Management Information Sheet

Following the Report of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee Working Group on Exclusions from Schools in June 2005, awareness of issues relating to all forms of exclusion has intensified. It is recognised within the Children’s Services agenda that a wide range of policies and strategies to address poor behaviour are regularly and consistently deployed by schools. Schools also consider a range of alternatives to exclusion which include internal seclusion, mediation, restorative justice, parenting contracts and orders and Norfolk’s managed move scheme.

A wider agenda has also been identified that relates to children missing education which comprises Children’s Services principles. The Scrutiny Group has drawn attention to issues where exclusion is utilised informally or unofficially and the consequence for children who miss their education. Both the DfES guidance and Norfolk guidance are quite explicit about the use of exclusion and clearly state that informal or unofficial exclusions are illegal, regardless of whether they are done with the agreement of parents or carers. The lack of formality in these circumstances cannot demonstrate that all steps have been taken to safeguard the pupil, given that a pupil on the school’s roll remains the school’s responsibility during school time.

The Pupil Access and Support Service has been asked to monitor and report on the numbers of reported instances of unofficial exclusions and the number and types of school involved in this practice. This data will be reported upon to the Children’s Services Management Team.

Incidents of alleged unofficial or informal exclusions may be reported by parents, Education Social Workers, Parent Partnership and others to the Exclusions Team. The response will be to send a letter to the school to seek clarification about the position that has been reported. An example of this letter can be found by clicking on the above hyperlink.