Schools fall foul of the law on school exclusion

From Children and Young People Now

Some schools are failing to observe the law when excluding children, with head teachers in some cases "coercing" students into moving schools, an inquiry by the children's commissioner has found.

The inquiry on school exclusions, They Never Give Up On You, discovered evidence of "illegal exclusions" where a minority of schools exclude students on an "informal" basis.

It found instances of unrecorded short-term exclusions to allow children to "cool off", children being coerced into moving schools leaving no record of an exclusion and students being "sent home" and not allowed back into school until after a meeting has taken place with their parents.

"In most schools there is great attention paid to the legality and formality of what they are doing in terms of exclusions," children’s commissioner for England Maggie Atkinson said.

"But we have concrete evidence that a minority are excluding children informally, usually [citing] reasons around the interests of the child concerned or the good of others.

"If you don’t record an exclusion and the child is not part of a formal monitoring [process] you don’t know where they are going.

"We are pressing for the Department [for Education] to work robustly with the system to help schools work within the law."

The inquiry found that several local authorities had begun the process of identifying schools that act in this way but "have found it difficult".

The children’s commissioner has recommended that government conduct research to identify the full extent of unlawful exclusions, and recommend measures to prevent schools continuing to act in this way.

The inquiry also found that particular groups are more likely to be excluded. Pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN) were seven times more likely to be excluded than those without SEN.

And Black Caribbean pupils and Gypsy and Traveller children were almost four times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than the school population as a whole.

The second stage of the inquiry will work to identify common themes with Charlie Taylor’s review of alternative provision to identify what works.

Download the report fowm the Children's Commissioner