School exclusion

What you should do if your child/young person has been suspended/excluded from school

If you believe that your child/young person has been excluded because of their special educational needs not being met, you may need to consider one or more of the following:

• Ask for your child/young person to be assessed for SEN Support.
• If your child/young person is already receiving SEN Support, ask for an urgent review of this support.
• Check the school’s SEN information report (this is about SEN provision the school says it provides and should be on the school’s website).
• Complain to the Governors that duties under section 66 of the Children and Families Act 2014 have not been fulfilled (i.e., to use their best endeavours to ensure that children/young people with special needs receive provision to meet their needs).
• Request an EHC needs assessment.
• Ask for a change of school.

Paragraphs 18 and 19 of the Statutory guidance ‘Exclusions from maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England’ are worth checking. There are also some useful links on the Information and advice page of our website to help you. IPSEA also have information about Exclusion from school and UCL have produced a video about Understanding Types of Exclusion.