Necessary, proportionate, shortest time: the decision test school staff need to practise
Necessary, proportionate, shortest time: the decision test school staff need to practise One of the most useful phrases in the 2026 DfE guidance is also one of the easiest to say and hardest to apply under stress: reasonable force must be necessary, proportionate, and used for the shortest time possible. That is not just legal […]
Positive Behaviour Management from Dynamis to Reduce Restraints
This post is about positive behaviour management from. For people whose behaviour we find challenging, effective support must be based on a good understanding of the relevance of the behaviour for the individual in the situations and environment in which it occurs. The behaviour needs to be understood within the broader context of the entire […]
De-Escalation and Physical Intervention in a Secondary or Sixth-Form College
De-Escalation and Physical Intervention in a Secondary Environment When a member of education staff makes a decision about physically intervening in a ‘physical behaviour’ situation, it is possibly the most critical moment in their career. The forseeable results of a poorly managed physical intervention at your secondary school or college could be: – a child […]
Feedback from Secondary Senior Leadership Team SLT
This post is about feedback from secondary senior. Director of Training Gerard O’Dea recently delivered a series of sessions at a very large secondary school in Kent for over 160 staff in total. The comments below are from the senior leadership team who attended and reflect the customised information, specific to the needs and issues […]
Is it okay to lift and carry a child during positive handling interventions?
Question: Is it okay to lift and carry a child who is being restrained from one location to another? positivehandling.atomicdev.xyz/ RISKS OF LIFTING AND CARRYING A CHILD DURING A PHYSICAL INTERVENTION There are many issues to be considered as the risks are very significant, for example: – violence injury to staff during a lift or […]
Engaging successfully with Concerned Parents
This post is about engaging successfully with concerned. Gerard O’Dea, Director of Training at Dynamis discusses issues around positive handling and separation in the morning, where communication with parents is key and pre-planning some of the trickier aspects of any intervention that a member of staff would make is important. He also introduces a new […]
Teachers headbutted and bitten by children as young as five.
This post is about teachers headbutted and bitten. This guide on teachers headbutted and bitten is part of our ongoing work with schools and academies. Related reading The Five Maxims for Effective Communication in the Classroom 4 in 10 Teachers attacked by Pupils Positive Handling by the Numbers #5: Five Steps to Persuasion
Duty of Care and stopping fights in Positive Handling
This post is about duty of care and. We are often asked about stopping fights between children in the hope that safe, reliable and risk-free methods exists. In this story, we explore the issue. In this video Director of Training at Dynamis, Gerard O’Dea, tells a story about how one female teacher had to come […]
Positive Handling: What’s the worst that can happen?
This post is about positive handling. A teacher’s leg was shattered and her kneecap broken in a classroom attack by a 10-year-old pupil. Diane Whitehead, 53, had to have surgery to pin her leg back together after she was karate kicked by the out-of-control boy. She could be off work for more than a year […]
Alerting other staff that you need help in Positive Handling
This post is about alerting other staff that. :: Here is a rough-cut video clip from a recent training session where our Director of Training, expert witness Gerard O’Dea, spoke to the team about setting up reliable and robust alerting systems. Because the presence of other staff drastically increases safety in several ways, calling for […]