We are a project that provides free advocacy to help parents appeal against their child’s permanent exclusion. We specialise in disability discrimination and cases where the child has special educational needs. Those children with disabilities and special educational needs are at a much higher risk of being permanently excluded, and therefore require greater protection and a louder voice.

School exclusions are a major social problem. The first phase of the Children’s Commissioner’s Inquiry into School Exclusions, published in April 2012 (“They Never Give Up On You”) highlighted widespread illegal practice by schools in relation to school exclusions, the glaring disparities in exclusion rates for children with different characteristics (Black Caribbean boys and children with disabilities are significantly over-represented) and the serious adverse impact of school exclusions on the opportunities of excluded children.