An internal suspension is when a pupil is removed from their usual classroom for a short period but remains in school. Internal suspensions should be short, structured and purposeful, with meaningful work linked to the curriculum and time built in for reflection. Ministers said internal suspensions were about keeping children ‘safe, supervised and learning’ while making clear that poor behaviour was taken seriously. It said suspensions were ‘disproportionately made up by children in care, disabled children, black, gypsy, Roma and Irish traveller children’. You can ask your child’s school how it plans to use internal suspensions and what support is in place to help children rejoin lessons.