Exclusion in Yr 11.....

[icelolly99]

I need a hand hold. My child has been excluded from school due to something inappropriate on social media. I'm distraught.

Permanently or fixed term?
First offence or last straw?

Do you just need and or practical advice too?

Oh no, we’re in the same boat today but he’s year 9 and it’s only a temporary exclusion. Is yours permanent?!

That sounds stressful.

Fixed term is less problematic than permanent, though permanent is sometimes entirely appropriate for a severe incident.

People will give a mix of good advice and terrible advice so i'd probably caution against sharing too much about the situation on the thread.

How long for? Get them working at home and reading so they dont fall behind.

So sorry OP. How long is the exclusion for, OP? Has it happened before? Have there been any other serious discipline issues?

I'm a school governor so I know a bit about this.

Permanent or fixed term?

If fixed term make being at home not easy.

If permanent get in touch with school and find out about provision for their education leading up to GCSEs.

Permanent for a one off serious incident; an inappropriate and naive social media post. Been offered twilight sessions in school and work at home to get her to GCSEs. But no class time with peers, no trips, no prom.....😩 normal school life is over. Basically exclusion but help to get GCSE's as it's too late in year/education to do a managed move to another school.

That must have been an extremely inappropriate incident.

Sounds like school are proactive with her education in terms of twilight and work at home. You need to make sure she does it.

They are right re too late to move. Courses etc are so different everywhere she will have a better chance staying and trying with what she's being offered.

I'm so sorry. You say your daughter was naive, it's amazing how naive young people can be despite appearing to be streetwise. Some very well known people have been excluded/suspended, only allowed back to take exams and have gone on to do well.

She will be OK, I expect she's learned her lesson. After GCSE's I presume she will be going on to sixth form and can put it behind her. She won't be the only one.

Take care.

Her close friends are really upset and struggling to understand the schools reaction but as there was a racial element to her SM post the school have to be seen doing the right thing. The teacher dealing with us has said he doesn't believe she is racist just incredibly stupid. Literally last week we had a chat about what you post online because once something is 'out there' it's out of your control.....

Yeah, I get it. Not something she'll do again in a hurry.

OK. Not the end of the world, though it must feel like it.

Any chance of appeal? If so can you show previous good character, real remorse etc?

It is going to impact, but with yours and schools (and friends?) help she can do some structured programmes to finish courses and do revision.

My starting suggestion would be to stick to school's timetable at home to make sure all subjects get attention. If you haven't got revision guides and online to something like Seneca/Tassomai then you might well need it now.

This needn't define her for life.

There must be an appeals process.

I'm a Governor and have sat on several P-Ex hearings. Several of them have gone to appeal even after the Governor hearing.

How upsetting for you OP. It's naturally going to be a massive shock to both of you. Long term it will be OK though. Let the initial shock settle down and then focus on getting great GCSEs and the next steps after that.

Milicentbystander72 the teacher said the formal exclusion process takes 15 weeks which put us off; PPE's coming up then into actual exams and the because of how bad the SM post looks he implied appealing wouldn't be worth hassle. The police have been informed by him; because its classes as a hate crime......we're still waiting for them to contact us. I just want to do the right thing and I dont want to regret not fighting her corner as best as I possibly can. Huge Mum guilt.....

What you are being told by the teacher is only partially correct and he is totally wrong to say appealing is not worth the hassle.
You do however have to accept that any SM with a racial aspect to it is going to be treated very severely.
Have you received the letter confirming the decision to permanently exclude as this is the first step in the exclusion process? I ask this because what you are describing as the way forward with work at home etc is simply not correct. If the school permanently exclude then the school is responsible for setting work for the first 6 days then after that it is the responsibility of the LA and usually pupil will have to attend a Pupil Referral Unit or something similar. What you are describing sounds like an unofficial and therefore illegal exclusion, the school cannot be offering twilight sessions unless that has been agreed with the LA and would normally not be at appropriate.
There is a legal requirement to hold an appeal hearing with a panel of governors from the school within 15 school days (three weeks) and you should be being told about this in the formal exclusion letter. That is your opportunity to argue that the punishment does not fit the crime, though a lot will depend on exactly what was said and how it was said. Was there are mitigating circumstances such as it was in an exchange of emails that were derogatory but your daughter foolishly upped the level of rudeness?
You need to take this one step at a time but as others I have said it s probably not too sensible to place too much on open forum. Please feel free to PM me. I have significant experience of sitting on exclusion panels at schools and on the next step of the exclusion process which is an Independent review panel and will try and advice you.

Was going to write similar to admission. Although I know they give excellent advice and would advise you accept the help they offer.

The immediate thing you can do is read all the school policies that have been followed by the school. So the behaviour and sanctions policy. Policies on racial abuse etc. At least be informed. Head teachers exclude. No one else. Do take advice from admission because as she’s y11, with exams looming, that has to be taken into account.

I agree with the work for the first 6 days, however, many schools will know what the LA can be like and will have no desire to sabotage a child's GCSEs in y11 so they may well send more work home.
We've done that for longer exclusions.

Thanks I will pm you admission it does sound very unofficial as she'll technically be still 'on the register' but not part of normal school life. We've not had anything in writing......

She is still entitled to full time suitable education eg 25 hours a week which the LA will have to fund. It must be on par with what receive in school and include some face to face tuition (some could be online school). Twilight sessions doesn’t sound right to me either. Look at DFE guidance ‘Alternative Provision’

Who is 'the teacher' ? It sounds rather informal all round. Have you had any discussion with the senior leadership team/head? I would be fighting this at every level - particularly if there have been no previous issues. It sounds very strange that you have had nothing in writing.

'The teacher' is one of the SLT responsible for anti-bullying.....

What did the post say? if it has a racial element and has been classed as a 'hate crime' (your words OP) then it must have been serious.

Apparently it was referred to as a hate incident.... I've been looking at the school policies. The 'only' category it falls into is "racist" (I dont say only lightly) they quote the Stephen Lawrence Foundation enquiry definition of racism on the school policy.