What happens at a governor's meeting, who attends, how the governors make their decision and what happens after the decision is made.
What happens at the governors' meeting
A panel of school governors will come together to explore the decision to permanently exclude your child, within 15 school days from the date of the permanent exclusion.
Usually there are 3 governors and a clerk who will take notes and advise on procedure.
The headteacher usually attends to explain in detail why they have taken this decision.
There may be other staff members from the school who attend such as a SENDCo, Head of Year or Head of Pastoral Support.
The school must submit a pack of evidence at least 5 days before this meeting. You must be sent a copy of this evidence.
The governors will explore the evidence with the headteacher and any other staff in attendance by asking questions and seeking clarification where needed.
Attending the governors' meeting
Parents or carers
You'll be invited to attend the meeting but attendance is not compulsory.
You might want to attend the meeting so you can ask questions or challenge the decision.
If you have evidence of your own, you can bring it to the meeting to raise it with the governors.
After the governors have finished questioning the headteacher you will be asked if you have any questions for them.
If you do not wish to attend you could submit a written statement and any evidence for the governors in advance of the meeting.
After the headteacher has finished and the governors' questions for the school are satisfied, it will your turn to speak. It may be helpful to have a written statement to read out. You should be made to feel as comfortable as possible and given plenty of opportunity to put your views across.
Governors understand it's an upsetting time for families and should do their best to make you feel at ease.
When you've finished speaking it will be the governors' turn to ask you any questions.
The school may also wish to ask you questions. This is not an opportunity to try and ‘catch you out', but instead a chance for the decision-makers (the governors) to fully understand both sides and fill in any gaps.
Bring someone to support you
You can bring someone along to advocate on your behalf, or to offer moral support if needed.
These meetings can seem formal and intimidating so bringing someone along who is calm and supportive can be helpful.
If you do decide to bring someone you need to let the clerk know in advance of the meeting.
The local authority
Someone from our team does not usually attend permanent exclusion meetings unless the parent requests it specifically.
If we are unable to attend on request, we will endeavour to write a report based on the evidence supplied by the school and any other factors which the governors should be aware of. This will be sent to the clerk to share with the governors, the school and yourself in advance of the meeting.
Your child
Your child does not need to attend. Although, they should be given the opportunity to do so.
For younger children this may not be appropriate.
If they do not wish to attend they should be asked for their views in writing.
The school should have asked your child for a statement and submitted this in the evidence pack.
Statements are often taken in the moment, directly after an incident has occurred. Emotions may have run high and it can be difficult to adequately express views rationally and calmly.
For this reason, sometimes children also write a letter for the governors' meeting. This may be a chance to reflect on matters after the fact and present their views in a different, more measured way.
Evidence for the meeting
The pack of evidence is usually quite large. Don't be surprised if the pack is over 100 pages.
In cases where ‘persistent disruptive behaviour' is cited as the reason for the permanent exclusion, the evidence may span several terms as the school will need to show the behaviour has been happening over a period of time.
In such cases, the school also needs to evidence what has been done to support your child with their behaviour.
Where behaviour has been consistently challenging over several months, the school should try and identify the reason for this and to put appropriate support in place.
It would be appropriate for the school to include things like copies of support plans, evidencing that these have been regularly reviewed with you and your child, copies of notes from meetings with yourself to evidence the school has tried to engage with you to discuss behaviour and any additional factors which may be important.
If your child has recently been assessed by educational psychologist or other professional such a speech and language therapist, a copy of the report should be included.
Attendance certificates should be included. A copy of the behaviour policy should be included and the evidence should show the school has followed their policy in relation to your child's behaviour.
If your child is identified as having SEND, it is helpful to have a copy of the school's SEND policy included in the evidence pack along with evidence the school has followed the policy.
The school may include additional items such as the safeguarding file (sometimes called CPOMS) and any witness statements from staff or pupils, which are anonymised, relating to individual incidents.
Where there has been a serious incident, the school needs to demonstrate that a thorough investigation has been completed.
If the school cannot prove your child has done what they are accused of
When reaching their decision, the civil standard of proof applies. This means that the headteacher will have decided that is more likely than not that your child did do what they are accused of.
This is different to the criminal standard of proof, where it must be proven that the person being accused is guilty.
However, all accusations should be properly investigated and the headteacher will still need to evidence why they have taken their decision.
How the governors make their decision
After all the evidence has been heard and the questions answered, everyone will be asked to leave the meeting.
The governors and clerk will stay behind to discuss everything they have read and listened to.
The governors need to decide if the decision to permanently exclude your child is lawful. For example, it's not lawful to permanently exclude a child for reasons of poor attendance.
The governors need to decide if the decision to permanently exclude your child is procedurally fair. For example, if you were not informed about the date of the governors' meeting and as a result were unable to attend the meeting, this would not be following the proper procedure and would mean the governors did not have the chance to hear your side and make a balanced and fair decision.
The governors need to decide if the decision to permanently exclude your child is reasonable.
This means that considering all the evidence presented that it's reasonable for the headteacher to decide your child should never return to the school and this was reasonably the only course of action which they might have taken.
This decision will be based on whether your child has seriously or persistently breached the school's behaviour policy and whether having them back in the school would jeopardise the safety and wellbeing of others.
The governors will take the following into consideration:
- whether it is more likely than not that your child has done what they are alleged to have done and whether this was properly investigated by the school
- whether the behaviour policy was followed
- the likelihood of the incident being repeated if your child was allowed to return
- any relevant previous behavioural incidents
- the support provided by the school and for how long it was provided
- whether your child may have unmet needs which may have contributed to their behaviour
- any special educational needs and disabilities your child may have
- any mitigating circumstances, for example, if your child was being coerced, bullied or threatened
Usually you will be informed of the governors' decision later that day or the following day. This may be by phone, but an official letter will also be sent to you.
The governors have 2 options only. They can:
- overturn the decision to permanently exclude your child and reinstate your child at the school
- uphold the decision (your child is permanently excluded)
If the decision is overturned
You child will remain on roll at their school.
There will be no permanent exclusion on your child's record.
The school should contact you to plan for your child to return to school on an agreed date.
In some cases the school may need to make alternative arrangements such as an off-site direction to another setting.
If the decision is upheld
The governors have decided your child should be permanently excluded from the school.
They will have a permanent exclusion on their record.
Your child will continue to attend the 6th day provision that was put in place by the local authority.
Appeal the decision
You cannot appeal the decision, but you can request it is reviewed by an independent review panel (IRP).
You need to request this within 15 school days of receipt of the letter informing you of the governors' decision. This letter will give you details of how to do this.
You need to explain in writing on what grounds you are requesting this.
You can still request a review, even if you do not wish your child to return to the school.
When requested, the IRP will meet within 15 school days of your request.
The three panel members must be independent, but will be made up of:
- 1 lay member, who's a member of the community who will act as chair
- 1 serving or recently retired governor of a maintained school
- 1 serving headteacher or a headteacher retired in the last 5 years
An independent review panel does not have the power to direct a governing body to reinstate an excluded pupil.
However, it can either:
- uphold the exclusion decision, and your child will remain permanently excluded
- recommend that a governing body reconsiders its decision
- quash the decision of the governing body if it considers that the decision was flawed and direct the governing body to reconsider its decision
If directed to reconsider the decision, the governors' disciplinary committee must reconvene within 10 school days to do this.
If the governors reconsider but decide the original decision should stand, your child will be permanently excluded and the education put in place by the local authority will remain in place.
If your child is permanently excluded
In many cases a Fair Access Panel (FAP) will be organised.
You will be asked for your preferences for a new school.
In some cases more time may be needed to consider whether mainstream school is the right place for your child. For example, your child may be going through an assessment of their needs as part of the Education, Health and Care needs assessment process.
In such cases it may be best to wait for the outcome of this piece of work before a decision about the best type of setting for you child can be made.
In some cases, the ALP Academy (St Matthias Academy or Lansdown Park Academy) will speak to you about the possibility of your child moving into a new setting which is not a mainstream school.
If the governors reconsider and decide not to permanently exclude your child
You will be informed of the decision and the arrangements for your child to return to their school.
There will be no permanent exclusion on their record.
In a small number of cases, you may decide that you do not wish for your child to return to the school. If this is the case, your child will remain in their local authority arranged placement and a FAP convened at the appropriate time to move them into a new school or setting.