Posting for friend - school excluded asd yr1 cos they can't cope with him....

[whojamaflip]

Hi posting this on behalf of a friend who has been told today that her ds is being excluded from his ms school as the school state they are unable to deal with his aggression and behaviour and therefore are unable to keep him safe.

He is currently being assessed for statementing - Lea have said they will kick it through as fast as possible BUT there are no places available at specialist schools so he will have to stay ms.

Current ms school is a C of E who makes their own admission arrangements so am assuming they can exclude him without further discussion.

I'm posting as f is currently dealing with a major meltdown with her ds.

What happens next? I know there is a meeting on Monday to discuss things with the school and f has been told that the exclusion will more than likely be made permenent to protect her ds??? (Meeting is with the HT who stated that there was nothing wrong with the child and that she couldn't understand why f wanted to go for a statement )

Questions - Can they exclude him for behaviour resulting from his sn?

Is there any recourse against the school?

Do they LEA have to find a place elsewhere for him as he is 6 and should be in school?

who does my friend need to be talking to and what does she need to be doing?

Would recommend telephoning IPSEA or one of the other SEN advice lines and get the legalities info before the meeting. I would have thought there should be previous temp exclusions before a permanent exclusion can be enforced.

Ok I will pass that on - not sure re previous temp exclusions but will check that out too.

She will be on mn later when shes got her ds calmed down - she had to call for backup according to the text I've just had - so she will be able to fill in the banks so to speak.

ACE have a dedicated exclusion helpline. IPSEA have a good website.
Schools can and do exclude children with SEN.
The meeting on Monday is probably a post exclusion planning meeting. It is compulsory to hold one after an exclusion to talk about supporting the child's re-entry to school.
Maybe permanant exclusion will speed up the LAs response and make a more suitable placement become available. I know a school who did this and the child was magically placed in a unit, so it may be that the school consider it will benefit the child to make it permanant.
Although the school is Cof E they still have to abide by the same rules regarding exclusion.