Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions guidelines – Part 1
About the guidelines
These guidelines:
- are designed to assist school boards, principals, and teachers with their legal options and duties and meet their obligations under relevant statutory requirements, and
- are for use in all state and state-integrated schools.
Independent schools may also wish to adopt this guide.
Please note: The Education and Training Act 2020 has replaced the Education Act 1989. Any references to the Education Act 1989 in the Stand-downs, Suspensions, Exclusions and Expulsions (SEEE) Guidelines should be replaced with the relevant sections in the new Education and Training Act 2020. In Part 1, this includes replacing the sections of the Act in Appendix 1: The Education Act 1989 and Appendix 2: Education (Stand-down, Suspension, Exclusion and Expulsion) Rules 1999. In Part 2, this includes replacing the sections of the Act in the letters in the Appendix in the Good Practice Guidelines.
The Guidelines comprise:
Part 1 – Legal options and duties [PDF, 2.4 MB]
Part 2 – Good practice [PDF, 2.4 MB]
These guidelines replace those published by the Ministry of Education in June 2004 and the 2007 Supplement. The paragraphs have been numbered for ease of use and reference. Cross references to Part 2 – Good practice are given where relevant.
Appendices
Appendix 1 details the relevant legislation as stated in The Education and Training Act 2020, Appendix 2 details the Education (Stand-down, Suspension and Expulsion) Rules 1999, and Appendix 3 provides a template for an incident report.
In this section
- Appendix 1: The Education and Training Act 2020 - Sections 78–88 of the Act provide the framework for stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions
- Appendix 2: Education Rules 1999 - The Education (Stand-down, Suspension, Exclusion and Expulsion) Rules that came into force on 12 July 1999
- Appendix 3: Incident report - Incident report template
- Appendix 4: Information for parents/guardians - Information for parents/guardians about stand-downs and suspensions
- Appendix 5: Stand-downs and suspensions process - ENROL - Screenshots of the stand-downs and suspensions process using ENROL