Stand down, suspensions, and being kicked out of school What is a stand-down and when can I be stood-down? How do I know I’ve been stood-down? What is the stand-down process? When can my school legally kick me out? Can my school send me home as a punishment? Can the school ask me to leave or withdraw? What happens if I withdraw from school? What is a suspension? What can I be suspended for? How do I know I’ve been suspended? What happens at the Board of Trustees suspension meeting? What is the suspension process? Can I bring a support person to the suspension meeting with me? What decisions can the Board of Trustees make after the suspension meeting? I was suspended but the board decided to let me back into school with some conditions. What happens if I break those conditions? What is an extended suspension? I’ve been kicked out of school and excluded, what happens now? I’ve been kicked out of school and expelled, what happens now? Can I voluntarily withdraw from school before the board meeting? Can I appeal the Board’s decision if I am not happy with it? What is a kiwi suspension? What can I do to prepare for a suspension meeting?
This section outlines the law relating to the more serious disciplinary measures a school can take, including stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions. It tells you about your rights as a student and explains how they can help you if you are about to be kicked out of school.
A stand-down is like a longer version of a time out, where the student goes home. This can be for:
A stand-down can last for up to 5 school days at a time, and a student cannot be stood down for more than 5 school days in a term or 10 school days a year. These days start counting from the first full school day stood down. A school cannot put any conditions on a stood down student’s return to school.
As well as being a disciplinary measure, a stand-down gives a student, their family, and the school time to think about the problem(s) that have happened and to come up with a plan to prevent them happening again in the future.
When a principal stands a student down, they must tell their parents immediately that they have been stood down, the reason for the stand-down, and how long it will last for. The student or their parents can ask for a meeting with the principal to talk about the decision and what can be done to prevent more problems in the future. Sometimes, but not often, the student might be allowed to attend school for certain classes or activities even though they have been stood down, but this is up to the principal to decide.
The stand-down process is:
Normally, a school can only permanently kick a student out if the student has been excluded (for under 16-year-olds) or expelled (for students 16 years and older) by the school’s school board. The board can only do this after a student has been suspended. Schools cannot force students to withdraw from the school or to sign a leaving form.
Students can also be removed from the school roll if they have been away from school for 20 days in a row and have not told the school that it is a temporary absence. If this happens and you live in the school’s zone, you can simply enrol back into the school.
If you attend a private school, the rules around being kicked out could be different.
Schools can only send students home as a punishment if they have been formally stood down or suspended. You should not be asked or told to go home for things like wearing the wrong uniform, being late, or bad behaviour, unless you have been stood down or suspended for this behaviour. Stand-downs and suspensions should also be a last option after the school has tried everything else, like giving you a warning or a detention.
Sometimes a principal might ask a student or their parents to withdraw the student from the school and that they won’t get expelled or excluded if they withdraw. This might be an easy way for a school to try to get rid of a student when there are no or little legal reasons, for example, because they are getting bad grades. This is called a kiwi suspension and is illegal.
Withdrawing voluntarily could leave a student in a worse position than if they were formally excluded, because it can be difficult to make a complaint about a forced withdrawal. Also, the Ministry of Education only has to help a student find a new school if they were formally excluded, not if they withdrew (even if they were pressured to). However, there should not be a record of the student having been kicked out of school if they withdrew; while other schools are likely to realise what has happened and might refuse enrolling the student, this would be illegal.
If you have questions relating to kiwi suspensions, feel free to contact us.
If you are under 16 and withdraw from school, you will need to find another school, unless you get an Early Leaving Exemption from the Ministry of Education.
If you are 16 or over and decide you want to withdraw from school, you will need to think about what you want to do after leaving school. You might be able to enrol in another school if you have not been expelled, but the school will have to accept you. You might also choose to do a course, work, train, or go to university. If you want to get into a course or university, you will need to make sure that you have the credits you need to get into the course. You will need to check whether there are any fees for the course, and how you will pay those. If it is a registered course, you might be able to get some financial help from studylink.
A suspension is the most serious disciplinary step a school can take, and can lead to students being kicked out of school permanently.
During a suspension, the suspended student must stay home while the principal investigates the incident and writes a report about what happened. The report will be provided to the student’s family and the school’s board. The board must hold a suspension meeting within 7 school days of the suspension. At the meeting, the board has to decide whether the student can go back to school (with or without conditions), extend the suspension with conditions, or kick the student out of the school.
Like stand-downs, students can be suspended for:
The law doesn’t give examples of when someone can be suspended — the situation must be considered. However, a suspension is the most serious type of discipline a principal can give a student and should only be used as a last resort when other methods haven’t worked.
Students can only be suspended by their principal or acting principal. The principal or acting principal will let the student know that they have been suspended. They must also immediately tell the student’s parent(s)/caregiver(s) about the suspension, and will usually also ask their parent(s)/caregiver(s) to take the student home. The student’s parents will also receive information about the reason they have been suspended. The school’s board and the Ministry of Education will also be informed that the student has been suspended and why.
The principal, board members, suspended student, and their support people will have to attend the suspension meeting. Parents are allowed to ask to attend a suspension meeting through a telephone conference or a video link.
The chairperson of the board usually opens a suspension meeting, then the principal might summarise the reasons the student has been suspended. These reasons should already be available to the student and their family in the principal’s report. The board might then give the student and their support people a chance to speak, and might ask them some questions. After this, the board can either ask the student and their support people to step out of the room while they make a decision, or end the meeting and tell the student their decision the next day. The board makes the decision, not the principal, so the principal should not be in the room or influence the board when the board makes their decision.
The suspension process is:
You can bring your parents, caregivers, family, kaumatua, a lawyer, a social worker, an advocate, and anyone else you think will help to a suspension meeting with you (as long as there is no good reason for the school to say that they cannot attend, and there is enough space in the room for everyone).
After a suspension meeting, a board can:
The conditions set by the board must be reasonable, achievable, and within the student’s control to meet.
If you do not think you can meet the conditions set by the board, you and your parents should speak to the board about this before your return to school. Otherwise, if you do not meet the conditions set by the board, you could be called to another board meeting where they will have the same options as at the suspension meeting, including kicking you out. Usually, boards give worse outcomes at follow-up board meetings.
If a student is given an extended suspension, they will have conditions that they must meet before they can return to school. The conditions should be achievable by the student, relevant to what they did to get suspended, and help them to return to school. The period for achieving the conditions also needs to be reasonable and aimed at the student coming back to school.
Once a student meets their conditions, they should show the school (for example, a course completion or medical certificate).
Excluded is the legal word for a student being kicked out of school when they are younger than 16.
If a school excludes a student, the principal needs to try and find the student a new school, but they are often unsuccessful because other schools do not legally have to enrol an excluded student. After 10 school days of the school trying to find another school for the student, the student’s file will be passed to the Ministry of Education if the principal has been unsuccessful. Someone from the Ministry will then meet with the student and try to place them in a new school. The Ministry will usually try to:
If you are excluded, you should tell the school that excluded you and the Ministry of Education your preferences.
Expelled is the legal word for a student being kicked out of school when they are 16 or older.
After a student turns 16, it is not compulsory for them to go to school anymore. So, when a student is expelled, the school that expelled them does not have to look for another school for them. The Ministry of Education might (but usually doesn’t) help an expelled student get into another school, correspondence school, or Alternative Education.
If you want to return to school after an expulsion, you will usually need to see whether another school will take you (but they do not have to if you are expelled) or look into correspondence school, work, a course, or other options.
You can try to do this, but there are risks in making that decision:
There isn’t a set appeal process for an unsatisfied Board hearing result.
You can write to the Board if you have new information that would help your case, and ask for a rehearing. However, there is no specific law that requires the school to take you back or to have a rehearing.
If you think the process (not just the outcome) they followed in reaching their decision wasn’t fair, you could complain to the Ombudsman, but the process is extremely lengthy, and the Ombudsman can only give a recommendation. If you think you have been discriminated against under the Human Rights Act, you can contact the Human Rights Commission. The other option is to hire a private lawyer and to bring a case called a judicial review through the High Court, but this is an extremely expensive and lengthy process.
The other options are to lay a complaint with the Ministry of Education and/or the Education Review Office. However, they may not actively do anything to resolve your complaint unless there is an extremely clear breach of the process.
A kiwi suspension is when you’re told to go home (when you’re meant to be at school) but haven’t been stood down, suspended, or asked to voluntarily withdraw from the school, but have not been excluded, expelled. This does not include if you’ve been told home for medical reasons.
Examples include: being told to leave school early, being told to not come back to school until you’ve fixed your uniform or cut your hair, being told to only attend for part of the school day, being told to stay home for a few days, or being told to withdraw when you don’t want to.
This is illegal and you should call YouthLaw if you have questions.
For the meeting, you should:
If you have any questions about the suspension or parts of the report, or just want an opinion about your case, you can call YouthLaw.