What rights does a child have at school?
The decision to suspend or expel a student needs to be made very carefully because it can seriously affect the student’s future. For this reason, an area of law called ‘procedural fairness’ applies. There are 2 main principles: • The ‘hearing rule’ which means that a child has the right to tell his or her side of the story. • The ‘bias rule’ which means that your child has the right to have a fair decision made by someone who does not have an interest in the outcome of the decision (is impartial). In practice, this means that your child has the right to a fair hearing, which includes: • The right to be told what the allegations are (what someone says happened) and what evidence there is in support of them. • The right to respond to allegations and tell her side of the story. • The right to talk to other people who were involved and ask them what they saw. • The right to have you (the parent or guardian) or another support person come to any formal meetings or interviews with her. • The
