QuickRead: Exclusions

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Read a short summary of the rules around exclusion, including the governing board's responsibilities.

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Contents

  1. Statutory guidance on exclusions
  2. Authorising and recording exclusions
  3. Deciding whether to exclude a pupil
  4. Notifying relevant parties of an exclusion
  5. The governing board’s responsibilities in relation to exclusion

Statutory guidance on exclusions

All maintained schools, academies, alternative provision academies, and pupil referral units (PRUs) must have regard to statutory guidance on exclusion from the Department for Education (DfE).

The requirements apply to all pupils, including those above and below compulsory school age.

Authorising and recording exclusions

Pupils can be excluded permanently, or suspended for one or more fixed periods up to a maximum of 45 days per academic year. Only the headteacher or acting headteacher of a school can authorise exclusions.

All exclusions, however short in duration, must be formally recorded. 

Your school should also record, monitor and analyse removal (sometimes known as 'internal exclusions’) data. This is where a pupil is removed from class for a limited time at the instruction of a member of staff.

A pupil should only be permanently excluded when they've breached the school’s behaviour policy seriously or persistently, and where allowing them to remain in

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