Is this an informal exclusion?

[Sam0207]

My 12 year old GS has just gone up to secondary school.

He has ADHD (diagnosed) and probably ASD - specifically PDA (no formal diagnosis but 5 members of my immediate family have a dx or are awaiting formal dx). All the signals are there.

His primary school let him down in the most atrocious manner. They gaslit his parents (they literally were on the point of a breakdown), refused to address his SEN, allowed him to wander the hallways instead of managing his behaviour, tried very hard to get her to off-role him, and worst of all, sent information through to his new school that he had only had an issue for the last week of school (where they had illegally and unofficially excluded him with no paper trail).

My DD has had a couple of conversations with the new school and they have said they are well aware of the general failures of his primary and will work with her to get GS's need addressed.

Since starting Secondary (about three weeks ago) GS has been found wandering the halls on multiple occasions (as he did in primary), the mask is dropping with his PDA and has been put in isolation.
I absolutory agree that he can be a little toerag, this is usually down to his oppositional defiance and PDA.

Today the school called my DD asking her to collect him from school as he was a "safeguarding issue", this was after they had put him in isolation. I don't know yet what the safeguarding issue is as DD is busy dealing with GS and can't talk it through. I can well imagine its him refusing to stay in the isolation room or similar, he is in no way violent.

All that I have been reading (admittedly hurriedly) says that schools can not send a child home unofficially to "cool off" but because they have used the language "safeguarding issue" I can't finds any legislation around it. All Google shows me is how schools are supposed to deal with reporting safeguarding issues (ie neglect, abuse etc).

Can any of you lovely people point me in the right direction?

https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/school-exclusion/

https://www.gov.uk/school-behaviour-exclusions/exclusions

Hope these are helpful.

Thank you @Traverseedubosphore however the above only refer to "cooling off" rather than "safeguarding" which is the language the school used.

DD is obviously in a panic as she has PTSD around his treatment in his primary and I'm trying to figure out if this is an illegal informal exclusion so she has something to fight back with.

My biggest fear is that she'll off-role him and end up being responsible for all his education and SEN needs - this is what happened with me and my youngest DS.

More detailed guidance, including on temporary exclusion on safeguarding grounds. Would still need to follow exclusion procedures.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1181584/Suspension_and_permanent_exclusion_guidance_september_23.pdf

Thanks, I will have a good read

Unless the school is formally excluding DGS, sending him home like that is an informal exclusion.

DD should follow up today’s conversations with an email so there is a paper trail as evidence. She can request a meeting with the SENCO and DSL. She should also request an EHCNA. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter she can use.

Thanks both.
Have spoken to my DD, he has officially been suspended for the afternoon. Whilst this is not good, its is good - iykwim? At least this is on record and not an illegal informal exclusion.

DD has spoken to the head (who she said seems nice) and meeting with SEN team with a view to applying for an EHCP is being put in place.

I think we both just panicked as there is so much trauma around GS treatment at his primary.

FYI, the safeguarding was as I thought, he wouldn't stay in the isolation room and was wandering about (which was the reason he was in the isolation room in the first place). He was always going to struggle with a move to secondary so at least its happening at the beginning of his start there, rather than him just getting labeled as the naughty kid.

An official suspension is better than an informal exclusion because it provides evidence of unmet needs, forces the school to follow due process, limit the number of days the school can exclude for, and allows DD to challenge the suspensions.

DD can request an EHCNA herself. She should speak to the school about it, but she doesn’t need them to apply or agree.

Good luck to you both - stay strong. Experiencing abuse of power, especially when one is unable to protect a child from being harmed by unlawful treatment in an educational setting, has serious long term consequences for individual families.