Being suspended or permanently excluded from school can be very worrying and upsetting for you, your child, or young person.
The information on this page will help you understand your child’s or young person’s suspension or permanent exclusion, your rights, and where to get further information and support.
The information on this page is taken from the Department for Education's statutory guidance on suspension and permanent exclusions (GOV.UK).
This guidance applies to:
Maintained schools (state schools)
Academies (including free schools but not 16 to 19 academies)
Pupil referral units (PRU)
School sixth forms
Other types of education settings include sixth form colleges, further education colleges, and independent schools or colleges. These types of education settings will have their own behaviour and exclusion policies.
Who can suspend or permanently exclude a child or young person?
Only the headteacher (or the teacher in charge of a pupil referral unit or the principal of an academy) has the power to suspend or permanently exclude your child or young person.
Types of exclusions
There are only two types of exclusions from an education setting which are lawful:
Suspension (fixed period)
A suspension is for a specific number of school days, for example, one or more days (up to a maximum of 45 school days in a single academic year).
A lunch time suspension is recorded as a half day suspension.
A suspension cannot be extended or converted to a permanent exclusion unless further evidence comes to light.
Permanent exclusion
A permanent exclusion means your child or young person cannot return to that school.
Reasons for suspension and permanent exclusion
The decision to suspend or to permanently exclude your child or young person must be for disciplinary reasons only.
Schools should not place pressure on parents to home educate their child as an alternative to suspension or permanent exclusion.
Children and young people should not be suspended or permanently excluded because of unmet special educational needs (SEN) or disability-related needs. Schools should consider whether additional support, reasonable adjustments, or SEND provision may be required before deciding to exclude.
All schools must have a behaviour policy explaining what behaviour they expect from pupils and this must be published on their website.
The behaviour of pupils outside school can be considered as grounds for suspension or permanent exclusion, for example on the journey to and from school or during school trips.
A decision to exclude a pupil permanently should only be taken:
In response to a serious or persistent breach of the school’s behaviour policy; and
Where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school
Illegal exclusions
Informal or unofficial exclusions are unlawful.
Examples include asking a parent to keep their child at home to 'cool off', sending a pupil home without formally recording a suspension, or encouraging parents to remove their child from the school roll to avoid a permanent exclusion.
What steps need to be taken when a decision has been made?
When a headteacher decides to suspend or permanently exclude your child or young person, they must tell you without delay, by phone or in person, why the decision has been made. They must also tell you how long the suspension is for, or if it is a permanent exclusion.
They must also provide the following information in writing, no later than three days after their decision:
Whether it is a suspension or permanent exclusion
If it is a suspension, the precise number of days of the suspension
The reasons for the suspension or permanent exclusion
Your right to make representations (give your views) to the school governors about the suspension or permanent exclusion and how your child or young person can be involved
How to make your representations. These must be considered by governors, even where there is no requirement for a governors’ meeting
Information about where you can get free impartial information, including WIASS as your local SENDIASS and Coram’s Child Law Advice Service.
Informing the governing board of the exclusion
The headteacher must, without delay, notify the governing board of:
Any permanent exclusion
Any suspension which would result in your child or young person being suspended for more than five school days in a term, including more than ten lunchtime suspensions
Any suspension or permanent exclusion which would result in your child or young person missing a public examination or national curriculum test
Informing the local authority (LA)
The local authority must be informed of the suspension or permanent exclusion regardless of the length of the suspension.
Cancelling a suspension or permanent exclusion
A headteacher may cancel a suspension or permanent exclusion before it has been considered by the governing board. If you have additional information that may be relevant, you can share this with the school and ask the headteacher to reconsider their decision.
Governors’ duties and other notifications
If your child is a ‘looked after child’, the headteacher must tell the virtual school head. If your child has a social worker, the social worker must also be told.
Where a child has a social worker, schools should involve them, where appropriate, in decisions relating to suspensions and permanent exclusions.
Where there is a legal requirement for the governors to consider the exclusion, you have the right to attend the governors’ meeting and bring someone with you.
Whilst your child or young person is suspended or permanently excluded
If your child is of compulsory school age (5 to 16 years old), you must make sure they are not in a public place during school hours during the first five days of the suspension or permanent exclusion, or until the alternative provision starts.
The school must take reasonable steps to set and mark work for the first five days of the suspension or permanent exclusion.
If alternative provision is being arranged, details about the start date, times, address and who your child should report to may be provided by email, given to you directly, or sent home with your child.
Entitlement to alternative provision
Alternative provision is education provided for children who cannot attend a mainstream school because of exclusion, illness, or other reasons.
Alternative provision must be full-time and suitable, for example for the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs (SEN).
Suspension
For a suspension, alternative provision should start as soon as possible. If your child is a looked after child, the school and local authority should work together to arrange provision from the first day of the suspension or permanent exclusion.
The governing body, or the local authority in relation to a pupil excluded from a pupil referral unit, must arrange suitable full-time education for your child if they are of compulsory school age. This must begin no later than the sixth day of the suspension.
In Wandsworth, each school has its own sixth day provision arrangement.
Permanent exclusion
For permanent exclusions, the home local authority, not the school, must arrange suitable full-time education if your child is of compulsory school age. This provision must begin no later than the sixth day of exclusion.
In Wandsworth, day six provision for children who have been permanently excluded is usually provided at one of the pupil referral units (PRUs).
If your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan and you do not feel a PRU will be appropriate, please speak to your child’s EHC co-ordinator in the special needs assessment service (SNAS).
If your child or young person has an EHC plan and their behaviour has become a concern, the school should consider requesting an early annual review of the plan to consider whether further support is required.
Off-site direction
In some circumstances, a school may direct a pupil to attend education at another setting to improve behaviour. This is known as off-site direction. Schools should keep these arrangements under regular review and involve parents in discussions about the placement.
Can I challenge the school’s decision?
You can challenge the school's decision. In the letter informing you of the suspension or permanent exclusion, the headteacher will include:
Your right to make representations (give your views)
How to make your representations
Where you can get impartial information and advice
You can request to meet with governors if the total days of your child’s or young person’s suspension is between five and fifteen days in one term. If a meeting is held, you have the right to attend and bring someone with you.
If your child has been suspended for less than five days, you have the right to make written representations to governors if you object to, or want to give your views about, the suspension.
The governing board
The governing board must consider and decide on the reinstatement of a suspended or permanently excluded pupil within fifteen days of receiving notice from the headteacher if:
It is a permanent exclusion
It is a suspension which would bring the total number of school days to more than fifteen in a term
It would result in your child or young person missing a public examination or national curriculum test
Where governors have agreed, or are legally required, to consider your representations, they may do the following:
Suspension
For a total of five school days or less, governors cannot overturn the headteacher's decision but can place a note of their findings on your child’s school record.
For more than five school days, governors can decide whether the decision to suspend was lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair, and can reinstate your child immediately or by a particular date.
Permanent Exclusion
The governing board must convene a meeting to consider reinstatement within fifteen school days of receiving notice of the permanent exclusion.
Informing you of the governing board’s decision
The governing board must notify you, the headteacher and the local authority of its decision in writing and without delay. The governing board should explain the reasons for its decision in enough detail so that everyone can understand why the decision was made.
If the decision is about a permanent exclusion and governors have not overturned it, they must tell you about your right to ask for the decision to be reviewed by an independent review panel (IRP). They must also tell you how to request this, the deadline, who can be invited and who will attend the IRP.
The governing board must also take reasonable steps to meet before the date of a public exam or national curriculum test. If this is not practical, the chair of governors may consider reinstatement alone.
What is an independent review panel (IRP)?
If the governing board agrees with the headteacher’s decision to permanently exclude your child or young person, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed by an IRP.
An IRP is a meeting where you can explain why you disagree with the decision and give your views. The panel will also hear from the school and consider all of the available evidence before reaching its decision.
You have the right to attend the meeting and may bring someone with you, such as a friend, supporter, advocate or legal representative. Relevant professionals, including a SEN expert where requested, may also attend.
An IRP does not have the power to direct the governing board to reinstate your child or young person.
The panel can:
Uphold the exclusion decision
Recommend that the governing board reconsiders its decision
Quash the governing board’s decision and direct the governing board to reconsider reinstatement
You cannot request an independent review panel until the governing board has considered the permanent exclusion and decided not to reinstate your child. However, you do not have to attend the governing board meeting in order to request an IRP.
SEN expert
Whether or not the school recognises that your child or young person has special educational needs (SEN), you have the right to request that a SEN expert attends the IRP meeting.
The SEN expert’s role is to advise the panel impartially about how your child’s or young person’s known SEN may have affected the circumstances around the permanent exclusion.
If the school does not recognise that your child or young person has SEN, the SEN expert should advise the panel on whether, based on the evidence provided, the school acted in a legal, reasonable and procedurally fair way.
The SEN expert must have expertise and experience of SEN and should base their advice on the evidence provided to the panel. The SEN expert’s role does not include assessing your child’s or young person’s SEN.
The Independent Review Panel Decision
Where the IRP directs or recommends that the governing board reconsiders its decision, the governing board must meet within ten school days of being given notice of this decision.
The governing board must notify you, the headteacher, the local authority and, where relevant, the home authority, of its reconsidered decision and the reasons for it in writing and without delay.
Remote meetings
Governing board meetings and independent review panels may be held remotely where this is considered appropriate. You and your young person should be given information about how to attend and participate effectively.
What can I do if I believe my child has been suspended or permanently excluded because of their disability?
If you believe your child or young person has been suspended or permanently excluded because of their disability, you may be able to make a claim under the Equality Act 2010 to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).
Schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils and should consider whether additional support, SEND provision or other interventions may help prevent exclusion.
My child has Special Educational Needs (SEN)
Headteachers should, where possible, avoid permanently excluding any pupil with an education, health and care (EHC) plan or a ‘looked after child’ because they may be vulnerable to the impact of exclusion.
Schools should engage proactively with you in supporting your child’s or young person’s behaviour.
Where a school has concerns about your child’s or young person’s behaviour, or they may be at risk of exclusion, it should, in partnership with others, including the LA, consider what additional support or alternative placement may be required. This should involve assessing the suitability of support for your child’s or young person’s SEN.
If your child or young person has an EHC plan, the school should consider requesting an early annual review of the EHC plan.
If your child’s or young person’s behaviour is much more difficult than usual, or they have difficulties managing their feelings, they may have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. This is a recognised type of SEN too.
Further information and support
If you would like to discuss your child’s or young person’s suspension or permanent exclusion, please contact WIASS:
Helpline number: 020 8871 8065 (24 hour answer machine)
Email: wiass@wandsworth.gov.uk
Useful organisations
The following organisations provide information or advice on suspensions and permanent exclusions:
Family law advice line: 0300 330 5480
Education law advice line: 0300 330 5485
Exclusion from school - Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA)
Leaflets and templates
You can download our leaflets and templates for more information on suspensions and permanent exclusions: