove their child from the school, and leaders have
taken insufficient action to address this.

The legislation that this guidance “Suspension and Permanent Exclusion from maintained schools, academies & pupil referral units” relates to :

• Section 51A of the Education Act 2002, as inserted by the Education Act 2011.
• The School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions & Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012.
• Sections 100 – 108 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.
• The Education (Provision of Full Time Education for Excluded Pupils) (England) Regulations 2007 (as amended 2014).

As a parent or carer you can ask for any exclusion to be made official and request a re-integration meeting in school when your child returns.