Some schools in England are illegally excluding pupils, sometimes permanently, without going through the full formal process, a report says. England's children's commissioner Dr Maggie Atkinson heard some pupils were moved to other schools or sent home without an exclusion being recorded. Most schools tried to hold on to troubled pupils, she said, but a minority excluded on "a whim". BBC News
This story has made the news today but for me, it comes as no surprise. In fact, I published a post about this very subject a few months ago regarding unofficial exclusions because of a child's special educational needs:
Yesterday, I was talking to a friend of mine who is a highly experienced SEN Advocate. I told her of a parent I know who had been asked to collect her ASD son early from school each day. My friend, Julie Maynard, was outraged. That was, she said, an unofficial exclusion and was illegal. The child was being deprived of a full school day because of his disability....Read more
That story followed the Centre for Social Justice releasing a report last October that said some schools in England are “acting illegally or unscrupulously” by excluding pupils by unofficial means. Some schools encourage parents to remove difficult children, avoiding officially excluding them but providing no support. The report, No Excuses: A review of educational exclusion, was based on interviews with more than 100 heads, teachers, parents, pupils, local authority, voluntary and private sector workers.
Today, Mark Atkinson, Director of Policy, at Ambitious about Autism said, "The Children’s Commissioner for England is right to highlight the scandal of illegal exclusions from school. Children with autism are unfairly and disproportionately over-represented in exclusion figures. The fact that pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are eight times more likely to be permanently excluded from school is shocking and must be addressed.
"We call on head teachers to think twice before excluding a child with SEN, and we call on governors to hold their senior staff to account."
If your child has been unofficially excluded, read my earlier post to the endas there is a form letter protesting this that you may want to use.
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
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unfortunately we had this experience when my child was in mainstream. It was extremely stressful and resulted in me having to take time off work . We got a phone call one day saying they ” couldn’t take anymore and could I please go to school to collect him” . Soon after that we moved him to a special school as it was clear that the mainstream school were not able to meet his needs.
It seems your experience is, sadly, far from unique. Hope he’s doing well in his new school now.
My son too was excluded time and time again. Each time it was evident that the school was not adhering to the terms in his statement. They basically ignored his difficulties and needs. In October he was excluded first for a week then permanently before he even returned. The procedures were not followed and i didnt receive letters until i asked – 3 times in a row. Then he was without any education for 6 weeks. Then it was off to a PRU :-(. He’s still there now.