This help article is relevant to New South Wales schools only.
The NSW Suspension process has been developed in accordance with the Department of Education Student Behaviour Policy and it's accompanying specifications. Terminology relating to the policy will be used where it is relevant to a specific feature. This will assist with the understanding of the process.
Before a student can be suspended a negative behaviour incident must exist. It is therefore necessary to create a record in the Behaviour Incidents' Register before being able to initiate a Suspension.
The Suspension process utilises 2 separate 'designated' pages. The Suspension Post Page is used to hold the internal suspension information and will be closed to caregiver viewing. The Suspension Letter Page is designed to hold the populated DoE templated suspension letters that will become visible to caregivers once published. It is important to ensure that these pages are set up correctly before beginning, as they will hold sensitive information. A Suspension Post page and Suspension Letter page will exist in your Hero site. Contact Hero Customer Support if you do not wish to have either of these pages. The Suspension process can be used as a stand alone feature, however, creating posts and letters will provide a better historical record along with the ability to analyse data using Tag Data Sheets.
The details of a Suspension are uploaded to the DoE every time a change is made.
The following DoE specific parameters are used in the suspension process. These parameters will be amended if DoE policy requirements are updated.
- Only Principals can suspend a student (Hero also permits a Principal's Delegate to perform this function as the intended use of the Principal's Delegate is to stand in for the Principal when not available).
- An annual limit of suspension days per calendar year is
- 30 school days for students in Kindergarten to Year 2
- 45 school days for students in Year 3 - 12.
- this limit can be exceed with DEL approval.
- The duration of a Suspension can be -
- up to 5 consecutive school days for students in Kindergarten to Year 2
- up to 10 consecutive school days for students in Year 3 - 12.
- the Principal/Principal's delegate can extend the suspension for up to 5 additional school days.
- the Principal/Principal's delegate can extend the suspension further (in 5 day increments) with DEL approval.
This article contains the following sections:-
- Setting the DEL Options
- Understanding the Suspension Process Options
- Issuing a Suspension
- Extending the Length of a Suspension
- Ending a Suspension Early
- Escalating a Suspension to an Expulsion
- Printing a Suspension Letter
- Accepting or Declining DEL Approval
SETTING THE DEL OPTIONS
The Director, Education Leadership (DEL) plays an important role in the suspension process. Prior to using the suspension process, a school needs to set up the DEL information.
1. Navigate to the Administration menu. If you have a wide-screen device this will already be visible on the left-hand side of your screen. If not, click on the Administration menu icon at the top left-hand side of your screen.
2. Under the heading Options select NSW Department of Education
3. Enter the DEL Name, Contact Email Address and Contact Phone Number in the fields provided.
4. Upload an electronic signature to be used when printing a caregiver suspension or expulsion letter.
Note: This area also contains the Principal's signature that will be included when printing an associated letter.
UNDERSTANDING THE SUSPENSION PROCESS OPTIONS
Throughout the Suspension process several options will be available for all stages.
1. The Information icon will display the internal post created for the Suspension. This gets its information from the Suspension Post page. The internal post will collect relevant information as the student advances through the process.
2. The Envelope icon will display the caregiver relating to the suspension. This information is obtained from the Suspension Letter page.
3. The Edit icon provides the ability to edit the information previously entered.
ISSUING A SUSPENSION
1. Navigate to the Administration menu.
2. Click the arrow beside STUDENT WELLBEING to expand. Click BEHAVIOUR INCIDENTS to view a list of all students with entries in the current year.
3. Utilise filtering to find the student you intend to Suspension. NB: An associated behaviour incident MUST exist to initiate the process.
4. Click the Halt Icon to create an entry in the Suspension Register NB: An Administrator will be able to action this process but only a Principal or Principal's Delegate will be able to take it any further.
5. The action above will create a Pending entry in the Suspensions Register and will take you from Behaviour Incidents to Suspensions. The incident you are working on will be partially highlighted green. The Name, Year and Class columns are frozen so will remain static when scrolling horizontally.
6. This action will also update the Pending count in the Administration Menu as an alert that action is required.
7. If you are a Principal or Principal's Delegate, click the arrow to create the Suspension. If you are not a Principal or Principal's Delegate you will only see the information icon which shows the behaviour incident post. The red alert indicates that DEL approval is required. This will be addressed later in this article. NB: A Formal Caution can be deleted but a Suspension cannot. Once a Suspension is created it cannot be removed.
7a. There is no turning back from this point as the suspension will upload to the DoE once it is created. A warning popup will be displayed to prevent you proceeding in error.
8. The entry screen will be displayed with Formal Caution as the default. Use the down arrow to change the default to Suspension.
9. Complete the required parameters.
- The Suspension Reason will be pre-populated with the Behaviour Category and cannot be edited. If the category of 'Other - Behaviour of Concern' was previously selected a Details field will be available for further information.
- Enter the Start Date for the Suspension. Be accurate as this cannot be later changed. If this error message is displays, it indicates that the school calendar has not been set up with sufficient dates to cater for the duration. CANCEL the entry and set up your school dates.
- The Duration will be set to the maximum number of days relating to the year level of the student being suspended.
- Click the checkbox beside the Immediate threat field if this information needs to be sent to the DoE.
- Set the Caregiver Meeting Date if known. This can be entered at a later date.
- Set the Internal Review Date if required.
- The Nominated School Contact will come from the Behaviour Incident - 'Referred to' field but can be changed. Start typing or click the spacebar for a selection list of staff.
- Select the Caregiver who is to receive the Suspension letter. Only Primary, Secondary and Caseworker Caregivers will be available for selection. Only one caregiver can be selected so it needs to be the student's main point of communication.
10. Enter the Details of Concerning Behaviour and the Behavioural Expectations. Both of these fields, feed into the caregiver's suspension letter so enter this information with the understanding that it will show on a formal document and will be visible to caregivers.
11. The system is designed to create a post on a designated internal Suspension Posts Page. Uncheck 'Create Post on Suspension Page', if you do not which a post to be created in this instance.
12. The system is designed to enable documentation to be sent to caregivers. Click ADD ATTACHMENTS to upload any supporting documentation required by the caregiver. This will show as a post attachment on the Suspension Letter page.
13. Click NEXT.
14. The caregiver letter will be displayed in editable form. Check the letter carefully and apply any custom changes. NB: These will be created in Draft so will not be visible to the caregiver until published.
Notes:
- It is not necessary to insert a signature at this point. When printing the suspension letter, the signature uploaded to your school settings will be automatically inserted.
- Once the suspension letter has been created any editing of detail via this process will NOT update the letter. An already created letter can be edited or deleted by a Principal or Principal's Delegate via the designated Suspension Letter page. This will amend the post only.
15. Click PREVIOUS to go back and make changes or CONFIRM to complete the process.
16. Click SUSPENSION to view the entry in it's next phase.
17. The caregiver meeting date is a mandatory field but may not be known when creating the Suspension. If the date has not been entered the Missing Info icon will be displayed. Click the icon to enter the caregiver meeting date.
18. The action of suspending a student will directly update the student's attendance for the duration of the suspension. Any adjustments in the dates will also adjust the attendance. It will also become clear to the student's teacher that the student is on suspension.
19. Once a suspension reaches its end date, the entry will automatically move to COMPLETED SUSPENSIONS. The options also exist to end a suspension early or extend a suspension. Click the Finish icon to end the suspension early or the Clock icon to extend the suspension.
EXTENDING THE LENGTH OF A SUSPENSION
A suspension can be extended if sufficient time hasn't existed for a successful return to school.
DoE documentation on extending suspension - "In serious circumstances, and if additional system support and resources are still required to be put in place, a Principal can consider further periods of 5-day extensions, in consultation with the Director, Educational Leadership, with each 5-day period to be reviewed."
1. To extend a suspension, click the Clock icon.
2. Enter the Duration of the extension. This cannot exceed 5 days.
3. Enter the Reason for the extension.
4. Enter the DEL Approval information, acknowledging that the DEL has approved this extension.
5. If the extending of the suspension will result in the student exceeding the annual limit, a further approval is required.
6. Click NEXT.
7. The caregiver 'suspension extension' letter will be displayed. Check the letter carefully and make any custom changes. NB: These will be created in Draft so will not be visible to the caregiver until published. Once the letter has been created any editing of detail via this process will NOT update the letter. An already created letter can be edited or deleted by a Principal or Principal's Delegate via the designated Suspension Letter page. This will amend the post only.
16. Click PREVIOUS to go back and make changes or CONFIRM to complete the process.
ENDING A SUSPENSION EARLY
As well as extending a suspension, it is also possible to end a suspension earlier than originally set. This will update the student's attendance to coincide with the earlier expected arrival back in class. This action can be used if a student is suspended in error.
1. To end a suspension early, click the Finish icon.
2. Enter the Last Day of Suspension and click CONFIRM.
ESCALATING A SUSPENSION TO AN EXPULSION
If the situation arises where a suspended student is going to be considered for expulsion, this is actioned from the existing suspension. A resulting entry will be created in the Expulsion register as a Written Notice of Potential to Expel and will be linked back to the suspension.
Note: Hero has disabled expulsions for Year 1-6 schools. If this option is needed but not available, ask Customer Support to enable Expulsions.
1. To initiate an Expulsion from a suspension, click the Start Expulsion Process icon.
2. The suspension will show as a linked state and the arrow will provide a direct connection to the expulsion. The entry is now part of the Expulsion process and no further action can be taken on the suspension.
3. Refer to this article to proceed with the Expulsion.
Understanding and Utilising the Expulsion Process
PRINTING A SUSPENSION LETTER
View this article to print a suspension letter.
Printing a Caregiver Suspension or Expulsion Letter
ACCEPTING OR DECLINING DEL APPROVAL
When a behaviour incident is escalated, it creates an entry under Pending in the Suspension Register.
1. The red alert icon indicates that DEL approval is required due to the annual limit of days suspended being reached for the current school year. An email requesting approval will be automatically sent to the DEL email address entered in the school options.
2. Once a reply has been received, click the alert icon to process the approval or decline.
3. Click the relevant checkbox.
4. Enter the Date and Notes and click SAVE to process.
5. If Declined, the Trash icon can be used to remove the Pending entry.
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