Parents and Carers
- SEN Support in Mainstream Schools
- SEN Support in School Meetings
- Choosing a School or College
- Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Appeals and Mediation
- Attendance and Exclusions
- Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
- Early Years
- SEND Funding
- Transport to School and College
- Preparing For Adulthood (PfA)
- Making a Complaint
- Health Needs and Education
- Elective Home Education (EHE)
- School Admissions
- Disability Discrimination
- Children's Disability Register
Attendance and Exclusions
Attendance
Attendance refers to the amount of time that a child or young person attends their educational provision, and how often they are absent.
Parents and carers have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child receives a suitable education for their age and aptitude, either by regular attendance at school or through education otherwise, e.g. where a parent provides elective home education, where parents take full responsibility to educate their child.
Exclusion
If the school or setting is telling you that your child or young person is not allowed to attend, then this is considered an exclusion.
Schools have a legal duty to work with you to identify and support any special educational needs that your child may have.
This means that if your child is missing school because they are struggling to attend because of their special education needs and/or disability, the school should be working with you to offer appropriate assessment and support, to improve the situation.
They can also take advice from and make referrals to other external support services and teams.
If your child is unable to attend school because of high anxiety or a similar need, this was previously called 'school refusal', but is now also known as Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) or Anxiety Related Non-Attendance (ARNA). When a child is unable to attend school because of their mental health, it is important to seek help and speak to the school as soon as possible.
If you think that your child doesn’t want to go to school because of their SEND, you could ask for a meeting with the school to discuss this. We can help you to prepare for that meeting by helping you to consider what might help your child to feel more comfortable to attend and which extra provisions might make a positive step to improvements.
Following this meeting, if you feel that the school are not able to meet your child’s needs under SEND Support, you can also consider an EHC Needs Assessment.
If your child already has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), it may need to be reviewed. This may happen when there has been a significant change in your child’s support needs, for example, it may be that your child has developed new social, emotional or mental health needs that are not covered by the existing plan. We can help you to prepare for this review.
You could also speak to your child's doctor (GP) about your concerns. If the GP agrees that your child is not currently able to attend school, ask them for a letter, to give as evidence to the school or local authority for their non-attendance.
If the absence is related to a mental health concern, you can find support services at NottAlone.
If your child is not attending school due to a long term medical or mental health condition, you can find further information and advice in our Medical Needs and Education Section.
School attendance guidance 2019, from the Department of Education, state that all pupils of compulsory school age are entitled to a full-time education. However, schools are permitted to provide less than a full-time education only in very exceptional circumstances, for example, where a medical condition prevents a pupil from attending full-time education and a part-time timetable is considered as part of a re-integration package. This shouldn't be treated as a long-term plan and this plan must be reviewed on a regular basis with an end date specified of when the child will return to school.
If a pupil has a serious medical condition, where recovery is the priority outcome, these arrangements would be part of a medical plan, agreed between the school and health professionals.
It must be done with parent agreement, otherwise it could be considered unlawful exclusion.
The Equalities Act 2010 says that it is illegal for schools to discriminate against pupils on the basis of their special educational need and/or disability, including those with social emotional and mental health difficulties.
Key points for using reduced timetables:
- Exclusion must not be threatened as a means of getting parent agreement
- It must not be viewed as a long-term solution
- It must plan towards the pupil increasing their time in school and for any support that they will need upon their return
- It needs a time limit by which point the pupil is expected to attend full-time, or be provided with alternative provision
- It needs to be monitored and reviewed regularly
- Where a child is Looked After, has a social worker, or any other services are involved, the timetable should be discussed with and agreed by all parties
- If there is an EHCP, a review must be held, and the local authority must agree to the reduced timetable and planning
- A risk assessment should be done to look at the possible impact of the pupil being out of education and agree how this can be managed
- The arrangement should not negatively affect any agreed SEND transport arrangements.
The advice here relates to children on roll at maintained schools, academy schools, alternative provision academies, and pupil referral units.
If your child attends an independent setting or further education setting, you can find IPSEA's guidance on Exclusion of children/young people with SEND from an independent setting or Further Education here.
If your child has been sent home from school and you have been told that you cannot send them back, then this must be recorded formally in writing as an exclusion. If the school does not wish to formally exclude, then your child is still legally allowed to attend.
Exclusions can provide evidence that your child's needs are not being met in their current placement and that there could be some underlying SEND. This is why it is important that they are formally recorded.
Children should never be excluded for an unlimited period, for a non-disciplinary reason, or without formal notice in writing from the head.
Any exclusion of a pupil, for however long, must be formally recorded.
Children can only be excluded for a disciplinary reason. Children cannot be excluded because an educational setting cannot meet their needs, or for something which their parents did or did not do.
A suspension, or fixed term exclusion, is where a pupil is temporarily removed from the school. It is an essential behaviour management tool that should be set out within a school’s behaviour policy.
A pupil may be suspended for one or more fixed period (up to a maximum of 45 school days in a single academic year).
Fixed term exclusions may be used to address unacceptable behaviour as part of the school’s behaviour policy and show a pupil that their current behaviour is unacceptable and may be putting them at risk of permanent exclusion. Where fixed term exclusions are becoming a regular occurrence for a pupil, headteachers and schools should consider whether suspensions alone are an effective sanction for the pupil and whether additional strategies need to be put into place to address their behaviours.
A fixed term exclusion can also be for parts of the school day. For example, if a pupil’s behaviour at lunchtime is disruptive, they may be suspended from the school premises for the lunchtime period. The Headteacher’s duty to notify parents, apply in all cases.
Lunchtime exclusions need to be counted as a half a school day fixed term exclusion, to determine whether a governing board meeting is triggered.
The school’s legal duties to pupils with disabilities or special educational needs remain in force, for example, to make reasonable adjustments in how they support disabled pupils during this period.
The law does not allow for extending a fixed term exclusion or changing it into a permanent exclusion. In exceptional cases, where there has been new evidence and further investigation is needed, a further fixed term exclusion may be issued to begin immediately after the first period ends; or a permanent exclusion may be issued to begin immediately after the end of the fixed term exclusion.
During the first five days of exclusion, your child should not be seen in a public place during school hours. It is your responsibility to arrange childcare or supervision.
How will my child receive education if they have received a fixed term exclusion?
It is important during a fixed term exclusion, that pupils still receive their education.
Headteachers should take steps to ensure that work is set and marked for pupils during the first five school days of the exclusion.
If the exclusion is for more than five days, then the governing body (or the Local authority, if a pupil is excluded/suspended from a pupil referral unit) is responsible for providing full time, suitable alternative education, until your child is allowed to return to school.
At the end of the exclusion a re-integration meeting should be offered, to discuss how to avoid exclusion happening again. Your child can then return to school.
Permanent exclusion is where a child is told that they cannot come back to the school.
The school must only issue a permanent exclusion if:
- There has been a serious breach or incident
- There have been persistent breaches of the school's behaviour policy
- Where allowing the child to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the child, staff members, or other pupils at the school.
If your child has been permanently excluded, the school must follow certain procedures, set out below:
Who the Head Teacher must inform:
1) The Head Teacher must tell you, without delay, the reason why your child has been excluded and for how long.
2) The Head Teacher must notify the local authority (LA), without delay, about the exclusion or suspension.
3) The Head Teacher must notify the School Governors.
4) If the child is looked after by the Local Authority (LAC), the Head Techer must inform the Virtual School Head and if the child has a social worker, the Head Teacher must inform the social worker.
Confirmation in writing
The Head Teacher must write to you to confirm that your child has been excluded. This written notice should include the reasons why. It should also explain that you have a right to express your feelings about the exclusion, by making ‘representations’ and should outline the way to do this.
Representations
Representations should include your views, opinions and feelings about the exclusion. They should be made in writing. The written representations must be considered by the school governors. You can find IPSEA's guidance on how to make written representations here.
If you feel that the school has not provided the correct SEN support to enable your child to fully engage in learning, or you feel that the school has not made reasonable adjustments to support your child’s needs, this is the time to fully explain your concerns.
Providing education
School must take reasonable steps to set and mark work for the first five days of a period of exclusion.
Following this, your LA must arrange suitable, full-time education for them from the sixth day of a permanent exclusion. ‘Full-time’ means supervised education equivalent to that provided by mainstream schools.
This provision must begin no later than the sixth day of the exclusion, but it should try to start this provision as soon as possible.
Governor meeting
The Governors must arrange a meeting to be held within 15 days of receiving the notice of permanent exclusion. If your child is due to sit a formal exam, and the exclusion would mean them missing it, they should try to meet sooner.
You have the right to attend this meeting. You can also invite someone to represent you. This may be an Ask Us Nottinghamshire Adviser, or a solicitor. You may wish to bring a friend or family member.
Following the Governor meeting, the governors must tell you of their decision (and the reasons for it) in writing and without delay.
The Governors will assess the decision the Head Teacher made and decide whether the Head Teacher’s decision was lawful, fair and reasonable. They may decide to reinstate your child, or not to reinstate your child.
Independent Review Panel
If you disagree with the governing body’s decision not to reinstate your child, you can ask for this decision to be reviewed by an independent review panel (IRP).
An IRP cannot make a governing body reinstate a pupil who has been permanently excluded. However, if an IRP feels that a governing body’s decision is flawed, it can tell the governing body to review its decision.
SEN expert
If you think that your child has Special Educational Needs, regardless of whether the school agree, you can ask for an SEN expert to attend the review meeting. Their role should be to act independently, not on the side of the child or the school, but to help the panel to understand if and how a child’s special educational needs, may be relevant to the exclusion. They can say whether the school followed its legal duties when excluding your child.
If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, the governing body must speak to you about any proposed new placement. It might be that an EHCP Review is needed, to make sure that the current school is able to meet your child’s needs.

SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council