Permanent Exclusion Support (PEX)

When a Hampshire child is permanently excluded from school, their family needs to be visited to make sure they have been sent the correct information from the school, understand the process, and their rights.

Volunteers will provide advice for children who are permanently excluded from school, meeting with families to advise them of their rights and provide information about the exclusion process. The meetings will be held in either the family home or local office. The volunteer will complete a questionnaire with the family and enquire as to whether the family feels they will need additional support.

A Volunteer Coordinator will receive details of the exclusion and liaise with volunteers to set up meetings. The Volunteer Coordinator will also provide advice, guidance and supervision to volunteers.

The volunteer will:

• Receive details from the volunteer coordinator about the exclusion and the required timescales for the meeting.

• Contact the family to arrange the meeting at an agreed location and time.

• Meet with the child/family to provide advice about the exclusion process and the child's rights.

• Record the meeting on a standard form.

• Agree with the family any follow on actions.

• Feedback and return the completed form to the volunteer coordinator

Volunteers will receive full training and will be supported during their volunteering by one of Hampshire's locally based volunteer coordinators. All volunteers will need to attend 2 full-day induction training sessions, in addition to a half day training about exclusion.

Because these are one- off pieces of work, the time commitment for this opportunity is flexible - volunteers can opt to give a couple of hours as and when they are available.

Skills

Training and support will be provided therefore previous experience is not essential. We are seeking volunteers who feel able to:

• Communicate and ensure people with varied levels of ability understand information.

• Listen and remain calm and impartial when dealing with children and families, some of whom may feel angry or upset about the exclusion.

• Record information.

• Respect differing views of individuals and work in a non judgmental way.

• Respect confidentiality and the agreed information sharing process.

• Have the confidence to report concerns to their Volunteer Coordinator.

• Be able to describe their role and maintain professional boundaries.