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.

Ridiculous punishment in my view, and I would consider myself quite old fashioned and traditional.

And I agree, all of the children should have been punished. It was pure chance that it happened to be the acorn your son threw that hit someone in the eye.

I'm a bit gobsmacked at many of the responses on here.

Oh and if a child belonging to me started complaining of headaches and sickness and sensitivity to light damn right I 'd be getting medical attention. I hope the ones poo pooing the very idea of bringing a child with these symptoms to A&E aren't responsible for any child themselves.

I haven’t read the full thread but some of the comments about ‘its only a headache’, ‘why take him to a&e’ yada yada. Wow, these posters have obviously NEVER experienced a migraine or they would be well aware that it’s nothing like even the worst headache they can imagine and would also know that the other symptoms often mimic stroke and that first time migrainers often turn up in a&e. Now that you know that he suffers migraines which have been induced in this instance by bright lights, and probably stress you need to do some reading to find out how to prevent further attacks. It’s a shame he has experienced one so young and the gene has been ‘switched on’.

The punishment sounds incredibly old fashioned and not very constructive. More ticking a box than teaching a lesson. You should have received a call by now and I would be interested into why nobody stopped by to check on him over the course of the entire day? Surely he could have asked for coursework at that point if it had happened. As many children were throwing acorns it is unfair that he was isolated for punishment. He did a good thing by confessing to his ‘crime’, if he hadn’t then I’m sure everyone would have been punished. The school has misjudged the situation in this case I think and were looking to act so that the parents of the injured party did not complain I imagine.

I hope your son is ok.

If I say black, posters will say its white, some of the posts are just idiotic at best.

Shockingly I now have a meeting I spoke with the Head today, whose spoken with DS HOY, basically they think its because no one was informed DS was in isolation, however stated this isn't an acceptable excuse, shes also unhappy that the conditions DS was forced to endure was a big factor in his hospital admission.

She's asked for some time to allow her to speak to staff, however we have arranged a meeting for Friday.

I pray that DS does not suffer from migraines, the A&E doctors advised us only time will tell if he will be a long time suffer.

Thank you to everyone again for your posts, its been insightful

oliversarmy:
“Friends Ds could have spent 60 days in isolation. His crime, he broke his ankle and chose to wear a cast and not his school shoes.”

And were ALL your friend’s DS’s lessons acccessivke to someone with a cast on, on crutches?

I would love to know the real story here as what you’re saying just doesn’t ring true. Schools bend over backwards to try and avoid injured pupils missing lessons. There is SOMETHING not right in your story at all.

I had a one off migraine once that wasn't repeated. About ten years ago. Mine was brought on by dehydration. Hopefully your son's will be a one off.

It’s december. There are no acorns?

... not being forced to sit in a 2 by 4ft booth facing a blank fucking wall!!! for over 7 hours!!!
Apologies if I have missed it, but if your DS was told 10 mins into his first lesson that he was in isolation, he must go to a school with really long days?

And if your issue is that you want to know why the supervisor can notice enough to tell him to sit up straight yet not notice he had no work, you're on to a loser. Plenty of ppl have tried to explain how isolation works. It is not possible for work to be provided by every teacher at short notice. Neither is it the jog of the supervisor to go off trying to arrange work for the child, if it is not easily available. Maybe there should have been books available in the room, but if the system has worked well previously they may not have required them, of the room set up doesn't allow it. I think it would be of better benefit for all concerned if you suggested improvements, rather than complain aggressively about something which there is no particular one person to blame for (it does seem that you are looking for someone to blame). Presumably, many many children have been in isolation before DS, and this has not been an issue before. Help future students by contributing to a positive change in school policy, rather than try to chase down someone to blame.

It does sound a bit far fetched that a school would put a child in isolation because they couldn't fit a school shoe over their cast for their broken ankle.
Yeah, I'd doubt that was the real reason, but you know how things are assumed, and change in the telling from one person to the next. We had a kid on crutches who couldn't walk through corridors at the same time as all the other pupils, walk any distance, or make it up stairs, for health and safety reasons. This meant about 90% of their lessons weren't accessible. So where else could they go sit and work on something through the day?

Yeah, tranquiltess, I’m fed up of some (a minority) of parents who complain that their injured child is falling behind in their work. WTF do they expect schools to do about it if their child is on crutches? Children on crutches are not allowed to use stairs, and it’s doesn’t matter how much work is sent down to do in the library or isolation room or wherever they are based while injured, if they have missed the actuak teaching of the topic, they’re going to struggle with completing some of the work, eg in maths or science, where really you need a teacher to be explaining a new topic.

I honestly think some parents expect miracles of schools.

Apologies if I have missed it, but if your DS was told 10 mins into his first lesson that he was in isolation, he must go to a school with really long days?
Op said they added a detention on the end of the day. I think they do the same at my dcs' school if they are in isolation.

We had a kid on crutches who couldn't walk through corridors at the same time as all the other pupils, walk any distance, or make it up stairs, for health and safety reasons. This meant about 90% of their lessons weren't accessible. So where else could they go sit and work on something through the day?

WTF do they expect schools to do about it if their child is on crutches? Children on crutches are not allowed to use stairs, and it’s doesn’t matter how much work is sent down to do in the library or isolation room or wherever they are based while injured, if they have missed the actual teaching of the topic

So children who are healthy enough to be at school, are trying to keep up the attendance levels that schools always put in reports and want to be educated should be ignored? How on earth can your schools claim to comply with the disability discrimination act?

Thank god my dd's school doesn't have your complacent attitude.

She had to miss the last three weeks of term 1 due to an operation. Since returning to school at the beginning of term 2, she's been mostly in a wheelchair with the occasional use of crutches. She's attended all her lessons and her year 11 mock exams. She's been allowed to leave lessons 5 minutes early to avoid crowds, has been given a lift key and is allowed to use stairs if the lift is broken.

If she had been a pupil at the school where @Tranquiltess or @CurlyhairedAssassin teach she'd have effectively missed at least a term's education which would probably affect her GCSE results (not good for her or for the school).

How on earth can your schools claim to comply with the disability discrimination act?

Yes, that is quite shocking, frankly.

Well done woth the complaint. Definitely worth pursuing.

Some academies seem to be following a scary boot camp/no excuses approach and sitting staring at a wall for 7 hours is pointless...

I am not sure what being on crutches has to do with friends Ds being threatened with isolation.

As I have said before friend had a meeting with school and as she said it was surreal.

It was all about him choosing to not wear school shoes. He could spend the time at home (suspended) or in isolation till he chose to put school shoes on.

Friends Ds was an A* pupil. Friend found him another school that was able to use common sense.

I don’t know why people can’t get their mind round that some people have no common sense. It isn’t just the teaching profession.
Like the person behind the counter who stopped me buying a lottery ticket because I couldn’t prove I was 16.
I am nearly 60 and look probably older. Queue of people were laughing at the absurdity of it.

Sure there was a post on here recently about a child being threatened with isolation because his shoe had developed a hole and his dm couldn’t get to the shop to buy him more till the weekend.

Isolation is not the last resort as it should be. For some schools it is the first resort and for some disability discrimination goes out of the window.

I pray that DS does not suffer from migraines, the A&E doctors advised us only time will tell if he will be a long time suffer.

If it's any consolation, I had my first migraine at nearly 12, but at 13.5 they stopped. I was nearly 40 by the time I had the next one!

t’s december. There are no acorns?

Yes there are

Excellent news: a legal challenge to the use of isolation units has been lodged: www.theguardian.com/education/2018/dec/11/pupil-brings-legal-action-against-schools-isolation-booths-outwood-grange-academies-trust?fbclid=IwAR1oNeqBW_JIILkoL-Ye9n798Zs2QGF29hmnKja5onDVfAtvQN4AFN4I-Sg

It will be a factor in our choice of secondary. Theyve moved from being a place to hold students who might be violent etc to a place for minor infractions and definitely inhumane.

@dippledorus

so he didn't have a pen and paper in his pocket? A book? Nothing?

He didn't have anything on his person that he could use to study?

Funny, because every teenaged boy I've ever known has his pockets of his blazer stuffed with items he could have used for study.

Eh? You do know they're not at Hogwartz and can't just 'accio' study materials whenever they want?

And what teenager will proactively pull out pen and paper and randomly start writing without any instructions? That's just silly.

JustKeepSwimmingJustKeepSwimmi

We looked round a lot of schools including those that did pose as grammar schools because they took pupils from out of area if they passed the exam and they all had isolation booths.

Olivers its truly varied in our area. There's a high performing school but it purely teaches to the test, isolation for every mistake it seems, silence... i expect theres v little low level disruption and no chance for bullying in the corridor...but it is like a child factory imo. There are other schools we will look at. Having a cool-down room isnt in itself awful but the way its used. Whether for serious misdemeanour or for coming in without a ruler/wrong length skirt, for me. Others like that approach.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall

This trend for one size fits all draconian punishment isn't good. After reading these threads I think I will avoid academies like the plague.

After reading these threads I think I will avoid academies like the plague

Academies do seem to be the worst, but they aren't all bad. My dd's school which I've mentioned above is an academy. It's a C of E school which joined a diocesan trust when it became an academy. I think the ethos of academies can vary

In all things in life it is important to pick your battles, none more so than in health or education.
There is nothing wrong with working alone in a room all day. However do query if work was sent. Most students in a variety of schools that I visit are required to have a reading book in their bag, not to mention a variety of textbooks or exercise books. In addition many schools use chrome books or tablets to set work and students have their own.
Most isolation rooms I see are small classrooms, warm and pleasant. There is interaction with the staff on duty and people coming and going all day. They are not much of a punishment in themselves, the punishment from the students point of view is being out of circulation and missing breaks and lunches with their friends. I think this is what some people are misunderstanding.