General Chat

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2284735/Head-teacher-staff-suspended-locking-knife-wielding-year-old-pupil-cupboard-HIS-parents-complain-police.html

Child carried blade taken from the kitchen at Revoe Primary in Blackpool
He was disarmed and put in a lockable 'naughty cupboard' to calm down
Staff suspended and police investigating false imprisonment


Speaking as just a Mum and one with only a glancing involvement in schools....I can't see a problem with isolating a child who is behaving in a violent manner......am I missing something?

It could be classed as abuse Muffy, NO child is allowed to be sat on a 'naughty chair' or locked into a room.

I'm glad I'm not a teacher........

You can remove a child to a safe distance from other children.

They may have been warned about doing this in the past, I know there was a big case in Wales last year.

I have not problem with any teacher disarming a child and placing the child in isolation, However placing the child in a "lockable naughty cupboard' is not isolation its imprisonment plain and simple, If i locked my child in a "lockable naughty cupboard' social services would remove the child from my care for child abuse and i would probably end up in front of a judge to answer for my actions

Roy

It may have been a lockable room...but the article (unless I'm missing something) doesn't say they actually locked the door?

I agree with Roy. but what is the answer?

Restrain the child and call the police and social services - let them deal with it.

It looks like it was an incident seized upon because of the head's desire that the school become an academy.

The answer is as Guinevere said, Restrain the child and call the police and social services - let them deal with it.

Thats what they get paid for

Roy

Teachers couldn't allow a child to roam 'armed?' with a knife.

I think situation could have been handled better...perhaps restraining the child in a room with his teacher? until police were called upon?
If staff didn't act quickly and someone's child was harmed what then? doesn't bear thinking about does it?

I dont think thats what they get paid for. Its for teaching our children an education. As Muffy said I wouldnt want to be a teacher.

They are not allowed to discipline the kids these days, and because a lot of parents dont do it either its a tough job.

Restrain and call police I agree with though. I wonder what the parents would have wanted to be done to their kid in this instance.

BarbinSG, Sorry but you are wrong, Read my post again, The police and social services, Do get paid to deal with situations like that and teachers can restrain a child until such time that the police arrive

Roy

The child was a danger to anyone in proximity, restraint is very difficult to define it has degrees. The more physical restraint can be viewed as assault.

So what option did the teachers have? Placing a child in a calming room is something I read about years ago. It was considered appropriate because the child was in a safe place and providing they understood the concept of the calming room education authorities were supportive.

To suspend so many staff is damn stupid. You have to account for the comments from parents. It's their children that may have been at risk.

The nine-year-old had been disarmed. We do not have the full details of why he had the knife in the first place

.

The first thing to have happened was,,,,,,,,in order.

Call another memebr of staff ASP.


*****Remove any others from danger ie children ,*****so they are isolated from the situation........

then called the parents or guardian,,,,and inform them that intensions of the police being called.

and make sure the offending child is safe themselves.

A child in school cannot be restrained unless there is a risk if danger to themselves or others.

Dickens style of lockup and naughty stools arent practiced anymore.

They'd already disarmed the child safely and restrained him. That is acceptable.

Rather than isolate the child in a small room (locked door or not) it would have been better to have moved a class of children from a classroom and taken them to (say) the Hall.

That way, the child could have been placed in a larger but enclosed space, with an adult present to make sure that he didn't harm himself.

Restraining a child doesn't mean in chains! ....more a controlled space ie a room/classroom with an adult in there also.

Many years ago, in a junior school where I worked,a naughty child was actually locked in a small room during the afternoon break.......unfortunately and shockingly the teacher who did this forgot about the child.
After the hometime bell the boy was found (reading a book unperturbed) by the caretaker....there was as expected a lot of angry parents......It never happened again, not sure what happened to the teacher involved but I am sure it was never reported to the press.

Can i just point out that we don't have naughty children anymore:-0

Apparently we have to call them Children with challenging behaviour ;-)

May be that's part of the problem?

Just saying :-D

I don't condone violence towards children ..not at all.

But I don't consider that removing a violent child out of harms way in a room where they can't harm anyone else for a while is abuse.

I do no different with my two when I send them up to their rooms when they've misbehaved for a bit of a *time out*.

Probably not a very progressive or up to date opinion. But it's mine none the less.