To raise a formal complaint regarding school isolation

[HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend]

Last week a group of 20-30 kids were throwing acorns at each other in the school playing field, a child who also throwing the acorns, got hit in the eye which I've been led to believe required medical treatment, teacher asked who hit the child and DS said he believed it was his acorn, and that he was sorry, and did not mean to cause anyone harm.

He was given a days isolation plus after school detention, however on the day with only 10 mins notice.

His head of year called and said as he admitted it was him, they had no choice to follow the isolation process, however admitted they thought it was harsh, however rules and rules which we will adhere to and support the school with.

DS has NEVER been in isolation.

My AIBU is, Ds was made to sit in a 2 by 4 booth, being made to sit upright and face a white wall for the whole of the school day. NO SCHOOL WORK WAS GIVEN AT ALL

He could not tell the supervisor he had no course work as he isn't allowed to talk while in isolation, and tbh nor should even have to ask for course work, its the supervisors role to ensure DS has course work, which is the policy in DS school.

Only one teacher called the isolation supervisor to ask if DS was present, however did not send course work, not one of his other 4 teachers called to ask if he was present.

The isolation supervisor has confirmed all of the above is true his HOY has advised us that they have passed it on to the isolation manager who will be calling me, however even after chasing it up everyday for the past week and leaving messages for them to call me I am still awaiting the phone call.

My own DS ended up requiring medical treatment as he endured a headache with sickness and sensitivity to light, ds has never had a migraine before isolation, which the A&E doctors advised was the cause.

Well let's just be happy that you don't have to worry about it. Also it is not standard practice for someone to go to hospital for a suspected migraine.

From my understanding, it wasn't a suspected migraine. It was unexplained symptoms which panicked the OP. Again, and I don't have the will to read back, I believe the child was experiencing symptoms which he hadn't before and did not know what was wrong with him and it was the doctors (x2) who said that yep, staring at a white wall would have done it!

Do you have children Flash? And if so, do you ever leave them in the care of adults other than their family?

I feel a lot of you are missing out on 2 very basic things here.

1. A child was left to stare (and forced to stare) at a white wall for a full day. Incorrect it was for 5 hours (at best guess) NOT 24, and no one forced them to stare.

2. The punishment the child received made him severely unwell We dont know that, its an assertion from the OP, could easily have been caused by the child's guilt from being caught assaulting someone.

if its a migraine and the first one and the family aren't sufferers I think those could be some really scary symtoms.it can feel like your dying or have a nail in ur brain!if my family or mum hadn't really suffered I wouldn't have known what it was the the white lights down my eyeballs and narrowed barely there vision.and vomiting and etc etc would have scared the beejeeeeeezies out of me and my parents

Oh bless.
The child was forced to stare. When he tried to rest his head on his arm, he was reprimanded and told to sit up straight and look forward.
Never heard of guilt making a child so unwell. That's a clutch at very faraway straws there.

Walkingdeadfangirl stress and similar emotional states are often the cause so I can see how his stress of the day might do it.could all the factors have contridbuted to the onset of them.who knows I guess

2. The punishment the child received made him severely unwell We dont know that, its an assertion from the OP, could easily have been caused by the child's guilt from being caught assaulting someone.

Don’t be ridiculous; as a migraine suffer myself, I find bright lights are a trigger, guilt, never! And if he was feeling guilty, he would surely have been ill the previous evening! And he didn’t actually assault anyone, did he? A child got injured accidentally as a result of some silly horseplay.

@cardibach - I suffer from migraines and sitting upright staring at a white wall in a situation where I am blamed while others go unpunished would trigger a migraine in a person susceptible to them.
DD is 9 and she inherited migraines from me. It's not an ordinary headache, she gets very fatigued and irritated, with a bad headache and she vomits. Different from just a headache.

@junebirthdaygirl, I feel like I am reading a discussion straight from Oliver Twist. Must be some Dickensian Mumsnet.

@Reallybadidea , looks like the face of Britain to come.
Don't question the authorities.
Always obey.
Staring at a white wall for hours while unable to move is appropriate punishment for a child in 2018's Britain.
Or, did we mention? Get into the habit of NEVER questioning authorities, under any circumstances. Keep the habit for life.

Bloody hell some of the posts are nasty, the boy is only 12 a child! If the parent was to inflict this form of punishment at home it would probably be seen as a form of abuse. It's like mental torture.

To the poster who said my kids school probably do have isolation rooms or whatever they call them they don't. I have one in primary and one in secondary. They use exclusion/detention but definitely not this form of punishment.!

I'm not sure how he was given detention and spent a day in isolation if this happened at break.

I'm in two minds in making a complain, however on the other hand if I don't make a complaint nothing changes.

Personally I'd go for the 'helpful suggestions' ie to improve isolation rather than a complaint.

So I'd suggest there is a list of rules in the isolation booth but there should be some way of a child asking a teacher / supervisor, which could be as simple as putting their hand up.

There should be some 'default' work available, some sort of general revision, ideally for each subject but if not then something like having a collection of books to read, Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell, actually Orwell would be ideal.

Children could be told to read a chapter and then summarise it.

I feel like I’ve entered an alternate reality. Being made to sit in a booth staring at a wall all day unable to talk, is a draconian abusive thing to do to a child who was essentially pranking around with a load of other kids and was not being malicious in any way... how on any level can this be considered an appropriate or constructive consequence. I agree with the posters who point out that if a parent had done this, then alarm bells would likely be raised by the School.

I think this entire situation is bloody ridiculous & OP is getting the most inappropriate bashing!

This was an accident, yes someone got hurt but they were doing exactly the same thing themselves & therefore could have caused someone else the exact same injury.

Totally inappropriate level of punishment given the above & that an apology was immediate. I'd certainly be making a complaint about that OP.

As for criticising a 12yr old child for being distressed due to the scanner, shame on you! Absolute ignorance at its best. Grown men become hysterical on occasion because not everyone can cope with the confined space ffs.

I can’t believe that any teacher would consider this a reasonable punishment! Wtf?!! Children throw things because they’re idiots and copy each others’ bad behaviour, and yes a stern talking to is in order. But not this. This is horrible. Even prisoners in custody can move around and go to the toilet when they want. As a migraine suffererer it would certainly bring on a migraine for me.

None of the other kids received punishment. Should have been all or none. The risk of injuring each other was equal. Your son was no worse than the others. Pity he spoke up and 'confessed' that it was his acorn that did the damage.

I would be totally fucked off with my child sitting at a blank wall for a day. It sounds barbaric. I cannot understand what the rationale for this treatment could be. What can he learn from being isolated and under stimulated other than lie, deny and maybe throw his mates under the bus. I know there'll be a resounding And Not Throw Acorns but, like I said, the other kids weren't punished so they didn't learn that lesson and so acorn throwing will continue. Tackling the issue piecemeal isn't an effective strategy for addressing the risk of injury.

And her son became ill as a result. School inflicted injury on her son.

The more I read on here the more I find myself considering home educating DD. Maybe by the time she starts school they will have the chokey like on Matilda.

In your position I would seek legal advice . If prisons must justify use of isolation, schools should not be permitted to be this barbaric. I would also let my son know how I felt. It is monumentally unreasonable, and will teach only that authority is not to be trusted and lying is best .

How can we imagine that we are not raising a cohort of rioters and seethingly angry youth, treating children this way? For an admitted mistake and some honestyat age 12?
Imagine if we made a mistake at work and this was the consequence? All you folks out there braying for blood, would you accept that at work ? Thought not.
The fact that he was misbehaving in no way justifies how extreme this is.

Mental health facilities also have to justify and monitor isolation. Frankly I find the treatment of your son cruel and constituting corporal punishment in all but name. Mental and physical cruelty. I would seek legal advice and proceed on that basis.

For those who think it's an acceptable punishment, do you stand (Or sit) your children in the corner at home when they misbehave?

Why not?

This strikes me as institutionalised bullying - I'm bringing my son back to the UK and fear that he will be placed in a behaviour factory. The school we are looking at mandates trousers that are 61% polyester! WTF? Do they check labels? When teachers are 'busy'.
All those involved in the incident should have been punished but it's easy for the school to pick one who owns up (out of honesty and concern for his friend) than tackle the actual group behaviour issue.
Isolation as described is barbaric and teaches defending it should find another career.

If the policy is they have work then ensure they have it. Rules are rules and not to be broken - unless you're the school.

Find a way to develop respect and good behaviour in schools with out resorting to lazy tactics.

Schools adopting these policies are a disgrace at the moment and any individuality is be to stamped out of children - will they be taping their eyeballs open and forcing them to watch good behaviour films next?

All the kids should have been punished.

I hope he never has to work in a call centre.

Stating at a blank wall for hours on end is an outrageous punishment. DS was no more to blame than any of the other kids throwing acorns.

Eerie I get migraines too. I do know. What they are. I’m still confused about the ‘sitting upright’ though. It’s what most of us do at work/school anyway, I’d have thought.