General Chat

Disarm the child, move said child away from other pupils preferably with 2 members of staff , use the heads office to calm the child down whilst they wait for the child's parent to arrive. An adult should be staying with the child at all times.

Children should never be left in a room alone - locked or otherwise. Adding fear to the situation will make things worse. Restrained correctly, taken away from the situation & calmed down would normally control the situation within 10-30 mins

Well I'm not surprised that there are so many children in high school that have a total lack of respect for authority if that's the case then Kay. :-(

Muffy,,,


Teachers cant now cuddle a hurt child,,,,,,unless there is another adult in the same room,they are discouraged from holding a childs hand during playtime,,,,its a mine field of fear.......

in primary........

a child has to be escorted to headmaster and escorted back,,,,,,not just sent there.

If he was removed from harms way of others and himself,they cant sit him a a store room,.procedures have to be followed now.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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?

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

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

I agree with Roy. but what is the answer?

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

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

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