Identifying and supporting SEMH needs in schools: what the evidence says
A DfE evidence review finds SEMH is the second most common primary need among pupils on SEN support. Adults’ knowledge matters more than any test, and structured observation and questionnaires identify need better.
Restraint Reduction Training for Schools — Reduce Physical Interventions | Positive Handling
Restraint reduction is not an instruction to do nothing. The post argues it works as a system of leadership, policy, training, pupil-specific planning, environment and review, reducing avoidable intervention while keeping pupils safe.
Staff Wellbeing After Restrictive Interventions — What Schools Overlook | Positive Handling
After an incident the pupil gets a debrief and a plan review while the adult gets a form, and the post argues staff wellbeing belongs in the safety system, not as an afterthought.
DfE Guidance on Restrictive Interventions — What the 2026 Updates Mean | Positive Handling
How the 2026 DfE guidance lands in practice, beginning with a comparison against current policy, training records, risk assessments and reporting, and asking whether a school could prove necessity and proportionality.
Disproportionality in restrictive interventions: what schools should look for in the data
Reviews should ask who is being restrained, what kind of intervention was used, where and when, which staff were involved, and what changed afterwards, looking across SEND, ethnicity, age and looked-after status.
Searching for prohibited items: where reasonable force fits and where it does not
Force may be used to search for legally prohibited items, not items banned by school rules. The distinction matters, and staff need clarity on authority, item category, risk, communication and recording.
Staff wellbeing after restrictive interventions: the missing safety control
After a restrictive intervention, leaders focus on the pupil, but staff need support too. The post calls this a safety control and sets out five steps, from immediate checks to recording, debrief and follow-up.
MAT-wide consistency: why trusts need one standard for restrictive interventions
Trusts do not need identical practice, but they do need shared definitions, a common decision test, banned techniques, recording expectations and parent reporting, with each school adapting training to its own pupils.
Behaviour support plans after restraint: the review schools cannot skip
The 2026 guidance expects behaviour support plans to be reviewed after incidents, and the post sets out seven questions for that review, covering known risk, early adult responses, necessity, proportionality and support afterwards.
Serious disorder, property damage and injury: understanding the thresholds for force
Reasonable force may be used to prevent injury, a criminal offence, property damage or serious disorder, and the post explains why these are thresholds requiring necessity and proportionality rather than general permission.