PINS Theme: School Exclusion
New guidance on exclusions published
The Scottish Government has published new national guidance, Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2: a positive approach to managing school exclusions. The overarching aim is to support whole school communities, learning establishments and their partners to keep all children fully included in their education, wherever it takes place. More HERE
PINS responds to Government consultation on exclusions
Through 2010 The Scottish Government worked with partners to develop new guidance on school exclusions. The thrust of the new guidance is on inclusion. PINS facilitated a workshop for PINS members which focused on particular aspects of the new guidance which is called Included, Engaged and Involved part 2. This report presents the key issues and questions raised during the session. Some of these points will be directly relevant to any redrafting of the guidance but many are views and experiences which influence more fundamentally our approaches and our intent when we strive to support some of the most vulnerable and excluded children and young people in the Scottish education system. Download Report HERE
If you are involved in creative responses to reducing or tackling school exclusion let us know.
Here are just a few of the latest resources and sources of information to support your work.
Educational psychology in Scotland: making a difference
This report provides, for the first time, an overview based on inspections of all 32 local authority educational psychology services. The picture it presents is positive but there is scope for further improvement. Go HERE
Out of site, out of mind?
This HMIE report presents an overview of provision for children and young people with behavioural needs in off-site bases and special schools. Evidence shows that the quality of young people’s learning experiences is currently too variable. For more go HERE
A guide for parents about school attendance
This is a comprehensive booklet for parents and carers which explains legal responsibilities regarding children’s attendance at school. It also explains the responsibilities which schools and local education authorities have in making sure children are happy, safe and doing their best at school. The booklet describes the support a child is entitled to if school attendance is a problem and lists a number of support agencies as well. Read the pdf HERE
Morag Steven, Director of Common Ground Mediation
Talks about additional support needs mediation between families, schools and other education services. Download Portable Document Format (PDF) HERE
Holly Milne, Development Manager of BusinessLab
Talks about supporting families to increase pupil attendance and reduce exclusion. Download Portable Document Format (PDF) HERE
Building and Restoring Respectful Relationships in Schools: A Guide to Restorative Practice by Richard Hendry
Restorative Practice helps disruptive pupils to take responsibility for their actions, understand the consequences of their behaviour and apologise to others. Through a whole-school approach school teachers and managers can help all children build healthy and respectful relationships with peers and teachers. Building and Restoring Respectful Relationships in Schools is a practical resource to help relieve the pressure on schools and education services by leading them to plan and implement restorative approaches in their day-to-day work. Take me to more information HERE
Included, Engaged and Involved: Part 1 Attendance in Scottish Schools.
This document provides guidance on the management of attendance and absence in Scottish schools. Take me to this document HERE
Scottish school exclusion trends
The Poverty Site is a website supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which includes statistics about children excluded from schools in Scotland and shows trends using graphs. Take me to the site HERE
Preventing Very Young Children from being Excluded from School
This report was published by Ofsted and looks at reasons children under 7 are excluded from schools in England and the ways in which some schools manage to avoid using exclusion. Different system but interesting findings! Take me to the report HERE
