The steps we explain on this page only relate to pupils at maintained schools, Academy schools (not 16-19 Academies or 16-19 free schools), alternative provision Academies, and pupil referral units. If your child attends a different setting, please see our information on exclusion from those different settings.

There are a number of things the school must do when a pupil is excluded for up to 5 days, and there are certain rights you have to object to the exclusion.

1. Notification by the Head

The Head must tell:

• you as the parent (initially by phone or in person) why your child has been excluded or suspended and for how long. This must be done without delay
• the local authority (LA) about the exclusion or suspension, again without delay,
• the Governors if an external exam or National Curriculum test would be missed or if the total days excluded in that term are more than 5 (the maximum number of days in a school year for which a child can be given fixed-term exclusions is 45), and
• if the pupil is a looked after child, the Head must tell the Virtual School Head and if the pupil has a social worker, the Head must tell the social worker about the exclusion/suspension – in both cases, without delay.

2. Written confirmation

Then the Head must write to you to confirm that your child has been excluded or suspended and why, and also explain that you have the right to say what you think about the exclusion (this is called making representations) and how to do this. This information may be sent to you by email, but only if you agree to it.

3. Representations

You should put your views and comments on the exclusion in writing.  These representations must be considered by governors even where there is no requirement for a meeting (see our advice on preparing written representations).

4. Governor meeting

The Governors must meet if:

• an external exam or National Curriculum test would be missed, or
• the total days excluded in that term is over 5 and you ask for a meeting.

If there is a meeting, you have the right to attend. You can also have someone to represent you at the meeting (such as an advisor from the local Information Advice and Support Service or a solicitor) and can bring a friend.

For exclusions taking place from 1 September 2023, you can ask for this meeting to be held remotely and you should be told how to ask for this. For exclusions taking place before 1 September 2023, there is no right to ask for a remote meeting, but you could still ask for it if you need it to be held remotely.

5. Education

School must take reasonable steps to set and mark work for the first five days of a period of exclusion.

It may be that your child has been excluded once, for example, for 3 days. In this situation, the school should take the reasonable steps we refer to above to set and mark work.

However the governing body or your LA (if your child goes to a pupil referral unit) will have additional duties if the total number of school days excluded is more than 5. This could be the case for example if your child was previously excluded for 3 days, and has received another fixed-term exclusion, this time for 4 days. In this example, the total number of school days the child has been excluded for is 7. Here these additional duties arise because the child would have been excluded, in total, for more than 5 school days.

When children are excluded for more than 5 school days (whether due to an one-off exclusion or due to a number of shorter exclusions together totalling more than 5 days) part 6 of the 2023 guidance, and part 6 of the 2022 guidance, says that governing bodies or LAs must provide full-time education from the sixth day of an exclusion/suspension. However, the guidance also makes clear they should try to start this provision as soon as possible.

If the pupil is a looked after child, schools and local authorities should work together to arrange alternative provision from the first day following the exclusion.

If it’s not possible to arrange alternative provision during the first five school days of an exclusion, schools should take reasonable steps to set and mark work for pupils. All work provided should be something that can be done by pupils outside of school. If remote education is being provided by school, you can check to see if government guidance is being followed.

You can find further advice on what to do if your child is excluded on our website.