Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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799. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the legal threshold for excluding students from primary and post-primary schools on a temporary and permanent basis. [1367/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Education Welfare Act 2000 requires all schools to have in place a Code of Behaviour. The Act requires that a school Code of Behaviour shall, inter alia, specify the standards of behaviour that shall be observed by each student attending the school, the measures that may be taken when a student fails or refuses to observe those standards, the procedures to be followed before a student may be suspended or expelled from the school concerned and the grounds for removing a suspension imposed in relation to a student.

The Act also requires that the code must be prepared in accordance with guidelines issued by the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB). The NEWB's publication "Developing a Code of Behaviour: Guidelines for Schools" was issued to schools in 2008 and includes guidance on the legal and procedural requirements governing suspension and expulsion as well as the features of good educational practice in the use of these sanctions.

Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of an Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year.

Application forms for taking a section 29 appeal are available on my Department's website or by contacting Section 29 Administration Unit at 0761 108584 or by emailing section29@education.gov.ie .