Fixed period exclusions from school

[BumpingFuglies]

How effective do you think they are from the child's point of view?

My son has been excluded for 2 days (not for the first time) for being rude to staff and fighting. This is in accordance with school policy.

The exclusion serves to remove a disruptive student so that others can continue their education in a calm environment, as is their right. I completely agree with this. The exclusion is also made as a punishment however and this is where I am not sure if it works.

In reality, my son gets an extra 2 days off school. He has set work to do and I get him up at normal time, but he still views it as a day off. If he had "in-school" exclusion, he would still be in the regulated environment but separated from other students. So where is the deterrent and the concept of punishment?

What does everyone think?

hugs Maryz, so true, the removal/diminishing of alternative provision has been a retrograde step

Sounds tough Maryz and I see that you couldn't do that without help, it's just difficult to know where it should come from. Your point about alternative/special schools is interesting.

Some very interesting points being made here. I have no problem with the exclusions themselves as they are fair from a school policy point of view.

DS seems to get that it's serious from a home point of view (especially since he is grounded for a month) but I'm already seeing problems ahead when he goes back to school. We had a talk about how he would handle things if they go wrong and if he would try to prevent himself being excluded. He said why bother? They get rid of me for a couple of days and I get time off.

Is there a young adult he looks up to who could steer him in the right direction?

Even a careers officer maybe who could tell him his options if he carries on misbehaving.
The fact that he doesn't see the point of bothering is worrying - he needs to change his mindset if this is going to change.