Exclusions

The courts have ruled that where pupils are involved in the same incident which results in exclusion, and both students appeal against the decision of the governors not to reinstate, that appeal should be heard by the same independent appeal panel. The decision whether to hear the cases together is a decision for the panel, not the local authority.

In the same case it was ruled that a school might disregard the guidance of the government on the use of exclusion for drug offences but if this school policy was upheld by the appeal panel, the panel must give adequate reasons for supporting this view.