Ground restraint and unsafe techniques: what schools must remove from training
The 2026 guidance is applied to technique choice. Anything restricting breathing or circulation, pressing on the neck or abdomen, relying on pain, or holding a pupil down should come out of training.
Reporting to parents: why same-day communication protects trust
Late, vague news from the wrong person damages trust. The post explains why same-day contact and a written account matter, and sets out five stages starting with welfare checks.
From behaviour policy to practice: making the guidance work in corridors and classrooms
A five-step process for turning behaviour policy into corridor practice, naming predictable flashpoints, setting a first-minute standard and clarifying thresholds for physical intervention. Staff need to rehearse decisions in conditions resembling the job.
Why “no-contact” policies can put schools at risk
A headteacher asked whether staff should never touch pupils. The 2026 DfE guidance says blanket no-contact policies are wrong, and four problems follow, starting with confusion between avoiding risk and managing it.
Governors and intervention data: the questions boards should be asking
Eight questions governors should ask of intervention data, covering the volume of force, restraint or seclusion, where and when incidents happen, which pupil groups appear and whether the same pupils and staff recur.
Seclusion is not a sanction: what the 2026 guidance means for safe spaces
The 2026 guidance treats seclusion as a safety measure only, never punishment, and the post separates voluntary regulation space, directed time away and seclusion, urging schools to define each clearly in policy.
Restrictive intervention policy is now a behaviour-culture issue
The April 2026 guidance puts restrictive intervention inside behaviour culture, not a policy folder. It allows force where safety is at stake but expects schools to minimise it through prevention and early de-escalation.
SEND, reasonable adjustments and positive handling: prevention before crisis
Drawing on 2026 DfE guidance and the SCARF model, the post argues that for pupils with SEND, prevention is the most important form of positive handling, and sets out a six-part planning approach.
Recording reasonable force: what good incident notes need to prove
A good record shows the decision-making, not just that force happened. It should cover context, risk, alternatives tried, what staff did, welfare, aftercare and learning, in observable detail rather than labels.
Necessary, proportionate, shortest time: the decision test school staff need to practise
Reasonable force must be necessary, proportionate and brief, and the post turns that phrase into four questions staff can rehearse, drawing on Gary Klein’s work on decisions made under pressure.