New powers for headteachers to tackle poor behaviour

Parents of pupils who have been excluded from school will be required to keep their children indoors, attend reintegration interviews with the head teacher and work with teachers to develop strategies for improving the behaviour of their child, announced Ed Balls today. Measures from the Education and Inspections Act 2006 that come into effect this week, include:

• Parents are now responsible for keeping children indoors during exclusions – parents of children found in a public place during school hours, without reasonable justification, can be subject to a £50 fixed penalty notice. This will be £50 if paid within 28 days rising to £100 if paid after 28 days but within 42 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay could result in prosecution of the original offence which, on conviction, could mean a £1,000 fine or a community sentence.
• Parents of excluded pupils will have to attend compulsory reintegration interviews with the head teacher – where they will discuss strategies for managing the pupils’ behaviour in future
• Earlier intervention through parenting contracts – schools will have the ability to develop parenting contracts, which set a clear, agreed action plan for unruly pupils, before bad behaviour escalates to the point where exclusion is necessary – previously, parenting contracts only came into play after a pupil was excluded;
• More power for heads to enforce parental responsibility – heads will now be able to apply directly to the courts for parenting orders in cases where parents do not take responsibility for their child’s action. These enforce the terms of a parenting contract and mean that parents will be fined if they then fail to take the agreed action.
• Tighter rules to help prevent excluded children slipping behind - After the fifth day of any exclusion, either the school (in the case of fixed exclusions) or the local authority (in the case of permanent exclusions) must provide an alternative source of full time education to prevent the excluded child from slipping behind. Under the previous rules this was required after 15 days, not five.

It's about time that the first rule comes into effect.  How demoralising is it when you have excluded a child from school to see them riding around the playground or talking to the children during playtime through the fence!