School restraint and seclusion policies in NI 'outdated'

The head of the public services watchdog has said she is "extremely concerned" about how some schools are restraining and isolating pupils.

The NI Public Services Ombudsman (Nipso) Margaret Kelly said policies to address both were "significantly outdated" or did not exist.

A new report from Ms Kelly details the case of a six-year-old child.

The child was removed from class and isolated in a tiny room numerous times.

On Monday, the Northern Ireland Assembly is due to debate a motion from Stormont's Education Committee calling for new statutory guidance on restraint and seclusion.

The current Department of Education guidance on when a child can be restrained or put in seclusion in school is 20 years old.

That has been criticised by the children's commissioner, social workers, MLAs and the celebrity and businesswoman Paris Hilton.

Parent complaints

Some parents are also campaigning for "Harry's Law" which would compel schools to report when they restrained or isolated a pupil.

The department recently released interim guidance, but there is still no legal obligation on schools to record incidents of restraint or seclusion.

In her report on the use of "restrictive practices" in Northern Ireland's schools Ms Kelly criticised the lack of regulation on the use of seclusion or restraint.

She said Nipso had received 20 enquiries or complaints from parents on seclusion, withdrawal from class or inappropriate restraint since 2017.

But she said that there were likely to be many more occasions where parents either did not know their child was being treated in that way or did not complain to Nipso.

In February, Paris Hilton tweeted her support for the campaign led by parents in NI

Investigations into complaints Nipso received had highlighted a failure by schools investigate complaints properly, to keep records or inform parents if their child had been restrained or secluded.

In one case, a six-year-old child had been taken from class and put in a room measuring eight feet by four feet on their own "at least twice".

"We were prevented from finding out exactly how many other times they were secluded or for how long on each occasion, due to the absence of any proper records," the Nipso report said.

The school was also suspected to have removed a lock on the door of the room before Nipso visited to investigate a complaint from the child's parent.

'Significantly outdated'

"Significantly, we found that the parent was not informed about any of the incidents in which their child was taken to the room," the report said.

"We found this difficult to accept."

The school in the case was not identified.

"I am extremely concerned by the lack of acknowledgement or standardised policy in regard to the use of seclusion in schools in Northern Ireland," Ms Kelly wrote.

She also said that Department of Education policy on when a child could be restrained was "significantly outdated".

• Guidance for NI schools on restraint and seclusion

• School seclusion 'could have damaging effects'

"Wide variation exists in how restraint is used and recorded," Ms Kelly said.

"This is further compounded by the lack of legislative obligation to record and/or report the use of restraint and seclusion."

The Department of Education is currently reviewing the laws and guidance on restraint and seclusion in schools.

But the Education Committee motion calls on the department to introduce up-to-date statutory guidance which would abolish the use of isolation rooms and require schools to record and report all incidents were pupils were restrained.