Unruly Pupils

I think the problem may have possibly been the harm he could have done to himself when unsupervised.

Maybe all schools should have a padded cell although how anyone would get a child into it without manhandling them is a mystery.

The mind boggles at a teacher, let alone a headmistress doing anything as stupid as this. Yes, isolate him in an empty room away from other children but a teacher should have remained with him, or if they were afarid of being accused of using violince when they were alone with him, two teachers.

But for a teacher to leave a child in a state like this in a room on there own for 40 minutes beggars belief.

Not an appropriate thing to do with an out of control child. Should not have been left alone. Maybe he was a mentally ill child bananas - certainly a very upset one.
To dismiss such distress as bolshie takes my breath away.
There are, if I remember correctly, legal ways of restraining children and staff should be trained in what they can and cannot do. It is certainly not true that they cannot touch a child if there is a violent situation kicking off. Teachers in secondary schools intervene in fights - a not infrequent occurrence - and sometimes physical contact is essential.

I think it depends on how small the room is that they use for this. And how long they leave a child in there alone. I don't somehow feel that it is the right treatment for a troubled kid. Sounds like it's not an isolated incident at this school.

story here

40 minutes???!!!!!

If they did not follow the guidelines then I guess the council had no choicec - but interesting that they have a special unit for behaviour-disturbed children (so presumably know the giudelines) and that they have an excellent OfSted.

If they have a behaviour unit they will have been trained in a positive handling technique such as Team teach.it doesn't involve shutting children in rooms by themselves ever! Must read the article.

I must say an out of control 9 year old can be very scarey and will need several adults to control if he/she knows all 'the tricks'.

Probably shouldn't have made a joke out of such a serious subject but come on..... where does this all end?

FlicketyB One teacher remaining with him would probably have been assaulted and/or accused of assault. Two teachers? Which school has two teachers spare these days? My grandchildrens school operates with the minimum teaching staff as it is which would mean 50+ children being left unsupervised or left in the care of other already full to capacity classes.

I know these stories are meant to cause shock and alarm but my friend who works as a teacher in a really rough challenging primary school tells me some stories that leave me speechless. I am sorry but some of these children are little shits brats who do not know right from wrong and would probably be praised by their parents for beating the teacher up.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9895709/Revoe-Primary-School-Head-teacher-suspended-after-knife-wielding-pupil-put-in-isolation-room-to-cool-down.html

that is where to find the article ...papers love to blame teachers.

But I would ask how he got into the kitchen, should be locked.

Also if he had an offensive weapon call the police asap.

"Before half-term we were made aware of an issue at Revoe Primary School that raised concerns to us about the professional judgment made by a number of staff in relation to pupil well-being.

"These concerns have led to the suspension of six members of staff while a full investigation is carried out. It would not be appropriate to comment further on the nature of the investigation until it has been concluded. "

(from the Tlegraph article)

Sounds like there is a bit of history at the school.

gillybob I am utterly shocked. It is I suppose easy to judge children if you do not know what kind of homes they have come from that morning. Children may be a bit lippy and rebellious if they have not had good parenting. But out of control rage has something more behind it. Children come to school from homes where there is drug addiction, alcohol abuse, mental illness, domestic abuse and abuse of children. None of these is uncommon.

There was an interesting item on this on R4 about 30 mins ago - All in the Mind, was probably the programme.
A school with a behaviour unit should have known better.

It seems really out of order - however it is easy to judge from the safe distance of a Forum. The first priority of the Head would be to keep the other children safe, and her/his staff too. If the kid went berserk wielding a knife - locking staff with him in the room would have been too dangerous for said staff, possibly. But why wait 40 mins, police should have been called IMMEDIATELY. Perhaps they wanted to protect the child from having a police record, or because they knew it would be the last straw which would send him to borstal, or a residential unit, because of past history. I'd say wait for the full report before condemning the staff. Anybody who has not worked with violent children and teens will find it difficult to imagine what it is like to be in that position. If a member of staff had been stabbed because it was asked to stay with the child (+ knife), or the Head - I wonder what people would say about what should have been done.

I'm sure other grans, like me, have worked with some very difficult children. I have been in situations with pupils where chairs, and other equipment, have been thrown; I've been hit, kicked and scratched; I've had children run out of school; I've been sworn at and spat on - and I've been subject to the threat of physical violence. I have been fortunate in having a calm temperament and the ability to hide my fears - and yes, I have been afraid on several occasions - but I do know some teachers who 'lose it' when confronted by an out of control child. Unless you've been in that situation it is very hard to judge what you would do under similar circumstances.
The time-out session for this boy seems unreasonably long to me, however there was apparently a window into the room from which the boy was being constantly observed by staff. We really don't know the facts of the matter do we?

No, only the DM version.

Plenty of us with experience of disruptive children it seems, so the situation is sadly not unusual.

No well loved child would behave like that unless he/she has mental health problems In which case he/she is in need of help from the appropriate services.

This child is obviously in a behaviour service of some kind as this behaviour is rarely a one off. He needs help as the alternative will lead to an inevitable prison sentence.

This is one of the readers' comments:
"Little has been said about the child stealing a knife and running amok with it, putting children and teachers alike at risk. Revoe is a school with more than its fair share of problems, yet Cath Woodall has worked tirelessly to give pupils a good education and a memorable (for the right reasons) school experience. This report speaks of 'a glowing Ofsted report', due entirely to her management. I only hope that common sense will prevail and this wicked child will not be allowed to mar the careers of Cath Woodall and the other suspended teachers.
- Missdebj , Preston, United Kingdom, 27/2/2013 13:122"

It also said in the article that staff were able to monitor the boy while he was in the time-out room, and that the headmistress was not actually at the school when this happened, but she was suspended because sshe had overall responsibility.
I wonder how we would all feel if our DGCs were at this school knowing that staff had very limited powers to control children whose behaviour threatened the safety of the other pupils and the staff.

And the Telegraph one! (posted by Lullydully)

Sorry. that was to jess

Sorry missed that.

But was there any window out of the room? If not, it becomes a cupboard doesn't it?

The room/cupboard had been used before for another child. So it must have been policy aprroved by the Headmistress.

But how ridiculous to suspend the headmistress, who wasn't even there at the time....

If she approved the policy....................