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.

It’s that Bach and the slashing of funding to external agencies.

It’s a perfect storm of schools having no money AND being solely responsible for the social, emotional and mental health needs of all children.

Thank Christ I don't live in UK..you're school system sounds absolutely fucking appalling.
Completely bat shit punishment fr a bit of messing that went wrong...
All of the kids should have been told off.
Can't believe people think this is Ann okay way to "punish" a child. Next time he will definitely not own up to causing trouble, he will learn to lie to avoid ridiculous excessive punishment.

And to the people at the beginning of the thread... "Diddums" "man up" and mocking a child yes a child because he was scared of the CT scan. You are fucking heartless. I have had a CT scan and they are awful.
Cannot believe what I have just read.

People are clearly just attacking OP pointlessly now. All the kids (including the hurt kid) were equally to blame and should have been punished equally. They were all doing exactly the same (slightly silly) thing and the exact person who threw the offending acorn was pure bad luck on OP's DS's part. All should have been punished equally. It's also clearly far far worse to be stuck facing a white wall all day than sitting doing work. The latter really is ridiculous and should not happen at all in any school.

One of the other big problems we have, generally, is the magical thinking of smug, stupid people like some posters on this thread. They have convinced themselves that anything bad which happens to someone else happens because that someone else is 'not like them', is a bad person, and either deserves everything they get or is lying about it. So other people's kids are little shits who have to be punished, anyone complaining about power-tripping heads who impose bizarre and frightening punishments must be exaggerating because 'that doesn't happen in my kids' school' and 'authority' is always right, despite the fact that some teachers are indeed hopelessly burned out, some are lazy and incompetent and some are vicious bullies.

I pulled Ds out of school because with his “disabilities” he would have spent his whole senior school in isolation.

I think schools have changed hugely over the last few years.

Everything now is all about academics and teaching to the curriculum.

There is very little on any practical skills.
We had basic diy lessons like painting/wallpapering a wall, changing a plug, putting a shelf up for those that were not academic.
Also there isn’t the streaming of pupils so we have in ds’s case a child who cannot even read let alone write in lessons with people who are academically fine and having to keep up with them. Not doing homework (because he couldn’t read let alone write) so would have got a day in isolation.
Also I did note there doesn’t seem to be a lesson on careers advice.

I was at school in the 70s and we had an hour per week on what careers we would like. What qualifications were needed. Guest speakers would come in and speak about their day to day work.

The whole ethos on schools have changed and there isn’t any room for children who can’t keep up.

What we have now is a lot of pupils having to turn up to school daily and what is being taught has nothing to do with them because they either can’t do the work or find it not relevant to them.

I may have missed something, but when did getting some dirt in your eye get classified as "injury"? That was what I understood had happened to the child hit by the acorn: her eye had to have dirt washed out of it.

And as I understand it, if the isolated child had been given work to do, he would have been doing that work; that is, looking down, writing, reading; not being required to sit facing a blank wall and required not to look away from it. Doing work in isolation is a punishment, albeit one that is pretty harsh for the "crime" and somewhat disproportionate, and a bad idea for a minor offence because it leaves nothing in reserve to be given as worse punishment to a child who (eg) throws a crisp packet full of shit at a teacher as opposed to a child who in company with many others throws acorns in the playground. Sitting facing a featureless wall my guess would be it's made of formica-stuff rather than painted, if it's a booth -- for a seven-hour period with one lunch-and toilet-break (the OP says this started at 9am or so and ended at 4.30pm) is really not a good idea for anyone, adult or child.

I am amazed that anyone can think that it is ok, really.

Wolfie as OP is only coming back when she has an update from the isolation manager, perhaps I can explain to you, as a migraine sufferer, how having work would have helped her DS not to become unwell.

Light and glare can trigger migraines. We know that, that's why computer screen users are told to take a break every 45 minutes and look elsewhere. (20:20 - look at an object 20ft away for 20 seconds)

Over the course of a normal day, her DS would be looking up, down, around, focusing on objects at varying distances and different sizes of text etc.

When you do not do this, your eyes begin to get strained. The signals to your brain can get scrambled, resulting in headaches, and for some people, migraines or even seizures. At my school, one boy in my class had a seizure because of glare from the whiteboard when the sun came out. It was scary to witness.

Depending on the time of day, OPs DS may have had sunlight hitting the wall in front of him, causing glare. He was not allowed to look around him, he needed to face forward, with his eyes open. He was not able to focus on anything else as that would have required moving his head around (disruptive), nor would he have been able to close his eyes. If he had been looking down at work he would have 1. Avoided the glare by not looking at it 2. Been adjusting his focus as he worked and switched between tasks.

I know for a fact I could not do what OPs DS did all day at work. I need regular screen breaks. When the sun hits the cream walls in my office, or the white walled building next door I have to position myself so I don't look directly at them. When the sun comes fully round the building and streams in my window, I have to periodically get up and walk away until it's moved on. That's when I take my tea breaks, loo breaks, do my printing etc. I find switching tasks is good because my eyes don't get too strained looking at the same thing all the time.

Light sensitivity is a known condition, and I really hope that for OPs DS this is a one off, because living with it is really fucking painful. www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health/eye-conditions/light-sensitivity

If a student threw a crisp packet full of shit at a teacher that would not be a day of isolation that would be a permanent exclusion.

Olivers - correct - schools are very different from the 70s. Ofsted and Michael Gove largely to blame.

I don't think it's necessarily that behaviour is worse, it's that schools are forced to keep pupils in schools who could have been expelled in the past

@Wolfiefan

So glad I’m not a teacher.

I can't tell you how glad I am that you're not a teacher too. You sound rigid, stupid and authoritarian, a lethal mix. Can't you just berate and bully people on the dog threads so the wider board doesn't have to deal with you?

Hahaha. I don’t bully. People just dislike it in here when others disagree with them.
I used to be a teacher. I left the profession after years of dealing with some of the stupid attitudes on here.
Rigid. Because I disagree that this is torture? Or because I stick to my views?
Stupid. My qualifications would suggest otherwise.
Authoritarian. My ex students would certainly laugh at that! I’ve said this punishment seemed a huge overreaction to the behaviour the OP described. Internal exclusion should be used rarely. It should only be employed when no other sanction in school is sufficient. (So a warning for a minor infraction or even simply a reminder of how to behave. A short detention. Etc etc)

The problem is schools are like exam factories and if your dc is not academic or has an SEN then today’s school is not for those pupils.

It is like pushing a square peg in a round hole and if it doesn’t fit throw it in the isolation bin.

Oliversmumsarmy

I've yet to meet a teacher that would disagree with you.

I suppose internal isolation is the new exclusion for the same kids with the same SEN

Another one glad my children are not in the UK school system. What happened to a bit of detention and some lines?
Op, grand they shouldn't have been throwing the acorns but kids are kids. They will mess at times and accidents do happen, but this punishment seems barbaric to me. And of course you were right to listen to medical advice and take him to hospital.

wolfie I noticed you hadn't thanked tittyfah for their helpful explanation as to how the lack of work/staring at the white wall/not able to move head and refocus on occasion could trigger a migraine. Equally, the OP's son hadn't had a migraine before and therefore it was entirely appropriate that the OP sought medical advice that night given his worsening red flag symptoms.

The problem is schools are like exam factories and if your dc is not academic or has an SEN then today’s school is not for those pupils

The general population has to take responsibility here. Anytime someone suggests we have schools for non academic children there is howls of derision. If you want schools that shoehore everyone together then this is what you get.

I have never heard anyone saying they want schools for non academic children
You don’t need whole schools for non academic subjects.

Like in the past we had non academic subjects integrated into the curriculum.

That way someone who might not be good at the academic subjects could excel in a non academic ones and what they were being taught was something that might be relevant for them when they left school.

We have a proportion of school children for whom 11 years of their16 years of life has been spent turning up to a place where they don’t fit in.
What lessons they have are irrelevant.
They can’t do the work and no one is allowed to help them.

No wonder behaviour is going down hill.

But we have isolation to keep control.

He was not allowed to look around him, he needed to face forward, with his eyes open. He was not able to focus on anything else as that would have required moving his head around (disruptive), nor would he have been able to close his eyes.

I'm not disagreeing that light sensitivity can cause migraines. But I am doubting that the boy was unable to move his head, direct his gaze away, or close his eyes at any point to reduce the glare. I've been in isolation rooms plenty of times, and never once has the teacher on duty watched the child non stop for the whole period. They usually have their own things to get on with, which are much more constructive than staring at a kid for the whole period to make sure their gaze doesn't leave the wall. Kid probably has the back of their head or profile facing the teacher anyway, so how would they know?

If he was a normally good teen he might have been anxious about disobeying the prison guard, sorry isolation supervisor, and getting into more trouble.

Wouldn’t disagree with that Olivers - I used to take groups to do hairdressing, car maintenance etc at local colleges for part of the week. We can’t do that any more because we can’t afford to buy the places.

I dont really have an update other than I I called school first thing yesterday and spoke to DS HOY, I advised if the isolation manager did not contact me yesterday by close of business, then the school had left me no alternative to raise a formal complaint. No one contacted me.

I've emailed the complaint today, and CC in the the governors, his head of year, the head and Ofsted, stating schools is isolation policy and the Gov's policy, the detrimental effect his treatment had on his health, and also have requested an explanation as to why the supervisor noticed when ds tried to rest his head, but failed to noticed he had work for his whole isolation stay.

I'll again update when I have one.

Sorry also requested what measures could be placed to stop this happening again.

No work - I haven't had my morning coffee yet