Time, date, and location

The local authority or academy trust must take reasonable steps to set a review date that all parties, and any SEN expert giving advice in person, can attend. The review must be held within 15 school days of the parent’s application.

The venue must be reasonably accessible, appropriate for the review, and include a separate waiting area for the parties. Hearings must be held in private unless the local authority or academy trust directs otherwise.

Make a note of the time, date and location once you are told.

Confirm attendees

Before the hearing, tell the clerk to the Independent Review Panel (IRP) who will be attending for the family. Include whether the excluded young person will be there and whether a representative, such as a solicitor or an advocate, will attend.

Also, let the clerk know about any reasonable adjustments needed for any of the attendees, for example where a person has a disability affecting mobility or communication that impacts their ability to attend the hearing or make representations.

Exclusions pack

The clerk must circulate relevant papers to all parties at least 5 school days before the review. These must include the governing board’s decision, the parents’ application for a review, and any policies or documents the board had to consider when making its decision.

If you want to submit anything additional, including written arguments or evidence that the governing board did not consider but should have, try to provide it to the clerk at least 5 school days before the review, or earlier if possible.

Downloads

When contacting the clerk to the IRP to confirm arrangements for the hearing and to provide attendee details, you may wish to use the suggested wording document – Contacting the clerk to the Independent Review Panel to confirm arrangements for the hearing.

Introduction

It is best practice for the school to hold the Independent Review Panel (IRP) at a venue unconnected to the excluding school. However, this is not a requirement, and the hearing may take place on the excluding school’s grounds.

You should aim to arrive at the venue at least 15–20 minutes before the hearing starts. You may be directed to a waiting area, or you can ask for a private room. You can use this time to prepare, but it’s also helpful to take a moment to settle.

Representative

If you have an advocate or representative supporting you, use this time to agree on how you will approach the hearing. Young people are often concerned about whether they will need to answer questions or make a statement. Decide in advance who will read any prepared statements, who will take questions, and how each part of your case will be presented. If the young person feels able to answer questions, this can help reassure the IRP that they have reflected on the situation and learned from the experience.

Notes and evidence

Make sure you have all your documents, evidence, and any notes in order, and that you can access them quickly when needed.

Remote hearing

If you’re attending a remote hearing, choose a quiet room with a reliable internet connection and no distractions, so you can focus fully on the hearing.

Introduction

With the governing board hearing, your aim is to persuade the board on the merits of your case. With the Independent Review Panel, your focus shifts more so to challenging the decision‑making process – highlighting procedural errors, bias, or misapplication of policy, and using the governing board’s minutes and decision letter to expose weaknesses in fairness, reasonableness, and lawfulness.

During the hearing, there are usually three main opportunities to present your case:

• Making a statement
• Asking questions of the school
• Making a closing statement

Making a statement

You should be allowed the opportunity to take the IRP through your arguments. This involves setting out the main points of your argument with reference to key pieces of evidence. This is your main opportunity to give detailed reasons why the exclusion should be rescinded and the young person reinstated.

If you have several arguments, some stronger than others, your statement is a good opportunity to develop your strongest points. Try to provide your written arguments to the governing board ahead of the hearing, so you do not have to include them all in your oral statement. Instead, use this time to drive home your key points or challenge the school’s main arguments.

Plan a clear, well‑structured statement that takes the IRP through the key facts, evidence, and arguments in sequence, leading to a strong and logical conclusion.

Consider using the template document – Talking points for the independent review panel hearing.

Asking questions of the school

You should be allowed the opportunity to ask questions of the governing board, the SEN expert, any person appointed by an Independent Review Panel (IRP) to provide expert advice to the panel on SEN issues relevant to the exclusion (if one is present), and members of the school staff who are present. This is best viewed as an opportunity to strengthen your argument and to challenge aspects of the school’s argument, not as a fact‑finding exercise. This is because you should carry out your fact‑finding before the hearing by gathering the evidence you need.

You should avoid asking broad, open‑ended questions, as this will give the school the opportunity to introduce new information and provide answers you had not predicted or prepared for. This might undermine parts of your arguments and make it difficult for you to present a well‑structured and convincing challenge to the exclusion. The best questions are those you know will highlight key points in your arguments and expose weaknesses in the school’s case.

As an example, you may have made the argument in your statement that the governing board failed to consider a critical piece of evidence – the young person’s mentoring records – before coming to their decision.

You would want to avoid questions like “What evidence did you consider?” because this gives the governing board the chance to highlight their stronger considerations and take the IRP through a list of steps they took that sound positive. However, if you ask, “You didn’t consider the mentoring records, did you?” you turn the question into a simple yes or no, and a “no” answer would highlight a key point in your argument. You also know that if they answer “yes,” you can point to the absence of evidence in the minutes and decision letter to challenge this answer.

Be prepared to challenge the school over evasive answers. You should keep them to the question you asked and ensure they respond directly, rather than with their own questions or irrelevant points.

Making a closing statement

You should be allowed the opportunity to make a closing statement. This is the shortest of the three advocacy elements, but it is also the most difficult to plan for. A closing statement should not introduce new evidence or arguments. Instead, it should respond to elements of the school’s case and give you the opportunity to pick up on information gained through your questioning. This is why it can be difficult to prepare in advance, as you cannot be sure what will come out during the hearing. If nothing arises during the hearing that you need to respond to, you can simply use your statement to drive home the key parts of your case.

Prepare for your closing statement by following these steps:

1. Consider in advance what two or three things you would want the governing board to remember above all others. Write these down in a way that is concise and impactful.
2. During the hearing, scribble down anything that you would like to respond to that you had not planned for.
3. If you need to say something you hadn’t planned for, remember that you can take a minute to gather your thoughts and speak when you are ready. If you need to bullet‑point things that you want to address, you can do so.

What fairness looks like

The IRP must make sure the hearing is conducted fairly and in line with the correct procedures. A flawed or unfair process can make an exclusion decision open to challenge, even if the substance of the decision itself is not in dispute. All parties involved in exclusions have a duty to act fairly.

To meet this standard, the hearing should follow basic practices:

• All parties should enter and leave the room together.
• No party should remain behind to speak privately with the panel.
• Everyone should be given equal time to speak, without interruption.
• Hearings should allow enough time for all submissions to be heard.

These are not exhaustive rules. A common-sense approach to fairness should guide the entire process.

Raising concerns about fairness

Wherever you see something that you think is unfair, you should question it. You can do this simply by speaking up and politely but firmly explaining why an action of the governing board is likely to be unfair.

Once you have stated your objection, make a careful note of it and of the response from the panel. Ask the note‑taker to ensure that the minutes include your objection and the panel’s response. This is particularly important if your objection is not agreed to, as you may want to rely on your contemporaneous record if further proceedings are necessary.