school wont let my daughter go on a school trip but wont refund the monies

silvercar

https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/academies-law-brief/can-you-remove-sixth-form-pupils-from-your-school
In particular, "Once a pupil's name is included in the Admission Register, it can only be deleted if one of the conditions contained in the Pupil Registration Regulations is met. In the case of sixth form pupils, these can be summarised as when the pupil has:

• voluntarily chosen to leave the school and this has been confirmed to the school.
• been absent for at least 20 school days without authorisation, the school does not reasonably believe the pupil is sick or absent for another unavoidable cause, and the school cannot establish where the pupil is living, having made reasonable enquiries.
• died.
• been permanently excluded.

This means that the only way to remove a sixth form pupil involuntarily is to permanently exclude them. This can only be done on disciplinary grounds where the pupil has seriously or persistently breached the school's Behaviour Policy and allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in your school."

maman

In my experience of school trips then it works a bit like holiday insurance. If a child just changes their mind then you won't get the money back. If a child is ill the  insurance has paid out although the school will often try to get another child to take the place as it's a lot simpler to administrate. Do you have any insurance of your own such as through a packaged bank account?

But I'd be putting all my energy into retaining her place at 6th form rather than worrying about the trip at the moment. If she's well enough to go on the trip then (presumably) she's well enough to go to school/college which makes removing her perplexing. 
I'm sure this hasn't just cropped up overnight. The school must have an attendance policy. Have they been working through it with you? What support have they offered to help your child with work or her illness? I've never heard of a child being removed from a school roll for ill health although it can happen for non attendance. It's often stated, because of  families that take extended holidays in term time, that their place can't be guaranteed. 

Pollycat

silvercar said:

https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/academies-law-brief/can-you-remove-sixth-form-pupils-from-your-school
In particular, "Once a pupil's name is included in the Admission Register, it can only be deleted if one of the conditions contained in the Pupil Registration Regulations is met. In the case of sixth form pupils, these can be summarised as when the pupil has:

• voluntarily chosen to leave the school and this has been confirmed to the school.
• been absent for at least 20 school days without authorisation, the school does not reasonably believe the pupil is sick or absent for another unavoidable cause, and the school cannot establish where the pupil is living, having made reasonable enquiries.
• died.
• been permanently excluded.

This means that the only way to remove a sixth form pupil involuntarily is to permanently exclude them. This can only be done on disciplinary grounds where the pupil has seriously or persistently breached the school's Behaviour Policy and allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in your school."

Well, as the OP says her daughter has 'genuine health issues' the school shouldn't be able to exclude her daughter and the daughter should be able to go on the trip as a registered student.

All sorted?

[Deleted User]

 My first question was "have you obtained a sick note from a GP to prove her illness?"

 This would stop them removing her as they would no longer have reason to believe she wasn't actually sick. 

peachyprice

s

In 6th form, yes they can, once past compulsory education they no longer have a legal obligation to educate her. 

I'm not sure that they can exclude her once they have accepted her on their roll.
If that was the case there would be unscrupulous schools removing any students who were not going to get amazing A level results!

Yes, that is exactly what happens! There is an expected drop-out rate between lower and upper 6th, if students  don't perform in their first year of A levels they are 'persuaded' not to come back, if students don't perform in a particular subject they can be dropped from the course or made to take a lower exam.  6th form is nothing like statutory education.

Having said that it would be unusual for a school to remove a student from their roll (this in NOT the same as exclusion) so close to the end of the course, they must believe OP's daughter doesn't have a hope in hell of passing anything. 

peachyprice

silvercar said:

https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/academies-law-brief/can-you-remove-sixth-form-pupils-from-your-school
In particular, "Once a pupil's name is included in the Admission Register, it can only be deleted if one of the conditions contained in the Pupil Registration Regulations is met. In the case of sixth form pupils, these can be summarised as when the pupil has:

• voluntarily chosen to leave the school and this has been confirmed to the school.
• been absent for at least 20 school days without authorisation, the school does not reasonably believe the pupil is sick or absent for another unavoidable cause, and the school cannot establish where the pupil is living, having made reasonable enquiries.
• died.
• been permanently excluded.

This means that the only way to remove a sixth form pupil involuntarily is to permanently exclude them. This can only be done on disciplinary grounds where the pupil has seriously or persistently breached the school's Behaviour Policy and allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in your school."

That bit right there. 

Pollycat

peachyprice said:

silvercar said:

https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/academies-law-brief/can-you-remove-sixth-form-pupils-from-your-school
In particular, "Once a pupil's name is included in the Admission Register, it can only be deleted if one of the conditions contained in the Pupil Registration Regulations is met. In the case of sixth form pupils, these can be summarised as when the pupil has:

• voluntarily chosen to leave the school and this has been confirmed to the school.
• been absent for at least 20 school days without authorisation, the school does not reasonably believe the pupil is sick or absent for another unavoidable cause, and the school cannot establish where the pupil is living, having made reasonable enquiries.
• died.
• been permanently excluded.

This means that the only way to remove a sixth form pupil involuntarily is to permanently exclude them. This can only be done on disciplinary grounds where the pupil has seriously or persistently breached the school's Behaviour Policy and allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in your school."

That bit right there. 

But has the OP's daughter voluntarily chosen to leave the school?

Have I missed something?

Or are we discussing generic policy?

If the daughter has genuine health issues, I would have expected her parents to have medical verification of that and have discussed it with the school way before it got to this stage.

peachyprice

Pollycat said:

peachyprice said:

silvercar said:

https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/academies-law-brief/can-you-remove-sixth-form-pupils-from-your-school
In particular, "Once a pupil's name is included in the Admission Register, it can only be deleted if one of the conditions contained in the Pupil Registration Regulations is met. In the case of sixth form pupils, these can be summarised as when the pupil has:

• voluntarily chosen to leave the school and this has been confirmed to the school.
• been absent for at least 20 school days without authorisation, the school does not reasonably believe the pupil is sick or absent for another unavoidable cause, and the school cannot establish where the pupil is living, having made reasonable enquiries.
• died.
• been permanently excluded.

This means that the only way to remove a sixth form pupil involuntarily is to permanently exclude them. This can only be done on disciplinary grounds where the pupil has seriously or persistently breached the school's Behaviour Policy and allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in your school."

That bit right there. 

But has the OP's daughter voluntarily chosen to leave the school?

Have I missed something?

Or are we discussing generic policy?

If the daughter has genuine health issues, I would have expected her parents to have medical verification of that and have discussed it with the school way before it got to this stage.

Policy in general, in response to Silvercar's post of policy in general

The discussion goes along the lines of:  things aren't really working out for you here at school, we're unhappy with your progress/attendance  as I'm sure you are too, perhaps you would do better at another establishment, if you do choose to stay we will not enter you in to exams as we do not feel you have reached the required level of knowledge, just drop us an email/note to say you're leaving. 

So voluntary, but not really.  .

I would bet that is the kind of discussion that the school has had with OP's daughter. 

Shepp66

wilfred30 said:

I'm a little confused!

Are you saying that she's well enough to go on the trip (in 3 months' time) but not well enough to go to school?

She has been really unwell since Christmas, well since October but she has been on tramadol since mid January which has its own side affects, she is coming off that now and physically getting better but still struggling mentally. There is no r reason she shouldn't continue getting better. So yes she is struggling to get in at the moment but hopefully not much longer

Shepp66

Thanks for your responses, to clarify. My daughter has been unwell for most of the 2 years of the course. The school are aware of her condition and the treatment she needs. Early Jan she developed a really painful problem and the Dr put her on tramadol to cope with the pain. The initial dose was high and she has been out of it, couldn't keep food down and lost 11kg in 4 weeks. They have had copies of the hospital letters etc and can see her current condition. Ironically she  performs well and averages a B in her course work but she missed the mocks at the end of January. I am really not sure about the timing or rational behind this and the more I look into it it seems crazy. I can now see they were going down the route of getting her to agree to leave and that makes sense after reading the information above.  Will see what they say tomorrow after my next meeting with them