Headteacher's Blog #17

Parents may have seen on the news that the Government is tightening its guidance on school suspensions. The logic is clear, sending young people home is not an effective punishment for minor offences and should be avoided if possible. Most parents work full time and sending children home to screen time and computer games is not productive. Most schools have a form of internal exclusion; in our case it is called Reflection. This is an effective way of putting in place a clear sanction whilst keeping students in school and making them productive. For most young people, most of the time, detentions and the occasional internal exclusion are all we need to effectively sanction. 

Suspensions however are still an important legal sanction that schools employ. It passes the legal responsibility for that young person from the school, back to the parents. I really only use suspension for two reasons. The first reason is that a student has demonstrated a behaviour that would be illegal in the adult world, such as physical assault, verbal abuse or anti-social behaviour. These incidents are relatively unusual at LSA, although they do of course happen. The second reason why I suspend is when a young person refuses to accept our sanctions or we can't keep them safe. This might be the refusal of Reflection or persistent truancy. On this occasion suspension is important because it gives authority back to the parent. The second reason for suspension is most common but as schools improve, these suspensions lessen. Suspensions are an imperfect form of sanction, but they are an important one. Thank you all for your continued support, the school is improving rapidly. I am proud to be LSA