Adopted and implemented by the Principal:

September 2025

To be reviewed

September 2026

Aims

This policy outlines the school's arrangements for care and control for all staff, students and volunteers. We aim to give staff the confidence and knowledge to act in the best interests of the child at all times.

This policy should be considered in tandem with our Behaviour and Tackling and Preventing Child-to-Child Abuse policies.

In the best interests of the child….

The Children Act 1989 makes clear that in any decision involving a child, the paramount consideration must be the child’s welfare. Paramount means it should be the first thing people think about, and it should take precedence over all other considerations. For this reason, staff must carefully consider what is in the best interest of the child, both in the short term and the long term.

In exceptional circumstances, staff may need to take action in the best interest of the child, and the use of reasonable force may be required to achieve this. A member of staff should be able to demonstrate that they have considered alternative strategies first and that failing to act could result in greater harm.

At Billesley Primary School, we acknowledge that physical interventions which use varying degrees of reasonable force are a small and infrequent part of our approach and behaviour management ethos.

When considering a Restrictive Physical Intervention, staff are trained to consider what the intervention may look like to others and how we would hope others would respond if it were a member of our family (social validity), i.e. ‘What would I want somebody to do in similar circumstances if this were my child?’  DFE/DOHSS (2017)

Every effort is made to ensure that all staff at Billesley Primary School

• Understand their responsibilities in the context of their duty of care

• Understand that the paramount consideration is the welfare of the individual child

• Understand that ‘reasonable’ force means that it is necessary and proportionate

• Receive regular and appropriate training to manage risk.

Duty of Care

• All staff have a duty of care towards our children and our colleagues under Health and Safety Legislation.

• Failure to exercise that duty of care includes omitting to take action when there is evidence that significant harm might occur.

• Staff have a responsibility to read, understand and implement policies and risk assessments and participate in necessary training.

• Employers also have a duty of care to employees to ensure that their working environment is safe, and where risks are identified, that appropriate guidance is offered. (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992).

• DfES Guidance (2013) advises that schools should not have a ‘no contact’ policy, which could place a staff member at risk of breaching their duty of care towards a pupil.

Legal Justification

This policy takes cognisance of relevant legislation, regulations and guidance, including the most recent examples from the Department for Education, Department of Health and the Health and Safety Executive

• The Education and Inspections Act 2006 gives examples of the types of circumstances in which the use of reasonable force may be legally defensible.

• self–injuring
• Causing injury to other children, staff, parents and visitors.
• Causing significant damage to property

The paramount consideration is for staff to work in the best interests of the child. Reasonable force will only be used when no other effective alternatives are available. Any force used must be ‘reasonable and proportionate’ to the situation. Reasonable adjustments need to be made for disabled children and those with Special Educational Needs.  The expectation is that staff act in good faith with the best intentions. The Children Act (1989)

Physical Contact

• There are many circumstances in which positive physical contact occurs between staff and pupils to support equal opportunities and to access a broad and balanced curriculum, such as using PE equipment.

• Examples of physical contact cover a wide range of positive physical interactions, ranging from light touch to firm pressure. Physical contact is necessary to provide care, comfort, convey communication and reassurance.

• Physical contact should be considered positive and part of the adult role-modelling appropriate touch or contact. The purpose of any physical contact should be to meet the needs of the child. Where children have special needs, e.g autism or sensory differences, their individual requirements should be detailed in a bespoke plan, such as a behaviour management, health or toileting plan.

• Staff must consider the young person’s age and level of understanding, individual characteristics and history

• Staff should consider the environment and, where possible, refrain from physical contact in private.

• Physical Contact is never used as a punishment or to inflict pain.

Restrictive Physical Intervention

There are gradual and graded approaches from staff when considering the use of reasonable force to support the safety of our children and staff

 Examples of low-risk physical interventions are guiding or escorting a child to a safer place. Medium to high-risk physical intervention may be separating a fight or using a standing or seated restraint.

Restrictive Physical Interventions:

• Use the minimum degree of force for the shortest period of time necessary to achieve the desired result.

• The scale and nature of any physical intervention must be reasonable and proportionate to both the behaviour of the individual and the nature of the harm they might cause.

• Techniques are intended to ensure the safety and well-being of the child, maintain dignity for both adults and children and allow for communication.

Restraint

• Restraint involves the restriction of freedom and movement in circumstances where the child is resisting.
• The DfE (2017) acknowledges that sometimes restraint is necessary, ‘staff must have reasonable grounds for believing that restraint is necessary to justify its use.’

• It is reasonable to use proportionate force when there is a significant risk to children, staff or property. It should only be used as a last resort when no effective alternatives are available.  All incidents involving  ‘restraint’ must be recorded and reported.  The level of force and/or positive handling techniques used towards the child determines whether or not it is classified as a restraint. (DFE/DHSS 2017)

• Staff always reassure and comfort pupils while involved in restraint to try to calm, comfort and divert attention in a bid to manage and reduce the duration of restraint. Restraint is a safeguard, not a sanction.

Planned and Unplanned Interventions

Restrictive Physical Interventions can be categorised as a planned response, an unplanned response or an emergency response

• Planned – based on risk assessments that have been clearly recorded on Risk/Restraint Reduction Plans.
• Unplanned (Dynamic Risk Assessments) – an action used in response to unforeseen hazardous events where there is no alternative. DFE/DHSS (2017) makes a clear distinction between planned and unplanned interventions.
• Emergency – where staff may consider the use of a non-Team-Teach response due to immediate risk of significant injury or potential loss of life.

Consideration is made to clarify the distinction between:

• Seclusion: the term used where a child is forced to spend time alone against their will in a locked room or restricted space which they cannot leave.  Staff are advised to follow guidance on the use of seclusion. ‘Seclusion’ of a child should only be considered as an emergency response, and where it is in the best interests of the child.

• Time Out: This is a planned positive behavioural approach as part of the child’s Positive Behaviour Plan. This method typically involves a child accessing a safe space/place, usually with less intense adult supervision but always monitored by an adult. Time-out is not a punishment for the child.

• Withdrawal: This strategy is implemented to support a child during a situation that causes anxiety or distress with continuous adult supervision/observation, allowing the child to resume the activity, task or routine at a later time.  

Identifying hazards and making risk assessments:

• It is essential to make risk assessments when considering the use of reasonable force. Staff should balance the risk of taking action against the risk of not taking action.
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a 5-step approach to risk assessment in the workplace. This can be applied to situations where staff need to decide whether to use physical contact.

1. Look for hazards

2. Decide who might be harmed and how

3. Validate the risk and decide on the necessary and proportionate action

4. Record your findings

5. Review and revise if necessary.

Hazards are the things that could hurt somebody (physical or psychological). Risk is the chance of it happening.

Risk Assessments

• It is not always possible to predict all risks relating to a specific behaviour of a child. When an unforeseeable risk presents itself, a ‘dynamic risk assessment’ can be undertaken. This means that staff do a mental risk assessment and then act in the best interests of the child. Once a risk has been identified, or if the risk is already known, then a behaviour plan is put in writing

• If physical touch or restraint is required, a behaviour plan is created by staff who work closely with the child, using their knowledge of the child’s behaviour and the environment they are working in.

• The Health and Safety Executive is keen to stress that risk assessment is a simple process. They should focus on the most likely and serious risks. Formal risk assessments should be clear and concise, enabling staff to recall useful information. Information should be explicit and honest.

• Parents/Carers are informed and involved with this process as they need to be notified of why and how reasonable force is being used in the best interests of their child. Parents/carers are asked to sign a positive handling agreement. Where possible, the child’s views should be sought and included in the behaviour plan

• Assistance can be sought from other staff to help reduce the risk. Physical intervention is seen as a proactive response to meet individual pupil needs, and any such measures will be most effective in the context of the overall ethos of the school, the way that staff work together as a team, share their responsibilities and the holistic behaviour management strategies that are used.

Reporting and Recording

• Records of restraint should be clear and precise. The aim is to provide clear, accurate, honest and concise records.

• Whenever a restraint has been used, a record of the incident is made in a ‘Bound and Numbered Book’. This is a paper-based bound book, with numbered pages, retained by the Lead DSL/Vice Principal.

• It is good practice for staff to collaborate when recording an incident to ensure the most accurate and honest record possible. If staff do not agree on the details of an incident, they should write separate reports.

• If a physical intervention does not involve restraint, it should only be recorded on the child’s risk/restraint reduction plan and concern, e.g. guiding.

• Records should be completed within 24 hours, but the welfare of those involved takes precedence over paperwork. If this is not possible, the Principal needs to be informed as soon as possible with the reason for the delay.

• As well as completing the Bound and Numbered Book to record the positive handling restraint, the incident should be recorded in the following two ways, additionally, as a TEFAT requirement:

• Logged on myconcern outlining the restraint, who applied it, along with the other necessary information about the wider incident. Add the Bound Book number and incident number to the concern as a reference record.

• Logged on the Acaemy MIS with a summary statement and the Bound and Numbered book number and incident number.

• School records should be kept for at least 25 years. After the review of the incident, a copy of the details will be placed in the pupil's file. Parents/carers of the child need to be informed following the use of reasonable force. A record of this communication should be kept as part of the Bound and Numbered book report and should also be noted on Myconcern.

• A Health and Safety Accident/Incident Form will be completed and returned to the TEFAT in situations where injury has occurred to either members of staff or pupils.  

• Where staff have been involved in an incident, they should be given time to recover and have access to support such as counselling and debriefing.

• Debriefing must be provided to the child who has been restrained in line with their Behaviour Support Plan and recorded in the Bound and Numbered book

Staff Training and Authorised Staff

• The Principal is responsible for providing all staff with accredited training from a provider for whom staff authorisation has been given to use restrictive physical interventions.

• The Principal must consider the training needs of staff and maintain a list of all staff who have received training. This list is reviewed within a regular time frame, and consideration given to new members of staff and to supply staff. Update training is provided.

• Training for all staff will be made available and will be the responsibility of the Principal. Training needs should be assessed in relation to foreseeable risk. Training that contains physical interventions should be accredited.

• Records should be kept about which staff have been trained and in which techniques. Staff training undertaken will require staff to demonstrate competence in techniques. DFE/DHSS (2017)

Support for staff and children after an incident

The Principal will ensure that each incident is reviewed and take action as necessary, such as:

• Reviewing the child’s risk assessment.
• Reviewing curriculum access.
• Reviewing staffing levels.
• Considering the Involvement of outside agencies
• Reviewing provision.

The priority after a significant incident is to look after the people involved.

Listening and Learning

• All Incidents provide opportunities for practice and provision development.

• Staff should explain the reasons for any use of reasonable force to the level of understanding of the child. They should clearly distinguish between restraint, which is designed to keep people safe, and sanctions or consequences. Staff should reinforce simple messages:

• We hold children to keep them and others safe from harm.
• We hold children to prevent them from doing something they will regret.
• What would I want somebody to do in similar circumstances if this were my child?’  

Complaints

• The availability of this policy and the collaboration of parents aim to reduce the likelihood of complaints, but may not eliminate them.

• All allegations will be investigated thoroughly; however, it is the responsibility of the person making the allegation/complaint to prove any inappropriate actions by the staff member.

• Staff members who have allegations made against them will receive comprehensive support from the Principal.