Primary school staff suspended for treatment of challenging behaviour

[StarlightMcKenzie]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1693717-Headteacher-and-five-staff-suspended

sorry

Yes. That comment about 'what were they supposed to do, the child just lost it'.

Er no he didn't.

Of course, on that thread, there is already talk about 'if it were me they'd be dealt with long ago...'

Crazy.

DD1's school has so many challenging children, yet has less than a handful of restraints each year, because they are always a last resort.

This really struck a chord with us as ds had a similar experience at infant school . He ended up in a small 'cupboard' type room and had nightmares for years. He didn't tell us about it until quite a long time after he'd left. The next school were aware of this and so were the LA but nothing was done about it. We were a lot more naive then and I often wish we had done something more but have found that all schools and LA's like to cover their arses unfortunately. Glad that the LA in the story have acted to protect the children.

I don't like it Lisa. With a resource like that it is much easier to allow the melt-downs in the first place. Without such places the staff have to be a lot more careful at managing the child's triggers, distress, anxiety etc.

How would you like it, if even subconsciously a teacher allowed a situation to escalate because 'they could always bundle the difficult child into a padded room'.

my whole blimmin family are teachers....

How refreshing that an LA acted on the information they were given in regards to child safety! Makes me want to move to Blackpool tbh! Mucho respecto to the Town Hall!

So often these incidents are hushed/covered up and the majority of parents remain none the wiser as to what's going on when they leave their precious babies in "professional" care.

People forget how little SN/behavior management is covered on a standard PGCE - one afternoon's lecture and perhaps a 2000 word essay just doesn't cover it imho. For this reason I'm not gonna get into a rant about the actions of the adults involved. "what were they supposed to do?" indeed. It's not fair to SN children or the staff caring for them, for staff not to have the appropriate training to care properly iykwim.

A clear message has now gone out to all staff in that authority now as to what is and isn't acceptable behavior. No matter what the end result of any formal investigation staff in that locale will stick to team teach and other formally recognised safe forms of restraint in future.

I just hope that now the LA is aware there could be a potential problem with staff training that they make available the resources for appropriate training (including regular refresher sessions at appropriate intervals!) in behavior management. It would be even better if nationally LA's could take a look at staff training for mainstream staff in this area.

But I think that if you are going to risk a meltdown for 'convenience/test/laziness/resources/lack of thought/lack of planning/forgetfulness/lack of training on the specific child or the specific child's condition/blind faith in the visiting EP's recommendations/intuition/disbelief of the parents or a whole myrad of other reasons, you're less likely to do so with an expectation NOT to use a restraining solution.

I'm sitting on the fence with this one.
Firstly, I thought it said that the DH blocked his access in a corridor. Now there could have been good reason, and the DH may not have known if there had been anxiety/trigger before.
The article doesn't state whether the behaviour is already, or potentially an SN or just some of the behaviour that City schools have as the norm from a minority of pupils.
Our school has a sensory room which is very small, and has no windows (although that is contradicted in the article too.) This is sometimes used for children that just explode with violent behaviour as well as those that need the calmness of the room. I have only heard of restraint being used twice in the last couple of years. IMO, once justifiably, the other was of the teacher's inexperience of the situation.
I think without full details it is hard to call.
I also wonder whether the issue of trying to turn the school into an academy has made any impact on the decision to suspend. But then I don't often find that the LEA has any other agenda than its own.

One of the problem in schools is lack of continuity and therefore knowing signs of stress and the triggers. There could be triggers before school that are not communicated. Triggers can happen in the playground, in the cloakroom, in the lunch hall etc. The teacher might not know about events at these times.
The truth is that there are not enough trained staff for the number of children they are supervising at some of these crucial times.

The unit DS was at last year had two tiny rooms (wouldn't have fit a single bed in) that children were placed in to calm down.
It didn't go down well with me and I said DS was not to be put in there.Really unsettled me just the thought.

Flipping heck. I'm sure restraint is occasionally necessary, but it should always be as a last resort once everything else has been tried. It sounds to me that this this school were, perhaps, using restraint and this 'naughty cupboard' as a normal part of their unofficial behaviour management policy. 5 staff and a HT don't get suspended unless something needs investigating.

How can I put this? Learnandsay's opinions on the primary ed board are often controversial, but her true character seems pretty clear to me now. 'Kicking a teacher is misbehaving nobody needs to kick the teacher no matter how special their needs might be. ' This line sums up the quality of her opinion quite nicely.

This thread might get deleted as a thread about a thread.

I'm a teacher in a Nurture Group.

I have a DS with autism, I am not sure if that's relevant.

I am very experienced and we have plenty of de-escalation strategies at school. We, meaning myself and 2 teaching assistants have asked for restraint training. Not got it.

To keep the anxious child safe two of us have to remove them from the room. We cannot be alone with a child. That leaves one member of staff with the rest of the group, who are also very challenging. If appropriate we evacuate our classroom leaving the child and 2 staff in there. The other children have to be 'taught' in the corridor.

This is a mainstream school.

I am regularly spat on, slapped and kicked. Me and the other staff care very much for the pupils. They are highly rewarding.

Send them to special schools? Nope. They are poor enough but the special schools are academies now. They don't want ge kids with the behaviour problems. Which leaves us dealing with kids they won't.

I don't know what happened at that school. All I see is staff and the pupils under pressure.