This small-scale qualitative study focused on the experiences of five pupils who had been permanently excluded from mainstream secondary schools in a large shire county in England. Each pupil was interviewed, as was one of their parents in order to better understand the process of permanent exclusion from school. The three research questions were: What are young peoples' views of their exclusions? What are the parent(s)/carer(s) views of the exclusions? What are pupils and parents perceptions about what needs to be done differently to prevent young people being permanently excluded from mainstream schools? The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The following themes were identified in the pupil data: 'school', 'peers', 'pupil attitudes and perceptions' and 'family'. For the parent data the themes were: 'school', 'peers', 'individual pupil factors', 'family' and 'parental attitudes and perceptions'. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.