Reducing avoidable school exclusions: the role of governors in a fair and robust exclusions process

Governors for Schools in partnership with Allen & Overy is running a series of panel events looking at how governors can help reduce school exclusions.

Our first panel, held in March, explored the impact of exclusions on the life chances of children and young people, put forward strategies to help prevent avoidable exclusions, and considered the role of governors in creating change.

Our second panel will look at the role of governors in ensuring a fair, robust and consistent exclusions process is in place.

While a decision to exclude ultimately belongs to the headteacher, the webinar will explore the standards, policies and processes that schools can introduce to help ensure any decision to exclude is made fairly and appropriately.

As part of this, we will consider the governors’ review, and how carrying out this step robustly provides a vital last challenge to an exclusion decision.

Confirmed panelists include:

• Jane Higgins, partner at Allen & Overy (chair)
• Mital Raithatha, Head of Education and Community Care, Just for Kids Law
• Samira Sadeghi, Head of Academies Governance, Academies Enterprise Trust
• Eliza Rebeiro, school governor and CEO, Lives Not Knives