What happens when your child gets permanently excluded from school.
The headteacher might decide to permanently exclude your child from school because they believe your child should not be allowed to return to the school on a permanent basis. This is because they believe your child has seriously or persistently breached the school's behaviour policy.
When this happens, you'll be written to formally informing you of the decision.
The letter should clearly outline:
- why your child is being permanently excluded
- your rights and responsibilities
- who you can contact for advice and support
The legal process
Permanent exclusion is a legal process and there are processes and deadlines that must be adhered to. See the DfE statutory guidance on permanent exclusions.
When a child is permanently excluded there are 2 processes the school needs to follow:
- The arrangements for onward education, often called “sixth day provision”.
- The permanent exclusion process.
This can be an upsetting time and there's a lot of information to take on board.
Governors meeting
The governors will meet to decide whether to uphold the decision to permanently exclude your child.
This meeting (sometimes called a governors' disciplinary meeting, a governing board meeting or management committee meeting) needs to be arranged to take place within 15 school days from the date of the permanent exclusion.
The date of this meeting may not be known at this point. In which case you will receive another letter informing you of the date of the meeting and inviting you to attend.
Find out more on what to expect at a governors meeting.
After your child is permanently excluded
The school is responsible for providing education for the first 5 days after the permanent exclusion. The local authority, where your child resides, is responsible from the sixth day (often referred to as “sixth day provision”).
The school may decide to send work home for your child to complete or put in place an alternative arrangement. It's your responsibility to ensure completed work is returned to the school for marking.
During the first 5 days of the exclusion you have a duty to ensure that your child is not present in a public place during school hours unless there is reasonable justification for this.
Secondary school
For key stage 3 or 4 children (secondary aged children), if there is space available the local authority may refer to one of the ALP Academies (formerly Pupil Referral Units or PRUs).
Primary school
If your child is key stage 1 or 2 (primary aged children) the local authority may refer to an Early Intervention Base (EIB) in your locality.
In some cases there may not be space available in one of these settings. If this is the case someone in our team will contact you to discuss setting up an alternative.
Sixth form
If your child attends a sixth form and is not therefore of ‘statutory school age', there's no requirement for the local authority to provide sixth day provision.
If your child attends school in a different local authority to the one they live in
If your child lives in Bristol then it is for Bristol local authority to provide sixth day provision regardless of where your child goes to school.
If your child lives outside of Bristol it will be for the home local authority to provide sixth day provision.
The school will contact the relevant local authority to let them know your child has been permanently excluded.