Any SLT or governors here? Advice RE knife at school

Thanks all. In the end it was agreed he can stay at his current school given his behaviour record. He is out of isolation now and apparently the 3 boys have been permanently excluded. This is according to his friends so playground hearsay rather than fact. He hasn't seen them but they may still be on a fixed term exclusion.

A good approach (often recommended here) is to take your own minutes, and then send them to the school asking them to confirm that these were the points/actions agreed. That puts you in the lead and the onus on the school to rebut anything they disagree with.

You wouldn't be able to get a managed move to an independent school, obviously. Are the parents able to pay fees?

In some cases, I have known councils help with transport following a managed move- I'm not sure if there are specific rules around this, though. But it would be worth asking the question of the school and the council (in writing).

I'm a school governor. OP, did the incident happen this term or last term? I'm asking because the DfE have issued new behaviour and exclusion guidance to schools, which applies from this term, and may be relevant. You can read it here: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/revised-behaviour-in-schools-guidance-and-suspension-and-permanent-exclusions-guidance

If the incident happened after Sept 1st and your school isn't following the guidance you can challenge them about it. Either way, it is good to understand your rights and the school's obligations.

I’m not SLT but sit on exclusion review panels.

Taking a knife into school normally leads to permanent exclusion, so it does sound as if the school are proposing a managed move as a way of avoiding that. However, it’s worth clarifying this with the school, as (as others have said) there are rules and expectations around managed moves which might not apply if this is intended as some sort of informal transfer.

I think it sounds like they are offering a managed move- others have explained how these will work. The school obviously have to accept the move, which has probably been why the parents have been asked for a choice of two. I would suggest they find a second choice they are happy with, in case their preferred choice does reject the move- even if it is a long distance away, transport would normally be organised in this circumstance.

Schools can offer managed moves in part to protect the student who is moving, I've seen this happen before. Space can often be found in oversubscribed schools, he wouldn't have to wait to move up the waiting list.

I would respond to the offer in writing, so there is some record of it.

When he returns to school, it's important that there's a plan for keeping him safe in school. The school can't tell anyone what will happen with the other students, but they should have a plan for keeping your nephew safe on return to school. I do think the school is in a difficult position- for lots of reasons they can't be perceived by anyone (including students who witnessed the incident) as punishing students who reported another student for having a knife in school.

A boy who had a knife in his bag in my school was permanently excluded a few years ago.

I think you've really misinterpreted this. It sounds very much like the school are acting compassionately to give an otherwise exemplary student a way out. There are many many schools where this would be an automatic PX.

The school will want to keep any arrangements quiet as it would not go down well with parents if it were known that a child who brought a knife to school was not excluded.

My DS did exactly the same thing at 12yo. He'd been given the knife for Christmas to use at Scouts, was pleased with his gift and stupidly took it to school to show his friendson the bus. Word got tonschool that DS had a knife. Nothing malicious about it at all, but it's a knife in school and that's a very big deal.

The head phoned me herself (in a large secondary this was very unusual) and basically apologised that she had no choice but to suspend him. He had one day, but tbh I felt he got off lightly and wouldn't have been surprised if it was worse. I was very embarrassed, it never occured to me that he'd be so stupid.

However, whilst they have to take action Iver the knife, I would expect the bullying to be taken very seriously indeed.

Are they suggesting the other schools would be better for him to remove him from an environment that is unhappy for him? That would be managed move, but they can't force parents to accept it and I've never heard of it being used this way before.

If the other child already in another school, that happened a little while ago?

What happened after that? Were the pupils made aware of the likely consequences of bringing a knife onto the premises? Were they were told what to do if anyone suggested that they should do something that would get them into trouble? If that had happened, would it have made a difference to what your nephew did?

(I guess they may not have wanted to admit that there had been a knife on the premises, so maybe the message needs to be in a wider sweep of scenarios. But if they've got some bullying kids using this sort of tactic, they need to be tackling that issue, not just shipping out their victims.)

Yes. He would move from being dual registered (still on the register at the original school but attending the other one) to single registration at the new one.

It can break down in those 12 school weeks and he would have to either return or find somewhere else, but if he really does settle in well and take advantage of the extra support they give him, it'll be his permanent school.

It's a managed move to give him a fresh start away from the others. The paperwork is no less for this than permanent exclusion. If the other school agree to take him, he then has 12 weeks' trial to see what it's like.

The alternative is him still at the same school, still unhappy/at risk/posing a risk and potentially getting put into alternative provision whilst the LA look for somebody to take him through the fair access panel if he is involved in another incident.

It's so much better to get away from where he is now. Before it's too late.

I suspect the school know more of the background here in relation to the other kids and are trying to help your nephew avoid a permanent exclusion on his record, avoid any police involvement and get him moved away from any potentially serious trouble.

I would be jumping at this chance and asking them to help get him into their first choice of alternative school.

Hmmmm. They acknowledge that your son was encouraged to bring in a knife, and that he is being bullied. Do you have that in writing?

In my school we would certainly exclude for a period, followed by the max period in isolation for even a one-off, zero behaviour points student who brought in a knife. Without hesitation.

But I'm not sure of the legalities of pushing you to move schools (unless they have said that it is). I suppose it rests very much on what they have stated in writing op.

@ThanksItHasPockets I know that they wouldn't say what happened to the boys, but I was hoping, as seems to have been the case, that the school would acknowledge that these boys also had a part to play in this, which should be picked up on separately.

have the school mentioned sanctions against the group of boys who dared him to bring the knife in?

There is no way they will discuss this.

@Nevermindthesquirrels have the school mentioned sanctions against the group of boys who dared him to bring the knife in? A move, if he can get into the oversubscribed school could be the making of your nephew, but there has to be something done about the culture in the school he's leaving behind.

Also - did you have a name change fail further up? A poster mentions their nephew, but it isn't you, if you see what I mean.