Yes, within limits — and the limit is not where most staff assume.
Where the misbehaviour happened is not the problem; where you impose the sanction is. The decision and the sanction must be made on school premises, or while the pupil is under a staff member’s control or charge. Off-site conduct is squarely in reach if sanctioning it is reasonable.
updated 8 Jul 2026last checked 11 Sept 2026
What the source actually says
The statute makes any sanction lawful only if three conditions are met:
“The imposition of the disciplinary penalty is lawful if the following three conditions are satisfied.”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.91(2) legislation
and the third is the one that bites here:
“The third condition is that the decision to impose the penalty was made, and any action taken on behalf of the school to implement the decision was taken— (a) on the premises of the school, or (b) elsewhere at a time when the pupil was under the lawful control or charge of a member of staff of the school.”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.91(5) legislation
Read it carefully: it constrains where the penalty is imposed, not where the misbehaviour occurred. DfE’s behaviour guidance states the power directly:
“Schools have the power to sanction pupils for misbehaviour outside of the school premises to such an extent as is reasonable.”
— Behaviour in schools, DfE, February 2024, p.25 DfE
and then restates the same jurisdictional limit in plainer words:
“The decision to sanction a pupil will be lawful if it is made on the school premises or elsewhere at a time when the pupil is under the control or charge of a member of staff of the school.”
— Behaviour in schools, DfE, February 2024, p.26 DfE
The guidance lists the kinds of off-site conduct in scope, including when a pupil is travelling to or from school, is wearing school uniform, is “in some other way identifiable as a pupil at the school”, or where the conduct “could have repercussions for the orderly running of the school” (Behaviour in schools, DfE, February 2024, pp.25–26, raw/dfe/2024-02-19-behaviour-in-schools.md).
Online is treated the same way, with an important qualification most behaviour policies leave out:
“Many online behaviour incidents amongst young people occur outside the school day and off the school premises. Parents are responsible for this behaviour. However, often incidents that occur online will affect the school culture. Schools should have the confidence to sanction pupils when their behaviour online poses a threat or causes harm to another pupil, and/or could have repercussions for the orderly running of the school, when the pupil is identifiable as a member of the school or if the behaviour could adversely affect the reputation of the school.”
— Behaviour in schools, DfE, February 2024, p.32 DfE
So the default for out-of-hours online conduct is parental responsibility, and the school’s power switches on when one of those triggers is met — not for every fallout in a group chat.
Note that Behaviour in schools describes itself as non-statutory guidance which “should not be taken as a complete or definitive statement of the law” (Behaviour in schools, DfE, February 2024, p.4, raw/dfe/2024-02-19-behaviour-in-schools.md). The binding part of this card is s.91 itself.
Your school may still require it
Your school can lawfully decide it will not sanction off-site conduct at all, or that only a senior leader may, or that every off-site incident is referred up rather than dealt with in your classroom. DfE expects the behaviour policy to set out what the school does about off-site and online misbehaviour, so the answer for you is in that policy. What your school cannot do is impose the sanction somewhere the statute does not allow.
See also Can support staff issue detentions and sanctions?, Does my school have to have a behaviour policy? and Do I have to record every bullying incident?.