How do we support a pupil at risk of permanent exclusion?

Start by re-assessing the child, not the behaviour

Re-assess the pupil’s needs first; for an EHCP pupil, ask the council for an early annual review. Excluding for disability-related behaviour without reasonable adjustments is likely unlawful (DfE, 2026). The first move when a permanent exclusion is being discussed is not the disciplinary process. It is to ask whether the current support is right, and whether unmet or unrecognised need is driving what you are seeing. A child at risk of permanent exclusion is a child in difficulty, not a problem to be removed.

The Department for Education’s statutory guidance says that where a school has concerns about the behaviour, or risk of exclusion, of a pupil with SEN, a disability or an EHC plan, it should work with others, including the local authority, to consider what extra support or alternative provision is needed, and assess whether the current placement is suitable DfE guidance, paras 72–73. This duty applies whether or not the child has a formal diagnosis.

For an EHCP pupil, pull the early annual review lever

Where a pupil has an EHC plan, the concrete step most schools miss is to contact the local authority at an early stage and consider requesting an early, or interim, annual review of the plan before any decision to suspend or exclude. An early review can unlock extra hours, a change of provision, or a planned move, and it is your evidence that the school acted properly. For a pupil on SEN Support without an EHC plan, review the support in place and the reasonable adjustments you have made, and consider whether the difficulties point to an EHC needs assessment.

The discrimination trap that makes a rushed exclusion unlawful

Under the Equality Act 2010 a school’s responsible body must not discriminate against a pupil by excluding them s.85. If the behaviour is connected to the child’s disability, and you have not made the reasonable adjustments you should have, the legal defence that the exclusion is a proportionate means of a legitimate aim is very unlikely to succeed s.15. That makes the exclusion not just poor practice but likely unlawful disability discrimination, which a parent can challenge at the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) IPSEA. Treat any pressure to have parents remove the child “to avoid an exclusion on the record” as off-rolling, which is unlawful.

Run this alongside, not instead of, your safeguarding duties. Ask whether a mental-health crisis, emotionally based school avoidance, self-harm risk or a child-protection concern sits underneath the behaviour, and follow Keeping Children Safe in Education as you would for any child in need of support. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.