School Disciplinary Absences

On 5 November 2010, State school principals were given the power to exclude students from their school when a student engages in serious misbehaviour and support strategies, or other less severe disciplinary measures, have not been sufficient to address the behaviour.

A series of fact sheets have been published to assist students, parents and principals with the process of exclusion.

Principals are delegated the authority to suspend, propose or recommend the exclusion, cancel the enrolment of or impose a behaviour improvement condition on students attending state schools.

Principals use suspension, exclusion, cancellation of enrolment and behaviour improvement condition as a last resort option for addressing serious behaviour difficulties, balancing individual circumstances and actions of the student and the needs and rights of school community members.

The procedures for School Disciplinary Absences are outlined in the reviewed SMS-PR-021: Safe, Supportive and Disciplined School Environment and templates for Principals are included in the behaviour module in OneSchool.

Decision making processes around School Disciplinary Absences can be multi-faceted and complex. An Easy Guide to Good Administrative Decision Making has been developed by the Office of the Ombudsman to assist decision-makers make the best possible decisions.

An online training package has also been developed for principals consisting of 5 Modules. These Principal Exclusion modules can be accessed via the Learning Place.

The Conducting Investigations and Evidence Gathering Fact Sheet 50k is available online to assist school staff when gathering evidence for decision making regarding School Disciplinary Absences.

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