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permant exclusion - are school breaking the law

NAS14484

My son is in year 7. He has an EGCP and an Aspergers diagnosis. He started senior school in september. He has always been in mainstream school.

Due to a one off serious offence (taking a swiss army tool the size of a credit card which incuded a small knife) he has been permanenetly excluded.

Obiovuly he shouldn't have taken it in, but he struggles to make friends and he thinks that having cool stuff will get people to like him. Heck, most neuro typical kids, and aduts, think that! 

So they issued a fixed term exlusion for 5 days on 11th nov. With an added phrase "in the first instance". They said that if I worked with them to find permanent alternative mainstream provision, I could avoid him being permanently excluded. To their suprise, I said no. He is in the right place (it has an Autism Centre within the school). So they then changed it to a permanent exclusion on 18th nov. So he has now been out of education for 11 days. There were no further incidents to change the fixed to a permanent. Are they allowed to do this?

  • Thank you for replying - and sorry for the delay in me expressing my thanks. He is STILL out of school on day 15 (15 school days). I am attending the discipliary hearig to appeal. Your thoughts ad=nd comments are very helpful.

  • That seems against policy. Did they send you a letter? And if this was the first instance of a problem, then this is your first warning.

    A Swiss army knife is by fact a tool & not a weapon. So they're being very ignorant. They seem to want to exclude him. If it were a dangerous weapon they could have the right to expel him on the spot. And it seems that they've wrongly decided to abuse that right.

    Have you met with the head teacher about this. As that is your chance to state your case. To specify it was a tool & not a weapon. If your child believes he didn't break their policy that's of vital significance too. Especially if there's no clearly communicated policy about the specific item.

  • Hi legs11,

    So sorry that you are having problems with your son's school.

    You may want to contact our Education Rights Service where information, support and advice is provided on educational provision and entitlements. Please see the following link for further information:
    http://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/education-rights.aspx

     

    I hope that helps.

    Regards,

    Kerri-Mod

  • Read this:

    www.gov.uk/.../school-exclusion

    Sounds a bit dodgy to me, especially as it was an isolated incident which he now understands was wrong. Can they legitimately prove he is detrimental to the safety and education of other pupils by remaining there? I doubt it. If it were me, I'd be seeing a solicitor. 

    That being said, are you sure you want your son in a school that are so quick to exclude a pupil without offering any alternative support? Autism centre or not, their behaviour speaks volumes. 

    I would appeal, because an exclusion isn't great to have on his record, but be looking for somewhere more interested in supporting him. 

    Good luck.x