On 16th March, the Government announced a programme of work to better understand how to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of all children with additional needs and challenges, so they are able to overcome barriers and realise their potential.

The School Exclusion review will help the Department for Education to understand how and why schools use exclusion, what drives the variation in exclusion rates for some groups - including those with Special Educational Needs. The review will also explore and identify effective practice, which can be shared.

As part of this review, the Department for Education have published a call for evidence. They are seeking views from parents, children, schools, local authorities and other organisations, to hear about their experiences, practice and evidence.

BPV would like to hear your experiences of school exclusions and inclusion. It would be good to be able to share and celebrate where there is good practice and we also need to know of where it’s not working so well.

We want to find out more about exclusion in the widest sense. This includes part time timetables, segregation, denied access to school trips as well as fixed term exclusions.  A number of the factors that drive exclusions require policy change at Government level so it is really important that we use this opportunity to feed into the Government review. Your views will be used to inform the response to the Government’s review and shape local support for children and young people with SEND and their families.

Closing date is 19th April 2018.

Many thanks,

Bromley Parent Voice Team

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* 1. Has you child ever been excluded from school?

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* 2. If answer to Q1 was yes, was the exclusion officially recorded?

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* 3. If answer to Q1 was yes, were you made aware of your child's legal rights and given information on how to appeal

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* 4. If answer to Q1 was yes, was your child given appropriate school work for this exclusion?

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* 5. Has your child ever been put on a part time timetable (with or without your agreement)?

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* 6. Have you ever been encouraged to home school your child?

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* 7. If the answer to Q6 is yes, was this on threat of permanent exclusion?

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* 8. Has your child ever been isolated in school (e.g. taught seperately from their classmates) because of their SEND?

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* 9. Have you ever been asked to take your child home early or to come in late?

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* 10. If answer to Q9 was yes, was, this officially recorded?

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* 11. If answer to Q9 was yes, did you give consent to do this

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* 12. Has your child ever been prevented from participating in certain activities (e.g. school trips)?

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* 13. Have you ever been required to accompany your child as a condition of them being allowed to participate in certain activities (e.g. school trips)?

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* 14. Has your child ever been unofficially excluded (e.g. asked to be kept at home without issue of a fixed term exclusion letter. Please note that being asked to remove a child for lunch time counts as a half day fixed term exclusion)*

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* 15. Is your child currently accessing split placements due to the lack of suitable specialist provision?

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* 16. Is your child currently out of school without a suitable placement and without access to learning?

It is unlawful to exclude for a non-disciplinary reason. For example, it would be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have additional needs or a disability that the school feels it is unable to meet, or for a reason such as: academic attainment/ability (Govt exclusion guidance 2017)

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* 17. Has your child been excluded for non-disciplinary reasons? e.g. Prevented from sitting SATs or other examinations

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* 18. Does your child's education setting have policies and practices that discriminate against pupils by unfairly increasing their risk of exclusion?

Where a school has concerns about the behaviour, or risk of exclusion, of a child with additional needs, a pupil with an EHC plan or a looked after child, it should, in partnership with others (including the local authority as necessary), consider what additional support or alternative placement may be required. This should involve assessing the suitability of provision for a pupil's SEN. Where a pupil has an EHC plan, schools should consider requesting an early annual review or interim/emergency review.

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* 19. Either before or after a period of exclusion, has your child's school reviewed their provision of support?

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* 20. Have you ever considered appealing the decision to exclude?

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* 21. If Yes, was the appeal upheld?

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* 22. If No, can you briefly outline why you decided not to appeal?

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* 23. Did exclusion ever work for your child as an effective sanction to prevent future occurrence of a similar incident?

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* 24. Briefly, has an exclusion negatively affected you and your child? e.g. Loss of earnings or additional childcare costs for exclusion period. Affected mental health of your child?

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* 25. Are you willing to share written evidence of exclusion to inform the Government's review and local practice?

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