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.
When the student is excluded
-
Tell the parents
Do this immediately
- You must tell the student’s parent12 that the student has been excluded and the reasons for your decision to exclude.
- To help you do this, you may wish to use the model letter template.
[Refer Part II, Appendix, Model letters: Letter 3 – Notifying parent/guardian of outcome of board meeting] You may also consider telephoning the parent.
-
Tell Ministry of Education
- You must submit the “advice of exclusion” electronic form in ENROL.
-
Try to arrange for a new enrolment
Do this as soon as possible
- You must try to arrange for the excluded student to be enrolled at another convenient school. If you arrange for a placement at another school and the student is ‘out of zone’, the Ministry can endorse the proposed enrolment and the student may then enrol.
* NOTE: Contact your local Ministry office to ask for an endorsement under Section 74 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) if the student is out of zone for the new school.
-
Tell Ministry of Education
Do this immediately
- If you are unable to arrange for the student to enrol in another school within ten school days you must tell the Ministry of this and the steps taken in trying to arrange placement.
- You should only remove an excluded student from the roll when a new school has been found. This is covered in Section 86C of the Education and Training Act 2020 which states that excluded students must stay on the school roll until they enrol somewhere else.