‘Informal’ or ‘unofficial’ exclusions, such as sending a pupil home to cool off, are unlawful even if you agree to it.

The statutory guidance on exclusions says an “informal or unofficial exclusion, such as sending a pupil home ‘to cool off’, is unlawful when it does not follow the formal school exclusion process and regardless of whether it occurs with the agreement of parents.” (paragraph 20). We also have information on our website about informal exclusions.

You can take action to remind the school what the statutory guidance says about unlawful exclusions.

Your child might be experiencing these challenges because they have special educational needs which are not being met, and if so there are further steps you can take.

Rather than send your child home to calm down, the school should be doing all that it can to secure the provision your child requires to meet their special educational needs. This is called the ‘best endeavours’ duty and we have more information on this on our website. You could use our template letter to remind the school of its duties.

If your child does not have an EHC plan you could also consider requesting an EHC needs assessment, so your child’s needs and the provision required to meet them are properly understood. You can use our template letter to make that request too.

If your child already has an EHC plan and is experiencing these challenges, it might be that the plan needs changing. You can appeal the contents of it if recently issued, or ask for changes at the next annual review (or ask for an early review if that is some time away).