This article is based on the Department for Education’s (DfE's) statutory guidance on suspension and permanent exclusion (September 2023), and advice from governance experts Vicky Redding and Keith Clover.
Purpose and timelines
When a pupil is suspended or permanently excluded, your governing board has a duty to consider parents’ representations.
Your governing board will usually delegate that responsibility to a committee which we'll refer to here as an 'exclusions panel'. It may have a different name, such as a disciplinary committee.
Whether an exclusions panel is required and the power it has regarding the exclusion depends on the individual circumstances.
Where one is required, the selected governors should meet to review the headteacher’s decision. They have the power to do 1 of 2 things:
- Decline to reinstate the pupil (in other words, uphold the headteacher’s decision to exclude)
- Direct that the pupil is reinstated immediately, or on a particular date