Informal exclusion

It often sounds reasonable: "can you collect him early", "we are sending her home to cool off", or a part-time timetable Part-time timetable When a school asks your child to come in for fewer hours than everyone else. It should be rare, short term, reviewed often, and it needs your written agreement. Read the full definition of Part-time timetable that nobody agreed to as a plan. If it happens because of behaviour and it is not recorded, government guidance for parents calls it an informal or unofficial suspension Suspension A suspension is when a school sends a pupil home for a set number of days. It used to be called a fixed-term exclusion, and you may still hear that name. Read the full definition of Suspension , and says schools are not allowed to do it.

The informality is the problem. A suspension that is never written down cannot be reviewed or challenged, and nobody has to plan the support that would stop it happening again. If this is happening, you can ask the school to confirm in writing how each early collection is being recorded. That one question usually changes things.

Keep your own note of dates and times. If it continues, your local SENDIASS SENDIASS A free advice service for parents in every council area in England. Its advisers are on no one's side, and they help you work out what to do next. Read the full definition of SENDIASS service can advise you, free.