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  SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION POLICY
  

OAKGROVE COLLEGE

 

 

SANCTIONS, SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION POLICY

 

 

DEFINITIONS

 

In this policy the following definitions apply:-

 

1  “Chairperson of the Board of Governors” includes, when the chairperson is absent or otherwise unavailable, the member of the Board of Governors, for the time being, performing the duties of the chairperson;

 

2  “Principal” means the Principal of Oakgrove College, and includes, where the Principal is absent or otherwise unavailable, the Vice Principal or other person, for the time being, performing the duties of Principal.

 

3  “Committee” means the College Discipline/Pastoral Care Sub-Committee of the Board of Governors.

 

4  “The Panel” means the teachers panel which meets regularly during college hours to consider disciplinary matters and includes the teacher responsible for co-ordinating Pastoral Care in the College.

“The Panel” when meeting with a student, shall consist of no more than 3 members of the teaching staff  being drawn from:  Form Teacher, Year Head, Pastoral Care

Co-ordinator, Vice Principal and Principal.

 

5  “Minor breaches of discipline” means:  failing to produce homework on time and/or producing work judged by the subject teacher to be poor in quality for that student, talking in class, breaches of uniform rules, rudeness, shoving and pushing, dropping litter, bad but not extremely offensive language, and other behaviour deemed by the Principal to be a minor breach of discipline.

 

6  “Major breaches of discipline” means: violence, smoking, substance abuse, possession of illegal substances (including alcohol), dealing in illegal substances (including alcohol), mistreating college property, mistreating the property of others (this includes the  journey to and from college), serious disrespect towards any member of the college community either inside or outside the school, foul or offensive language, or any other behaviour deemed by the Principal to be a major breach of discipline and /or to present serious risk to the safety of any member of the college community.  An accumulation of minor breaches of discipline may be regarded as a major breach of discipline.

 

7  “Detention” means the detention of a student within the college, under the supervision of a teacher, at a time when they would normally not be so detained.

 

 

 

“Breaktime detention” means the detention of the student during Breaktime under the supervision of a teacher.

“After-school detention” refers to the detention of a student in the college for a period of up to one hour and a half after normal college hours under the supervision of a teacher.

 

8  “Withdrawal of privileges” means the student not being permitted to take part in certain extra-curricular activities, not being permitted to take part in a non-uniform day, not being permitted to travel on certain college trips, or losing privileges which do not form a part of their statutory education.

 

9  Referral Room means spending a period of time, designated by HOY in a supervised environment as a result of repeated disruption of Teaching & Learning.

 

10   Internal suspension means spending the day apart from peers under the supervision of the Year Head.

 

11  “Suspension” means the enforced absence of a student from the college for a period of time.

 

12  “Expulsion” means the permanent removal of a student from the college.

 

13  “Parents/guardians” means those adults who are legal custodians of the student.

 

14  “Class record sheet” refers to a sheet which is routinely filled in by all teachers of the class and records the general behaviour for the day.

 

15  “Period report” means an individual report filled in by each teacher who deals with a child during the day.

 

16  “Posing a risk to themselves or others” means either

(a) failure to observe the relevant safety rules or

(b) behaving in a violent manner.

 

POLICY FOR DEALING WITH BREACHES OF DISCIPLINE

 

 

In applying this policy, the Subject teacher, Form Teacher, Year Head,

Vice Principal, Principal, Panel, Committee and Board of Governors will have regard to any family, health or other extenuating circumstances affecting the student’s behaviour.

 

“Discipline in schools should respect children’s human dignity.” Article 28 - UNCRC

 


 

 

MINOR BREACHES OF DISCIPLINE

 

(a) Homework:-

i)     The subject teacher will record the failure to produce work, or the production of poor quality work on the class record sheet or on Lesson Monitor.

S/he may inform the parent(s)/guardian(s) via the college diary.

ii)   If it is a recurring problem parent(s) should be informed by letter by the Head of Department. 

iii)   If the student fails to produce more homework, the student may be placed on subject report by the HOD. 

The parent(s) may be asked to come to the college for an interview.

By monitoring the class record sheet the Year Head will note if there are concerns about more than one subject.

 

(b) General behaviour:-

(i)   A minor breach of discipline will be dealt with by the member of staff witnessing or becoming aware of the breach who will reprimand the student and may record the incident on the class record sheet.  An appropriate sanction (e.g. breaktime detention) may be imposed.

Parent(s) can be informed through a note in the student’s diary.

 

(ii) If a student commits breaches of discipline which are related to poor self-organisation, classroom behaviour, etc, s/he may be placed on period report target booklet by the Year Head.  A record will be kept of his/her performance.  It will be signed daily by the Form Teacher and Parent(s)/Guardian(s).

 

(iii)  If these breaches of discipline relate to only one subject the student may be placed on Subject Report.  This will be signed by the subject teacher.  The Head of Department will keep a record of students placed on Subject Report and liaise with the relevant Year Head.

 

(iv) If the student continues to commit minor breaches of discipline, the Principal may, if appropriate, treat the student as having committed a major breach of discipline and apply the appropriate procedures.

 

MAJOR BREACHES OF DISIPLINE

 

NB: The college will keep a record of all major breaches of discipline.

 

(a)  

(i)   If  a student behaves in a wholly unacceptable manner during a class, either by    posing a risk to himself/herself or others, or by being grossly insolent, this has to be recorded and s/he may be put out of class by the Class Teacher.  S/he may be given work to do and sent to the nearest teacher or to the Referral Room. In either circumstance, a referral form will be filled in explaining the reasons for this sanction being imposed.  The student concerned must not leave the room alone, but will be sent to the Referral Room or teacher accompanied by another student or Teaching Assistant.  The teacher on duty in the Referral Room will record the incident in the student’s records and will write a note in the student diary.

 

Under no circumstances should a student escort another student judged by the teacher to be violent.  In this situation the teacher should send for another member of Staff.

 

Under no circumstances will a student who has misbehaved be left standing unsupervised in corridors or outside any classroom door.

 

(ii) If a student behaves towards a member of staff outside of school in a totally unacceptable manner e.g. using either verbal or physical abuse, the Principal should be informed as soon as possible.  Depending on the seriousness of the offence, appropriate action should be taken e.g. after school detention or suspension.  The Parent(s)/Guardian(s) should be informed in writing.

 

This sanction may be imposed without (a) above having been imposed.

 

(b) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, the Teacher becoming aware of the breach may impose after-school detention.  The student’s name will be entered in the detention book and the Year Head will agree to the detention. The Parent(s)/Guardian(s) shall be informed in writing in advance.

 

 

This sanction may be imposed without (a) or (b) above having been imposed.

 

( c ) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, and the Principal and/or Year Head considers it appropriate, the student may have privileges withdrawn.

 

This sanction may be imposed without (a), (b) or (c) above having been imposed.

 

(d) If a student commits a major breach of discipline,  and the Principal considers it appropriate, the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) may be contacted and a warning of suspension given.

 

This sanction may be imposed without (a), (b), (c) or (d)  above having been imposed.

 

(e) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, and the Principal and/or Year Head considers it appropriate, the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) may be contacted and asked to come to the College.  A Governor or Governors may, on occasions, attend such a meeting.  A warning of suspension or an internal suspension  may be given.

 

This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) above having been imposed.

 

 

(e) If a student commits a major breach of discipline and the Year Head considers it   appropriate, an Internal Suspension may be imposed.  The Year Head will notify the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) in writing of that decision.

 

This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) above having been imposed.

 

 

(f)   If a pupil commits a series of breaches of discipline, and the Year Head considers it appropriate, the student will spend a period of time in the Referral Room.  The Vice Principal will notify the Parent(s)/Guardian(s). The Parent(s)/Guardian(s) will be asked to come to the college to discuss the student’s behaviour.

 

This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) above having been imposed.

 

 

(g) If a pupil commits a series of breaches of discipline, and the Year Head and Vice Principal consider it appropriate, the student will appear before the college Discipline Panel. A written record of the findings of the meeting will be kept by the Vice Principal.

 

This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) or (h) above having been imposed.

 

  (i)

(1) If a student commits a major breach of discipline and the Principal considers suspension to be appropriate, the Principal may suspend the student for up to and including five college days.  This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) above having been imposed.  The Principal will notify the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) in writing of that decision.  After the period of suspension the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) will be asked to come to the college to discuss the student’s behaviour.  A record of the incident will be kept by the College.  In no circumstances should a student be removed from College premises during the College day except into the care of Parent(s)/Guardian(s).  In the case of suspensions the Principal will inform the Chairperson of the Board of Governors and the WELB of his/her decision.

 

 

2)  If the Principal wishes to suspend the student for a further period of time,

s/he must inform the Committee who must then meet to consider the student’s behaviour. Students with 15 days and 30 days suspension in the Academic Year  will be referred to the Committee for discussion. No student will be suspended for more than 45 days in any College year.  The Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of the student shall be notified in writing of the date of the meeting of the Committee and informed of their right to be represented at that meeting.

 

(3) At the meeting, the Committee will review the student’s behaviour.  Having considered all appropriate matters, including written/verbal reports from the student’s Form Teacher and Year Head and the views of the student and Parent(s)/Guardian(s), the Committee may:-

 

Authorise the Principal to impose a further period of suspension of up to 10      

days or;

 

         II Authorise the Principal to impose a futher period of suspension of up to 10 days and refer the matter to the Board of Governors with a recommendation to consider the expulsion of the student or;

 

       III  Refer the matter to the Board of Governors with a recommendation to consider the explusion of the student

 

           4 In the event of (I) above having been imposed, the Committee will inform         the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) in writing of its decision and of the reason for and duration of  the extension.  The Principal will inform the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the decision of the Committee.

 

            5      In the event of (II) or (III) above having been imposed, the Committee will:

                   (a) convene a Special Meeting of the Committee to consider the expulsion of the student,

(b) inform the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) in writing of the date and their right to attend and

(c) authorise the Principal to contact the appropriate outside Agencies including the Western Education and Library Board to ensure that all necessary information is available for consideration at the Special Meeting of the Committee.

 

6        At the Special Meeting of the Committee the student’s behaviour will be     reviewed.  Having considered all appropriate matters including written/verbal reports from the student’s Form Teacher and Year Head, reports of the relevant outside Agencies, the views of the student, the representations of the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) and the future educational provision of the student, the Committee may recommend that a meeting of the Board of Governors is convened to consider the expulsion of the pupil.  In this event (a) the pupil’s suspension will be extended until the meeting of the Board of Governors is convened;  (or until the student has reached 45 days suspension in the academic year); (b) the Committee will inform the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) in writing of the date of the meeting of the Board of Governors and of their right to be represented at that meeting (with or without a legal representative); and (c) authorise the Principal to contact the appropriate outside Agencies including the Western Education and Library Board to ensure that all necessary information is available for consideration at the meeting of the Board of Governors.

 

At the meeting of the Board of Governors the student’s behaviour will be   reviewed.  Having considered all appropriate matters including written/verbal reports from the student’s Form Teacher and Year Head, reports of the relevant outside Agencies, the views of the student, the representations of the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) and the future educational provision of the student the Board of Governors may expel the student from the College.

 

8 Parent(s)/Guardian(s) will be notified immediately in writing of the decision of the Board of Governors and of their right to appeal the decision to the Western Education and Library Board’s Suspension and Expulsion Tribunal.  They will also be informed of the time limit set by the Western Education and Library Board for lodgement of such an appeal.