Exclusions

[Karenin]

This week my son was involved in two incidents on the school bus, one on the way to school one on the way back. No-one knows exactly what happened as accounts vary. My problem is that a parent of one of the children involved called me at half pat 7 in the morning and said that we were distorting the facts and that unless we agreed with their version he would take it to the school. I refused to co-operate. By the end of the day my son had been excluded from school for two days. The reasons given are for assaulting a boy and behaviour in class. Has this happened to anyone else? I am obviously shocked that this can happen despite all the policies and guidelines in place on exclusions. My son has never been excluded and only served two detentions for behaviour since arriving at the school. One when he first started and one recently for throwing a sharpener to another lad during a lesson. He has been on report for failure to do homework but the guidelines clearly state this is not a reason for excluding.

What do the guidelines say? Was the assault as reported serious?

Was the assault on the boy you mention whose mother wanted you to collaborate stories? Did you go into school to see the head? How bad was the assault? Was it a flick or punching or more?

The children involved know what happened, and your son wasn't excluded for no reason, and a child is unlikely to say your son assulted them unless he did. Presumably the school has done their best to get as much information about what happened before they took the decision to make an exculsion. Have you had the chance to speak to the school about the incidents?

I think we need more detail here to be able to help you.

When you say your son has been excluded for two days, has this been confirmed by letter from the head of the school? That letter should give some information about the incident and at least point to the reason for the exclusion.
I would suggest that having got that letter that you ask for a meeting with the head teacher to discuss the incident and establish what facts the schools has.
I don't think that you can have cause for not accepting that your son was involved in two incidents and that most schools would take some action. The question that you need to resolve is exactly on what basis your son was excluded and what happened to the other pupils involved. I would raise with the head teacher the fact that you were in effect threatened by this other parent and that you want to be sure that this did not then translate into your son being unfairly blamed. You need to be clear with the head that you accept the punishment but want to understand the background to this as it is confusing.

Why are you shocked that an exclusion can be given for assault and poor behaviour in class. Your ds has harmed another boy and stopped other young people from learning. I have a dd who regularly comes home in tears because of incidents such as you describe. From my point of view I would like the school to permanently exclude two or three pupils in dd's year. Why should some children be allowed to behave badly, intimidate others and interrupt learning. You need to support the action the school has taken and ensure that your ds starts behaving himself for the sake of the entire school community. As a parent, I am sick and tired of the damage done to the educatio of the majority by the minority who engage in low level disruption, high level disruption and who believe physical and emotional bullying is acceptable. It is not and the softly softly approach does nothing to help those who wish to learn and who know how to behave.