Fixed term exclusion at 6.15pm??

[nexthype]

Hello

Just had a phone call from my eldest's school, saying he has been excluded for 2 days. They phone us at 6.15pm to notify us of this.

My child goes to a school for kids with behavior problems, he has ADHD and ADD. He was excluded for pushing a member of staff who pushed him first to stop him retaliating to a child who is bullying him. This time the other child was throwing books across the room, which the teacher didn't see, but saw my child get up to challenge the other child and got between them and pushed my child backwards, so my child has pushed the teacher back. I know he shouldn't of pushed the teacher and he will be punished accordingly for that.

My question is, are they allowed to exclude my child with such short notice, surely they should of excluded him and notified us as soon as the incident happened, which could allow us time to arrange something, not at 6.15pm

We both work full time, I have been at my job for 4 years and know I can take the time off (unpaid) and my partner has just started a new job and can't take the time off.

I plan to go to the school first thing in the morning to challenge this exclusion

Any advice appreciated

TIA

Danny

Maybe they were having meeting to make a decision, that might be the reason for late notice?

The only legal requirement is that they notify you of the decision to exclude immediately. So if the decision was made at lunchtime and they didn't attempt to contact you until 6:15pm that is a problem. However, if they didn't make the decision until 6pm they are fine. Even if they did delay contacting you, it is unlikely you would be able to overturn the exclusion on that basis.

Not late notice. Dh is currently at parents evening, the ones that have been excluded after today won't be informed until after 8 tonight when the evening finishes.

Usually the exclusions are done by the senior leaders, they're often not available to even start calling parents until after 6.

I think that the teachers in the school must have a very serious reason for excluding your son at such late notice.
I feel sorry for them that they have to deal with parents challenging this decision when it must have been a very hard one to make. I think that you are directing your frustration at the wrong people.

he shouldn't of pushed the teacher and he will be punished accordingly for that. Surely that is what the exclusion is - his punishment for pushing. Also you don't know and don't have a right to know but the other boy might also be excluded.

When my son did something serious at school during break (11am ish), the procedure at his mainstream school was they got statement from him, called me at 4pm to tell me about his behaviour then call at 7pm to let me know his punishment. The punishment was decided by the Head after a after-school staff meeting so couldn’t be any earlier.

So instead of just the teacher pushing your son, it was a protection of the other child and he pushed them? This whole 'teacher did it first' thing doesn't wash.

Doesn't sound like late notice to me. Between running clubs, meetings etc many teachers would not have a chance to speak to the principal about an issue until late afternoon - before the whole process is begun.

I think it's wrong to think about your inconvenience of having to take time off work in this situation. It's about your child.

What about safety of the teacher who was dealing with the situation?

It’s likely that there was some kind of meeting/training going on before which meant they couldn’t inform you until this time. I don’t think you have any reason to challenge it. Your sons behaviour was unacceptable.