Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

appealing against a fixed term exclusion

54 replies

fiftyshadesofmum · 22/07/2012 02:25

my son has just been excluded for 15 days for taking pictures/films of general stuff going on in school. Nothing nasty just stupid 14yr old kids stuff. He has never hurt or intended to hurt anyone, nothing has ever been posted online, the school has not been brought into disrepute, he has never been aggresive or violent, he has never placed himself or anyone else in danger and has never damaged school property. This exclusion starts as he begins yr10. Right at the beginning of one of the most important years at school. Other students at the school have had 5/6 day exclusions for fighting/bullying. One other student launched an unprovoked attack on a ASD kid kicking and punching him and only received a 5 day exclusion! I know he has broken the rules and when I spoke to his year head I myself suggested he was put into internal exclusion as punishment but a 15 day fixed term exclusion means that he cannot start his year 10 until 26th September!! How is this teaching him anything? He just thinks he is having a 9 week summer holiday!! I want to appeal but feel so helpless, especially as the school totally disregarded my thoughts and concerns on this. Has anyone got any advice on what to do next?

OP posts:
TroublesomeEx · 22/07/2012 06:57

Oh and my son and his friends have got loads of pictures on their phones of each other pulling stupid faces and the like. I'm pretty confident any kid in your son's school will have similar photos on their phones so there must have been something about the photos/films your son took that was different.

TroublesomeEx · 22/07/2012 06:55

The thing is you're seeing this as a bit of a 'victimless crime' (as suggested by your reference to an 'ASD kid' (nice!) being bullied and details of all the crimes he hasn't committed). And it's not.

The school have no idea what he was going to do with the film, you have no idea what he was going to do with the film, he might not even have been complete sure what he was going to do with the film. But you cannot just go around filming people without their consent for any purpose.

People generally don't film people for no reason and the school have a duty of care to their pupils. He needs to understand that this was wrong and that the school will not tolerate it.

ClaireBunting · 22/07/2012 05:42

One of these days parent will understand about the slippery slope that leads to cyber-bullying.

sashh · 22/07/2012 05:15

First thing, it doesn't matter what any other kid was suspended for or how long. This is your son and his exclusion.

What is the school policy on photographs / films? Is his punishment in line with that?

You say he has not hurt anyone, not posted online, not put anyone in danger. So what and why was he filming? And how do you know, absoloutley, without question that no one was hurt or put in danger?

If the punishment is in line with school policy then there is not a lot you can do.

Don't forget the school has to send him work home. Make sure he does it so that he keeps up with work.

If it is not in line with school policy then write to them, say it is inappropriate and thaton the first day of term and you accept he may be in internal exclusion.

Swipe left for the next trending thread