Pupils made to leave classroom? Is this common?

[ThatWildMintSloth]

Hi,
On the weekend my child told me that a few times last week, themselves along with the rest of the class, including the class teacher, were made to leave the classroom and stand in the corridor due to the behaviour of one child. So the child who "wasnt making the right choices" (some kind of bad behaviour) as the teacher put it, had to stay inside the classroom and everybody else had to wait outside until said child "made the right choice."

I was pretty surprised and confused about this situation but then also I'm like ok maybe this is normal, what do I know?!

7 year old children.

Very interested to hear if this is common practice please.

Thank you.

That sounds incredibly disruptive for the rest of the class!

Surely send the misbehaving child out instead?

It's a method of dealing with a disruptive student (or adult for that matter) that cannot be 'made' to leave without being man-handled. The alternative is to remove everyone else.

themselves along with the rest of the class, including the class teacher, were made to leave the classroom

The class teacher was made to leave? Was this by head teacher, department head?

It’s probably for their safety

I imagine this is about keeping the other children safe and the behaviour is a bit more then 'making the right choices'. Unfortunately this used to happen in my daughters class, it was unsafe to remove the child so the class would be removed to the hall for there safety whilst the issue was dealt with.

It's common. The risk violent children pose to others is unreal. In a busy classroom there are loads of potential weapons and missiles, many teachers and staff get hurt, bitten, kicked etc etc etc. Children are misplaced all the time due to 'inclusion' and costs. If you are surprised you should offer to volunteer for a half day and see for yourself. Unfortunately incidents of violence are increasingly, extremely common. The teacher is trying to protect the class while removing the audience from the struggling child and following safety protocols and risk assessments.

This
I’ve had to do this on a rare occasion when I’ve got a child whose behaviour is a danger to the rest and the quickest option to ensure their safety is to remove them from the room. Until back up can come and help deal with/remove the child. It’s not very common and doesn’t sound good if it’s already happened more than once this term!☹️

Would you do this if the child was highly dysregulated, brandishing scissors and throwing chairs? Physically putting hands on children is assault, unless they are in a support facility and have the legal documentation and permission from parents.

Sounds like a safety issue. Very disruptive for the whole class, proof that our utterly broken system of SEN support is affecting everyone, not just the kids with SEN.

It’s common enough if you have a child in the class who tends to tip over tables and throw chairs when they lose their temper. The class teacher evacuates the class and leaves the angry child in the classroom to throw stuff about until they calm down. These children can’t be controlled by one adult and no one wants to get into the legal minefield of trying to restrain them anyway.

It's what we have to do as teachers if one of our children becomes very disregulated, in order to keep the other children safe. It's a common strategy, but it is a nightmare and so disruptive. If this keeps happening to your child, I would seriously consider trying to find them another setting, because its hnlikelynto improve. It's not the fault of the poor child who is left in the classroom, it's the fault of our non existent SEN system.

This makes alot of sense and I hadn't thought about it like this at all. About how they cant be "made" to leave. Thank you

Yes.

So if there is a child who is misbehaving (not doing their work etc) then they will be told off and asked to get in with their work/stop talking etc.

If there is a child who is misbehaving and when they are told off has a history of violence then in the past the advice was usually to try to get them out of the classroom if they were becoming violent (hitting others, hitting teachers, throwing chairs etc).

It has been recognised that trying to move a child who is already violent is likely to lead to more violence.

So these days the advice is to remove the rest of the class.

I was a teacher (not any longer) and I have had to do this.

I am quite good at talking down violent children so I have only had to do it once but in many classes it is a frequent occurrence.

I’ve had this happen quite a lot in a particular class with a child who would tip tables over and throw chairs. We had to get all the children out and in the corridor until backup could come and take them to the hall and the one child who was causing the danger would only harm themselves and not 32 other.
It’s not an ideal situation but it’s the least bad option.

Oh dont say this because my child is currently being bullied by said child and this was my fear😬

As the mum of two SEN children myself, I do completely understand that clearly the child in question is obviously not having their needs met in this setting but I also am upset that my child is being targeted by this child.

I did feel like hmm is school possibly out of their depth here😓

This, I volunteered in a school for 12 years. Even your outstanding primary in a lovely area has children with behavioural issues. There are "calm down" rooms but first you have to get the child there. There is a removal technique performed by the staff who are trained to deal with this.

So yes teaching isn't teaching, it is behaviour management too. The school I was in used to remove pupils from the classroom if there were not engaging with work but the children saw it as a reward so instead it became a keep the child in the classroom situation.

Children are very complicated, some have had rough starts in life or just shitty situations, death of a parent, divorce, the dog died etc so you have to understand that there are SEND reasons for "barriers to learning" and there are emotional barriers to learning. Some children shut down, some lash out, hit, spit, lick you to get a reaction.

Oh no, I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you feel worse 😥I was just trying to be realistic based on my experience. The trouble is, it's so hard to access any help for the child (as you sadly probably know) and when you do get it, it's usually someone coming to male an assessment who then writes a fee useless strategies that we've already tried and says they'll review in 3 months. Perhaps give it another few weeks - it could just be new classroom adjustment?

No, its weirdly reassuring to hear that its not so unusual.

At least I know where things stand now.

Yes, hopefully things do settle. (I doubt it) but I do hope!

This has been happening for many years.As others have said it’s safer to remove the other 29 children than risk their harm and if a staff member attempts to remove the child kicking off without training or assistance and much paperwork justifying removal they can find themselves in trouble. Horribly disruptive for class and concerning for staff.

Yes this is normal. I'd imagine this child is autistic with history of severe violent meltdowns. I know a teacher friend who has to do this. Also, there was a young lad in my son's school who struggled so much that everyone had to stop and clear the way.

My son is SEN but luckily doesn't struggle like this. He had alot of compassion for this boy who used to ' smash the place up '. And you know, so did I.

The problem here is a significant number of kids who need additional support but aren't getting it and are instead going to a school where they just can't adequately resource the needs. There are NO suitable places for these kids, many of whom will be incredibly intelligent and capable.

The problem lies entirely with the Government, inadequate SEN resourcing.

All I ask is that you don't do the typical ganging up bitching against the mum of this kid. Her life is probably already hard enough and this situation is unlikely to be her fault. 🙏

Threads like this seriously make me consider homeschooling.

This happened a lot last year in DS' yr 3 class and the child was eventually excluded (I don't know on what basis as he does attend some things). As pp said it is due to additional needs

It came up as the child has been bullying my child and so she was just letting me know everything that had gone on last week. I had the conversation with my own child this weekend, I'm very much a quiet parent, not a chatty type so I wouldnt be there causing trouble like that.

I have two sen children and an autistic husband also so unfortunately I know only too well how inadequate SEN services are.

I do indeed feel for the child and had presumed that needs were not being met. I think I was more thinking is this a common way to deal with these things or was my school in the wrong somehow but from the comments it is clearly common sadly.

How can kids possibly learn anything or even feel secure in school if the disruptive kids are allowed to stay in the setting? What a country we’ve become if provision is not made for either ‘type’ of child.