School responsibilities after use of restraint

[HarbingerOfSpring]

Does anyone know what I should expect school to do following use of restraint on DS (mainstream. For now. ASD with EHCP).

They always verbally tell me they've done it but today he managed to grab a pair of scissors after breaking free. Luckily no none was hurt. The restraining always makes things worse.

I'm thinking some kind of risk assessment at least?

He doesn't have a behaviour plan but I feel like he needs one as well as EHCP?

Thanks

After use of restrictive physical intervention they should carrying out a risk assessment. Restraint should be used where necessary but it shouldn't be used as a behaviour strategy.

Usually they have a behaviour plan and responsive strategy plan and also a manual handling plan. There is no legal format for these but county should have a policy for restrictive physical intervention and so should the school and they should be following that!

They will have had to log the restraint - you can ask for a copy of this to see the format they use. You may need to ask for a redacted copy to avoid the confidentiality argument.

Yes that all makes sense, thank you

Legally I don't know but our schools have:

1. Kept a record of the restraint (I think this is required for OFSTED) detailing events preceding and actions during.

1. Each ds had an individual behaviour plan (IBP) which kept a record of incidents but more importantly listed actions staff should take to avoid reoccurence so things like known triggers, how staff should summon help etc.

1. ds1's statement has a line something like "physical restraint should be avoided as it blurs the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable touching". Even now he is in special school we have had to remind them that restraint is a last resort and not an effective behaviour management strategy.

In our school each child who may need physical intervention has a personal behaviour plan this is written in consultation with the parents and signed by them. Physical intervention is a last resort and restraint is never a planned intervention. We have safe areas for students to go so they do not need to be physically restrained as this often makes things worse. If physical intervention is used we inform parents then evaluate what went wrong with our behaviour plan to prevent it happening again. All staff in school including admin staff are trained in safe physical interventions with an emphasis on prevention.

It must be much harder in mainstream schools though as we are very used to dealing with situations that might need physical intervention and have everything in place.