Off-rolled as of today

[BluerthanBlue]

Hi

Received an email today informing us that DS(9) is being off rolled as of today.

He has had problems with anxiety since Y1 and the head teacher is pretty bad. One day he refused DS to come in and he shouts constantly at the kids in assembly. He is the only teacher in the school that shouts.

This academic year DS has refused to go back to school. We have tried all sorts and had a TAC meeting last week. We agreed to start looking for a new school and the sendco was going to arrange hospital tuition for DS on the grounds that his anxiety is prohibiting him from attending school. Very positive meeting.

DS has a recent diagnosis of ASD, possible ADHD. He does not have behavioural difficulties. In fact he often gets awards for best behaved as he sticks to rules.

Is it even legal to just off-roll him like that? It's because he brings the schools attendance figures down and the head is vindictive, spiteful and manipulative.

They off-rolled DS expecting him to be home-schooled until a school place is found.

In the TAC meeting everyone agreed that his current school should help find a new school and liaise sendco to sendco. I even spoke with the sendco today and she we discussed future actions.

What do we do now?

On one hand we no longer like the school but we were expecting some support.

Please read this @BluerthanBlue

You may need legal advice (Coram Children's Law Centre or Ipsea?). For what it is worth, my suggestion would be you reply to the Headteacher first thing tomorrow stating you do not consent to your child being removed from the school roll. State that whilst they have indicated their intention to remove them, the permament exclusion procedures detailed in DfE's Statutory Guidance (see link) appear not to have been followed and you therefore consider this to be an unlawful exclusion. Ask that the grounds for permament exclusion be communicated to you in writing immediately, together with information as to your right of appeal. Copy to SEND Govenor, Chair of Govenors, CEO of Academy Chain if applicable, Director of Children's Services in the LA and OFSTED.

Relevant sections:

Permanent exclusion
11. A permanent exclusion is when a pupil is no longer allowed to attend a school (unless the pupil is reinstated). The decision to exclude a pupil permanently should only be taken:
• in response to a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school's behaviour
policy; and
• where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others such as staff or pupils in the school.

Off-rolling and unlawful exclusions
18. Telling or forcing a pupil to leave school, or not allowing them to attend school, is a suspension (if temporary) or permanent exclusion (if permanent). Whenever a pupil is made to leave school, or forbidden from attending school, on disciplinary grounds, this must be done in accordance with the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012 and with regard to relevant parts of this guidance.

20. Any exclusion of a pupil, even for short periods, must be formally recorded. It would also be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have SEN or a disability that the school feels it is unable to meet, or for a reason such as, academic attainment/ability; or the failure of a pupil to meet specific conditions before they are reinstated, such as to attend a reintegration meeting. If any of these unlawful exclusions are carried out and lead to the deletion of a pupil’s name from the register, this is known as ‘off-rolling’.

21. A further example of off-rolling would be exercising undue influence over a parent to remove their child from the school under the threat of a permanent exclusion and encouraging them to choose Elective Home Education or to find another school place.

22. If a parent feels pressured into electively home educating their child or that the suspension or permanent exclusion procedures have not been followed, they can follow the school’s complaints procedure with the governing board and in the case of a maintained school, the local authority. Ofsted considers any evidence of off-rolling and is likely to judge a school as inadequate if there is evidence that pupils have been removed from the school roll without a formal permanent exclusion or by the school encouraging a parent to remove their child from the school, and leaders have taken insufficient action to address this.

You may find this brings a rapid 'clarification' and retraction.

Ofsted take situations like this seriously. Having an email from the Head is very helpful evidence.

I second emailing the HT reminding them off-rolling is unlawful.

Alongside this, email the Director of Children’s Services informing them of the situation, explicitly stating you are not EHEing and do not consent to DS being removed from the school’s roll and requesting provision under s19 of the Education Act 1996 because DS is unable to attend school full-time.

Does DS have an EHCP? If so, you need to request an early review. If he doesn’t, you need to request an EHCNA. On their website, IPSEA has model letters you can use.

That's brilliant advice, thank you both. I feel much more positive 🤗

Good luck. Shocking that this stuff happens.