Need to know

• In England and Wales, a headteacher’s power to exclude comes from s.51A and s.52 of the Education Act 2002.

• Many exclusion cases involve children with SEND needs, highlighting that behaviour often has deeper underlying causes.

Welcome to TSL’s Weekly Edge, whether you’re aiming for a regional or high-street practice, or just want to get a feel for how law works in the real world beyond textbooks, you’re in the right place. 

No corporate jargon, no massive deals, just real useful information designed to give you that extra edge in your legal journey.

🧠Wilson’s Weekly Wisdom

One thing university never really teaches you is how to manage difficult clients.

You’ll spend hours learning legal principles, case law and procedure, but very little time is spent on handling someone who is angry, frustrated, emotional or has expectations you simply can’t meet.

The truth is, managing clients is just as important as knowing the law. Sometimes your role isn’t to give the answer they want. It’s to explain the answer they need, with patience, empathy and honesty.

Because at the heart of every legal matter is a person. And learning how to work with people is one of the most valuable lessons this profession will ever teach you.

📣 Your Turn: Ask Us Anything (Almost)

Got a question that’s been quietly bugging you about the legal world, commercial awareness, training contracts, or how regional firms actually work day to day? Good. We want it.

Each month, we’ll pick a question and do a an editorial response. No fluff. No corporate waffle. Just honest, practical answers you can actually use in applications, interviews, and real conversations in firms.

If you’re wondering it, chances are someone else is too. So be brave, be curious, and send it in.

👉 Submit your question here!

💡Spotlight Article

It’s easy for laypeople to believe a school exclusion is the end of the story.

The school says their piece, the child gets sent home, everyone shrugs, all done and dusted.

But the law doesn’t wrap things up that quickly.

🔎What’s happening? 

Ever wondered if a school has the power to tell a child to stay at home?

Most parents think that the head saying so means that’s the final word. Almost true, as the law can say otherwise.

The truth of the matter is that schools can suspend or permanently exclude pupils, and sometimes it’s totally justified. For example, if a child’s violent, a persistent bully, threatens the wellbeing and safety of others, or brings something a tad suspect into school, an exclusion makes perfect sense.

The sting in the tail, however, is that the law isn’t fixated on whether schools can exclude. It’s laser-locked on how they do it, bringing into play one of the biggest myths in education law: the “informal exclusion”.

You know the story; a child’s been sent home until things calm down. Parents are told to keep them off school for a few days, with almost all believing it’s an informal agreement, so it can’t possibly be an exclusion.

But as you may now suspect, the law sees things differently.

If a child’s being kept off school because of less-than-respectable conduct, the school is supposed to follow the standard statutory exclusion process. Calling it a “cooling‑off period” doesn’t magically sidestep the legal rules if the child’s been excluded.

Its importance?

Exclusion isn’t just a behaviour decision. It’s a legal power.

In England and Wales, the power to exclude is set out in ss 51A and 52 of the Education Act 2002, respectively, with the procedural framework for leveraging that power in the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012.

Also, Parliament didn’t just hand schools the power; it built in safeguards, such as the need for:

• written reasons

• governing board oversight

• Independent Review Panels (IRPs)

These aren’t time-sink admin hoops. They’re legal protections to guarantee decisions that can seriously affect a child’s education are made fairly and lawfully. Skipping those safeguards means it’s no longer about behaviour. It’s about whether the school correctly used its legal powers.

A facet not immediately obvious is the situation’s step into equality law.

A notable aspect of exclusion disputes is that they often involve children with SEND needs, suggesting such behaviour patterns don’t occur in a vacuum.

If a child’s behaviour is linked to a disability or SEND, schools have additional duties under ss 15, 20-21, and 85 of the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010), meaning exclusion can’t become the shortcut just because a school finds a child’s needs hard to manage.

Another consideration is timing. Lots of parents think the tribunal is the opening move. It usually isn’t. Sometimes things start with representations to the governing board. Sometimes they go to an IRP.

Following the right sequence helps keep the matter manageable. Doing the alternative could mean an inevitable unravelling.

So it is clear exclusions aren’t just about discipline. They’re also public law decisions happening inside a school. The real question is: did the school use its legal powers as the lawmakers intended?

❓ Why it matters to high street firms

Education law sounds like something reserved for specialist practices.

In reality, school exclusion disputes regularly move past its limits into work high street firms already handle in family law, public law, discrimination claims, and judicial review.

A potential client would likely approach a high street lawyer because the school won’t let their child back in and is insisting they be kept home.

The solicitor’s job is to then turn that story into legal questions:

• Was this an exclusion?

• Were the statutory procedures followed?

• Could EA 2010 duties have been brushed aside?

• Should this be challenged through the school’s own process, an IRP, or judicial review?

The way the solicitor handles the situation determines whether it stays workable or becomes a long legal slog.

For high street solicitors, this means recognising, at the earliest opportunity, when an ordinary school disciplinary incident has quietly drifted into unlawful decision-making. 

Informal Exclusion

An informal exclusion happens when a pupil is sent home or kept away from school without the formal statutory exclusion process being followed.

It isn’t recognised by the law.

Schools are expected to follow the formal process, so no cooling‑off periods, parental agreement, or unofficial arrangements should be taking place.