Isolation rooms in schools

[Chichi444]

Hello !

So my sons school has very strict behaviour policy which includes Isolation rooms which pupils are sat in without the freedom of leaving even for just going to the bathroom unless accompanied by a member of staff and and are expected to remain silent and have no school work given to them and these pupils are given no movement breaks.

This punitive measure is given for even the most minor slip ups such as not having the right uniform or for more serious behavioural issues.

My 11 year old son in year 7 and he was given two consecutive days of Isolation which he sat for 7 hours in a row without movement break so altogether 14 hours , for nothing which was severe enough for to be punished that way.

I was told that he was to sit a third 7 hours in isolation.
Ive decided to challenge their decision as I feel the reason for it didn’t warrant such harsh punishment.

Ive wrote to the principal requesting to review but meanwhile my son isn’t in school as the school told me that whenever he returns to school he will have to sit the isolation.

Now what I’m asking is has any parent out there ever challenged the school on such matters what was you experience and eventually the outcome?

Any input would be so helpful thank you!🫶

"simply searching inappropriate language into google translate that was marked down as racist comment"

.schools often have inclusive policies and are very clear about zero tolerance for racism and homophobic language.

He will have been told ) aware of this and should not be surprised he was sanctioned harshly. It is pretty common to be placed in isolation for the rest of the day for racist / homophobic behaviour incidents.

I feel I need to defend myself a bit here from comments by @Thedefault

[people who can expect to be sworn at and have to put up with it apparently] Customer service, hospitals, prisons, shops, road workers, solicitors. Likely more careers need that mindset than less I'd expect.

These people do not have to put up with people swearing at them. My DH worked in customer service; if someone swore (not even at him, not calling him a swear word, just using such a word) he would say (and was trained to say) “I am now going end this call because you have sworn at me.” Last time I was in Argos, last time I was in a hospital, there were signs saying “we will not tolerate abuse of our staff”; similarly on hold messages when you call the doctor – and quite right too. Shops, hospital staff, doctors, can refuse to serve you, ask you to leave.

You do not cope with the situation. You've said you remove any factors you cannot cope with such as DC swearing.

Not sure I said anything about not coping with a student swearing at me. But the thing is, as @noblegiraffe says, if I let a student call me a f-ing xxxx, then happily allow them back in the lesson next time, it suggests to the rest of the class that I am fine with that. I was not and at the school I taught in, that kind of behaviour was dealt with by an hour out of the lesson – in inclusion, with pastoral, on restorative tasks.

I should say that the specific incident I am thinking of followed a short time at the end of the class (into break) when I had kept the student and a couple of others back to talk about their behaviour. So intervention was in place. But the response was the verbal abuse. I did continue in a professional manner btw (not sure why you think I wouldn’t have).

teachers … in a career they are not suited to. That’s directed at me I suppose. As is a teacher that cannot cope with a disregulated child is in the wrong career Thanks for that. Bit rude though. Actually I am not a teacher in a school setting any longer. For a number of reasons. I’m very relieved for the sake of my DC and now others’ DC (mine are older now) that there are still people who are happy to do the role. But I still don’t think they should have to put up with verbal abuse without making it clear that it is not acceptable.

And by the way teachers cannot “cherry pick the work they want to do”. As if!

@Walkden I get that if it was an actually directed at a student or member of staff. It wasn’t. It’s madness to overreact like this. There wasn’t any “language”! It seems abuse is researching on your own now! He didn’t use abusive words. He might have got round to it, but didn’t as far as we know. Everyone supports dc not being abusive but this is just spying and making assumptions. No wonder people do
not respect people in authority. This case clearly explains why.

" I get that if it was an actually directed at a student or member of staff. It wasn’t. It’s madness to overreact like this. There wasn’t any “language”! It seems abuse is researching on your own now!"

Schools have acceptable use policies which kids are reminded of at the start of each year and normally have to sign each year. They gave monitoring and filtering software which the kids are well aware of.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for this to be honest. Schools have zero tolerance policies for this stuff.

If you think it's so harmless try googling the N word on your work pc/ network Perhaps your employer will be more permissive of this "research.."?

We covered those points in your previous reply. Your DH working in a call centre and seeing a couple of signs about does not mean you can speak for every role, as I've said plenty of roles have to put up with abit of swearing. It is moving off topic now and not helpful to the OP.

It's not OK to accept swearing in any role really. That's a pretty low bar.

Agree and why should those who go to school to learn have to hear and be disrupted by it? So much is done for those who don't wish to learn, those who do often seem forgotten about.

100 percent this.

As I've said in my previous reply, I'm not saying it should be ignored but there are some roles where you would expect to see it. In secondary schools children are flooded with hormones and forced to be there. They do not get time off when they are struggling like we do in the work place. Other examples would be working in courts, hospitals, care homes, adult social care, the police etc.

Expecting to see it doesn't mean it's OK though. I know some children will react badly and swear and I try to ignore that behaviour. However directly swearing at me isn't acceptable and I will follow up this. Swearing at Police doesn't usually end well either.

I don't get time off if I'm struggling in the workplace as a teacher.

Another deluded parent who thinks their child is an angel and excuses his poor behaviour.

If you don’t like the schools approach, move him.

"they solve nothing and they shouldn't be allowed"

On the contrary when certain pupils are isolation it often means the rest of the class can make more progress in their learning.

Tell us how you would deal with say, a child who constantly talks, walks round the room, prevents anyone from learning?
This thread is a real eye-opener. All the parents saying removal rooms are "unacceptable" and endorsing kids swearing. You all need to raise your standards and get some self-respect.

Yes.

Some people here seem to have swallowed the Paul Dix line completely.

My school got rid of its removal room once and went for 'restorative sanctions only'. That year behaviour was utterly appalling. Teachers and students trapped in classrooms with kids who were determined to disrupt lessons and there was nothing that could be done about it save give them yet another 'restorative conversation' detention where the kids were booked up weeks in advance and which did nothing to change their behaviour. Lots of teachers left. So many hours of lessons wasted.

The school then brought back the removal room, and since then has made it easier and easier to have kids removed from lessons. Behaviour has improved massively and it doesn't need to be used that often.

Carers have to accept a lot worse than swearing sometimes, they can't just leave the person/people they are caring for even if they are getting abuse from them.
But teachers should not have to accept it, it does need dealing with, it just wouldn't be dealt with by isolation rooms where I am so must be dealt with in a different way (but they can remove and will remove them from the classroom, by force if necessary, as the rest of the class has rights too)

Lots of misunderstanding about 'isolation rooms'. That's the room where the removed kids get parked. It is usually nothing like that in the OP.

At my school it's a normal classroom where the kids sit at normal desks and do some assigned work. The kids still call it 'iso'. But they're being isolated from their class, not humanity.

I remember when isolation rooms started when I was in school, our one was essentially a giant cupboard with no windows which was very off-putting. Then they took away our 6th form common room (we were given the community room which was a bit rubbish compared to the old one) and turned it into a big isolation room but at least it had lots of windows so less depressing.
But sitting in a normal classroom quietly doing work for a few hours doesn't sound bad, not like what the OP described.

I seem to remember that when we were at secondary school, we had to write an essay when we did something wrong and then hand it in to a senior member of staff, make our case as per the essay and apologise. A friend of mine did something very wrong and had to go before a panel of 3 senior members of staff (this was a grammar school) and have a full on interrogation. I also remember Saturday early morning detentions, they were the most dreaded especially for teens.
My feeling is all schools should be allocated separate behaviour funding so that they can tailor behaviour management to kids in a more organised way. And enough funding for SEND, That would solve a lot of issues. Behaviour can just be silly one offs for most and then usual punishments like behaviour points, detention, isolation with work set does work. But for some children, poor behaviour is communication and a cry for help and they are in a doom loop and if it is not properly addressed they end up with nothing long term.
As a society, we have been expecting more and more of schools without giving them the funding and expertise to address underlying problems. Schools are really there just to teach children who are ready to learn and have the basic courtesy towards others and social skills instilled in them. Expecting schools to perform miracles is not really possible.

Funding is always the issue. Schools are asked to do more with less, constantly. We are just about to have more severe SEND in mainstream and there will be no, or certainly insufficient funding for it.

Education in the UK is in a reasonable place in most schools, but the tippong point will be reached soon. So many experienced teachers are leaving and somethinf like 40% of teachers leave in their first 5 years. Not sustainable!

Also, they will lower the bar. Too many poorly qualified people becoming teachers. Too many non maths specialists are allowed to teach maths, for example.

Totally agree. I would ask anyone who believes children should be permitted to remain in the classroom when they are being verbally abusive to consider that, in any given class (in many schools) there will be:

• At least 5 children who live with aggression, swearing, chaos at home. Probably including the child who has been verbally abusive. We let all these children down if we permit aggressive speech towards anyone including teachers, in classrooms. We show them that there are no boundaries and we fail to model what is acceptable in a safe society.
• At least 1 child living with actual domestic abuse. How frightening it is for them for someone being verbally abusive to be allowed to stay in the classroom. Yes including if that student is the one swearing. It sends a message that it’s ok to behave like this, and tells them that the adults they are relying on to safeguard them will allow it. We fail to help them feel safe. Yes including the abusive child. They won’t feel safe if they are permitted to be abusive.
• At least 3 students who have sensory and/or mental health issues which mean shouting, aggresssion and unpredictably are hugely triggering.
• At least 20 kids who want to learn. They have the right to an education. As does the disruptive child, but they are not getting an education if they are allowed to stay in the classroom disrupting. In these circumstances, ‘isolation’ (properly done, not like the OP’s questionable account of it) can be an opportunity for them to reflect and to work in a quieter, more nurturing space.

Please know that a huge amount of pastoral effort goes into understanding the WHY of poor behaviour for individual students. A HUGE amount. But we must also take into account the needs of every child in every class.

Proper funding is key, so appropriate experts can work with behaviour issues and teachers can focus on teaching. Where I am every school has a psychologist attached and if a pupil is having issues they must be able to meet with the psychologist within a fairly short time frame, about two weeks I think, though that may have changed recently with healthcare cuts, and a counsellor who is more of a first step.

Totally this.

Where are you getting this info from? Your son? I'd be very surprised if there was no work given at all.
My school had similar back in the nineties it was an old charging block so tiled and echoey, desk in the middle for supervising teacher, cubicles round the outside facing the wall high partitions between them for no chatter. Work was set. Pupils caught up on missed homework too. They got breaks but not with everyone else and they were walking breaks with staff. Fortunately I only ever went in there to see my maths teacher about my coursework when he was on duty in there.

We also used to have a morning run punishment. Come in in PE kit 45 minutes before everyone else and run laps round the school while everyone else was coming in. The two strictest teachers had a shared office high up and would be keeping time so people couldn't walk or wander of during laps.

Your son is about to face day 3 in isolation. Rather than question the punishment why aren't you questioning his behaviour? I never had to face the above punishments because I behaved.

@TheCurious0range How do dc on school transport get in early? Walk 10 miles? Punish the parents by making them take dc in? If they have a car of course. Is this in any behaviour and sanctions policy is this day and age?

Isolation is used to let a child work in a calm and solo environment with support from a teacher. Isolation with nothing to do and not allowed to move is not allowed.

"Isolation usually means a child is placed alone with very limited interaction. Internal suspension, by contrast, is:

• supervised
• structured
• time-limited
• focused on learning and reintegration

Guidance will make clear that internal suspensions should not be used as isolation" from https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2026/01/suspensions-how-suspensions-in-school-can-help-tackle-behaviour-and-boost-pupil-support/

Multiple sessions of isolation is illegal and cruel. There is also a clear method of documenting internal isolations, if this hasn't been done you can take your school/local authority to court.

Google your local authority guidance on this and challenge.

It doesn't matter what your child has done, the law describes what is allowed and what is not in terms of school behaviour policies.