Informal exclusions and part-time timetables

Red flags include being asked to collect your child early most days, being told to keep them home after a difficult morning, repeated 'cooling off' days, or a part-time timetable with no clear review date.

Schools may describe this as support, but if your child is missing education because school says they cannot cope, the arrangement needs a written plan and proper safeguards.

Ask the school to confirm whether your child has been suspended, placed on a temporary reduced timetable, or sent home for another reason. If there is no formal suspension, ask what legal basis the school is using.

A reduced timetable should usually be exceptional, voluntary, time-limited and reviewed. It should include how your child will return to full-time education and what support will change.

If your child has an EHCP, the school and local authority still need to consider how the specified provision is being delivered. A reduced timetable does not pause the plan.

If your child is on SEN Support, ask for an urgent review and a clear APDR plan that addresses the reason they are being sent home.

For suspensions longer than five school days, suitable full-time education should be arranged from the sixth school day for pupils of compulsory school age. Permanent exclusions have their own strict process and review rights.

SEND pupils should have reasonable adjustments and unmet needs considered before exclusion decisions, and repeated suspensions can be a sign that support is not meeting need.