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Home Children, families and education Somerset’s SEND Local Offer Education Children at risk of exclusion – Checklist of expectations Reasonable Adjustments

Reasonable Adjustments

Schools must follow the Equality Act and make fair adjustments before deciding to exclude a child who may have a protected characteristic.

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Children at risk of exclusion – Checklist of expectations: Step by step

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Children at risk of exclusion – Checklist of expectations: Step by step

National government guidance, legislation and local Somerset context with regard to children and young people who present with challenging behaviour and are at risk of exclusion from school.

1Reasonable Adjustments

National Guidance or Legislation, and expectations

  1. Reasonable Adjustments

2Identifying needs and using support

National Guidance or Legislation, and expectations

  1. Step 1: In-school support and identification of additional needs
  2. Step 2: Engaging Specialist Support
  3. Step 3: Alternatives to exclusion and pre-exclusion considerations

3Specific situations

Pupils with an EHCP, Pupils who are looked after, one-off breach, and references

  1. Specific situations

Related pages

Other information

Checklist of Expectations - Reasonable Adjustments

National Guidance and or Legislation

Schools must also ensure that any provision, criterion, or practice does not discriminate against pupils by unfairly increasing their risk of exclusion. For example, if reasonable adjustments have not been made for a pupil with a disability that can manifest itself in breaches of school rules if needs are not met, a decision to exclude may be discriminatory (DfE, 2023, p.10).

Expectations

Legal duties under the Equality Act (2010) must be followed when considering an exclusion for a child or young person who may have a protected characteristic. An exclusion may be discriminatory where the behaviour displayed is linked to an unmet need, failure to make suitable provision and/or make reasonable adjustments.

Further resources

Watch the Autism and ADHD SENCO Discussion Group session with Educational Psychology from February 2025 about reasonable adjustments for neurodivergent children and young people, or download the presentation.

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Reasonable adjustments presentation

Autism and ADHD Discussion Group 26 February 2025, delivered by Educational Psychology

PDF, 658 KB

More reasonable adjustments are described on our School Uniform page.

Last updated: October 24, 2025

Next review due: April 24, 2026

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