Statutory Pupil Discipline Committee

The membership and proceedings of this committee must be agreed the governing body.

This committee must be formally clerked.

A pupil discipline committee must include three members of the governing body, and must not include the headteacher or anyone who is not a governor. The full governing body will act as a pool of governors from which three will serve as the committee for a particular exclusion.

The quorum for the committee is three.

No governor should serve on a committee if s/he has a connection with the pupil or the incident which could affect their ability to act impartially.

Terms of Reference

• Review the use of exclusions within the school;         
• Receive representations from parents whose child has been excluded for any period;
• Consider the circumstances of any pupil excluded permanently or for more than five days in a term or who will be unable to sit a public examination as a result of exclusion; and
• Decide whether to direct re-instatement of any such pupil so excluded.

If an exclusion causes a pupil to miss sitting a public examination, the pupil discipline committee should try to meet before the exam. If the chairman of the committee does not consider it practical for the committee to meet, s/he may exceptionally consider the exclusion and decide whether to re-instate the pupil.

Appeals by parents against the decision of the Pupil Discipline Committee are dealt with by an independent panel established by the local authority.

Governors serving on discipline committees should take great care to ensure that they follow proper procedures* since their decisions are open to scrutiny by an independent panel. 

* West Sussex Guidance to Headteachers and Governing Bodies on Exclusion of Pupils (Sept 1999) Guidance to be updated