Revised use of reasonable force and other restrictive interventions in schools guidance

To what extent the draft guidance on the use of reasonable force and other restrictive interventions in schools supported schools to:

• Meet the new statutory requirement to record every significant incident of use of force and report these incidents to the parents of the pupils involved.
• Proactively minimise the need to use reasonable force and other restrictive interventions through prevention, de-escalation and data analysis to support improvement planning.
• Support staff to understand when and how to use force or other restrictive interventions safely and lawfully.
• Support staff who work with pupils with SEND.
• Support staff to meet their safeguarding duties towards pupils and other staff.

The guidance was strong in many areas, particularly in supporting schools to develop policies on the use of reasonable force and restrictive practices. Areas for improvement included clearer terminology, more advice relating to the use of seclusion, and further support on training.

The guidance was updated to include clearer terminology and new dedicated advice on the use of seclusion in schools. We also introduced new legislation to mandate that schools must record and report the use of seclusion to parents, bringing our policy into alignment with existing plans to commence legislation mandating schools to record and report significant incidents involving the use of force. Support on training will be considered as part of the next phase of the work programme.