RRN responds to BBC expose of unacceptable use of restrictive practices in schools

Last night, BBC News reported on the case of an autistic boy whose mother, Zoe, had obtained footage of him being brutally physically restrained while in a seclusion room at an English special school.

The report follows BBC’s recent work (June 2024, April 2024) exposing unacceptable and abusive treatment of children and young people, including use of physical restraint and seclusion, that has occurred in a number of special schools.

We know that these traumatic experiences of seclusion and restraint are not isolated incidents. While for most children, schools are safe places in which they are supported to thrive, too many children with learning disabilities and autistic children remain vulnerable to abuse, within a system that has sanctioned the use of restraint for the maintenance of ‘good order’.

The RRN and our partner charity Bild go into many schools and it is not uncommon to see these ‘calming’ ‘sensory’ or otherwise named seclusion rooms. We always feedback to headteachers that these rooms need to be closed and repurposed, and that their use is not appropriate practice. What is striking is the lack of understanding of the harm that enforced isolation has on children.  We, along with other charities, have fed back to the DfE that this practice must at the very least be subject to mandatory recording and reporting, or government should ban this barbaric practice.

The RRN is calling for urgent revisions to the Department for Education’s draft guidance on ‘use of reasonable force and other restrictive interventions’. Despite repeated calls for a rights-based approach, the draft guidance continues to focus on justification of restraint rather than prevention. This risks a continuation of the current status quo, where the use of restrictive practices is not appropriately regulated in schools, resulting in too many occasions of vulnerable children and young people being harmed by poor practice.

You can read the RRN’s response the current DfE consultation here and register to join our free webinar on the consultation taking place today at 12.30pm.

Ben Higgins, RRN CEO said:

“The conditions that enable the traumatic experiences of Zoe’s son, alongside those other autistic children and children with learning disabilities, must be addressed. It is essential that we have stronger protections for children in schools, and rights based statutory guidance to reduce reliance on harmful restrictive practices in our schools.

The barbaric practice of seclusion and enforced isolation in schools is both harmful and traumatising for children. It is deeply concerning that this practice is so common and remains unregulated. We, along with other charities, call for it be banned in schools.”

The RRN has published resources on solitary confinement, seclusion and segregation here

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation has published information on reducing restraint in schools, alongside their own helpful response to the BBC report, both of which can be accessed here.