Education Act 1996

159 Appeals against exclusion or reinstatement of pupils

(1) A local education authority shall make arrangements—

(a) for enabling the relevant person to appeal against any decision not to reinstate a registered pupil who has been permanently excluded from a county, controlled or special school maintained by the authority, and

(b) for enabling the governing body of the school to appeal against any direction for the reinstatement of any such pupil which has been given to the head teacher of the school by the authority.

(2) The governing body of an aided or a special agreement school shall make arrangements for enabling the relevant person to appeal against any decision not to reinstate a registered pupil who has been permanently excluded from the school.

(3) Joint arrangements may be made under subsection (2) by the governing bodies of two or more aided or special agreement schools maintained by the same local education authority.

(4) Schedule 16 has effect in relation to the making and hearing of appeals pursuant to arrangements made under subsection (1) or (2); and in subsections (5) and (6) “appeal committee” means an appeal committee constituted in accordance with Part I of Schedule 33 (school admission appeals), as it applies in accordance with paragraph 4 of Schedule 16.

(5) The decision of an appeal committee on an appeal pursuant to arrangements made under subsection (1) or (2) shall be binding on the persons concerned.

(6) Where on such an appeal the appeal committee determines that the pupil in question should be reinstated, the committee shall either direct that he is to be reinstated immediately or direct that he is to be reinstated by a date specified in the direction.

(7) In this section “the relevant person” means—

(a) in relation to a pupil who is under the age of 18, a parent of his;

(b) in relation to a pupil who has attained that age, the pupil himself.