Protection of staff/Excluding children

[starsdance]

Not quite sure where to put this question but we have a child who last week elbowed one of my members of staff in the mouth resulting in her bleeding quite a bit. This was after she had asked him to move from standing on a book.

 

The following day I was kicked, punched, pinched, nearly bitten, and spat at on our walk home from the park.

 

We have had copious problems with this child and his behaviour and are in discussion with mum and the LA BUT my question is - Do you have a specifically written policy stating what will happen when a child hurts/attacks a member of staff and if this behaviour doesn't cease can you ask the child to leave?

 

[twinthinguk]

we have had similar problems, whilst not having a specific piece of policy in regards to attacking staff, its a safeguarding issue and we would ask the parents to come to preschool and remove the child to keep staff and other children safe. we did not ask them to leave the setting as we had the local inclusion team working with the family but it was not a particularly pleasant experience. The child has gone on to primary school but has been excluded half days many times for hurting staff. The child now attends a special unit. It is not nice as a member of staff to be injured at work, It makes you feel pretty vulnerable. I hope your situation improves x .

[Stargrower]

A number of years ago, I was told in no uncertain terms by the LA that I should not have called a parent and asked them to take a child home (15 minutes before their session ended) because we couldn't manage her violent behaviour. This child had additional needs and had scratched, bitten, pulled hair and kicked adults that afternoon. For our safety, I called the parent and the child went home. I was told by the LA I was not being inclusive, should not have sent her home and should have been looking at ways of including the child, not reacting to the short term by sending her home. I argued that I had a duty of care to my staff as well as the children. Of course we worked very hard to include the child and to meet her needs, but she was not the only person in the setting!

[Upsy Daisy]

While you do have a duty of care to the staff and other children, sending a child home because of an incident like this is classed as illegal exclusion when they are at school so I assume the same could apply to EY settings. You need to get some legal advice on it before writing a policy that could make you vulnerable to this accusation or one of disability discrimination.

 

The fact that it is illegal exclusion doesn't stop all schools doing it because most parents aren't aware of their child's rights so we all probably know somewhere it is happening.

 

Has your whole team been trained in de-escalation and manual handling, as in Team Teach courses or similar? If not, that should be your first action so that all of the staff understand the best ways to keep themselves and the children safe in these situations.

 

In order to reduce the incidence of these behaviours, you need to keep working to identify triggers and find ways to reduce them so he doesn't feel the need to lash out at anybody but I'm sure that's what you're already doing with the LA and his parents.

[lynned55]

As school is compulsory and EY settings (assuming we are talking PVI here) aren't, I would be very surprised if the same would apply to them.

[Upsy Daisy]

As school is compulsory and EY settings (assuming we are talking PVI here) aren't, I would be very surprised if the same would apply to them.

The Equality Act 2010 would apply to all early years settings.

 

Also, those children entitled to funded hours could be considered to be being illegally excluded from access to their educational entitlement.

[starsdance]

That's what I thought regarding exclusion - I knew in the back of my mind that we weren't allowed to do it.

 

We are trying to work with the LA but when they can only come in once a term it is hard to get anything meaningful out of them! We are documenting everything that happens. I can now refer to a paediatrician so, as long as mum agrees, I am going down that route as well. He comes to me twice a week (used to be every day) and goes to another setting twice a week (3 hours a day, used to be 6 1/2) and mum tells us how good he is at the other setting but won't give us permission to speak to them to sort out strategies of dealing with his behaviour. He went to the other setting which is a pre-school in a private school as mum thought it would do him good to be in a school setting rather than a village hall but since starting she has reduced his hours as he can't cope with the long days.

 

I really don't want another day where I go home battered and bruised as that makes me feel why should I put up with it. But on the other hand I want to try and get somebody to come and see this little boy as I feel there is something there that would benefit from external help. When he is being good he is the sweetest most loveliest little boy in the world and I would like him back full time. :1b

[sunnyday]

. He comes to me twice a week (used to be every day) and goes to another setting twice a week (3 hours a day, used to be 6 1/2) and mum tells us how good he is at the other setting but won't give us permission to speak to them to sort out strategies of dealing with his behaviour. He went to the other setting which is a pre-school in a private school as mum thought it would do him good to be in a school setting rather than a village hall but since starting she has reduced his hours as he can't cope with the long days.

 

 

Now that just makes me cross........(not with you obviously)..........being at two settings will not, in my humble, be at all useful for a child with behavioural issues - whatever their root cause is

 

It is a real shame that you don't (well I'm assuming you don't) have a blanket permission signed by parents before child starts that gives you the option of speaking with 'other professionals' - I do and it has come in handy on more than one occasion........

 

I remember a few years back 'sharing' a child - mum blamed the other setting for all sorts - good to be able to speak to his Key Person there and to be able to offer her the chance to visit us and our setting - sadly she didn't take up this offer - but at least our conversations were useful :1b

[SueJ]

He comes to me twice a week (used to be every day) and goes to another setting twice a week (3 hours a day, used to be 6 1/2) and mum tells us how good he is at the other setting but won't give us permission to speak to them to sort out strategies of dealing with his behaviour. He went to the other setting which is a pre-school in a private school as mum thought it would do him good to be in a school setting rather than a village hall but since starting she has reduced his hours as he can't cope with the long days.

 

 

Whilst Mum is not currently giving you permission to speak to the child's other setting you could have a discussion with her about your legal responsibilities as the statutory framework makes it a legal requirement for information providers to share information with each other when children attend other settings. The bit below is taken from the current statutory framework (page 29)

 

"Providers must enable a regular two-way flow of information with parents and/or carers, and between providers, if a child is attending more than one setting."

 

This might help you in terms of opening a dialogue with his other setting

[Foreveryoung]

Don't feel I can add much to what people have already said/discussed but I do agree with SueJ I tell parents we do speak with other settings, child minders etc as we have to and benefit of such communication etc I dont give them an option as its our Guidance.

Good luck xxx

[GFCCCC]

Sorry but I couldn't disagree more. You do have a right to ask parents to collect a child who is putting other children and staff - it is not up to the LA (unless you are in one of their foundation units - in which case you could complain to them that you, your staff and other children are facing unacceptable risk and they have to deal with it). For PVI settings, the LA provide advice and support but as the child's secondary carer, you should listen to their advice and then sit down with mum/parents and agree a strategy for managing the child's behavior and discuss what will happen if there is no improvement.

 

You may need to ask the LA support worker to advise on strategies and you may ask them to assess the child for some ISG contribution to provide one-to-one support if you all agree that will be part of the strategy. If you consider that you need to include the other setting in the discussion (which you absolutely do to ensure they are part of consistent strategy) and Mum won't allow you to talk to them, you are well within your rights to say you are not prepared to be responsible for this child. I have asked two children to leave in the past and we had another child who I sent home early on a few occasions as his behavior was putting others at risk (including kicking a pregnant worker in the stomach) - his carers did agree to work closely with us and we were very clear about the outcome if there was no improvement. In time the situation became manageable and they were delighted with how we handled it. If you exclude a child, you're not depriving him of his legal entitlement to his free education, you are simply stating that you don't have the resources/capacity to provide it at present - he is entitled to get it elsewhere. Our primary duty is the health, safety, welfare and safeguarding of ALL our children and if we allow the majority of children to be placed at risk by one child, we are not meeting their needs. Furthermore, staff have an absolute right to expect to go to work without being hurt and attacked. The LA have not agreed with me on one of the occasions when I asked a child to leave but I was very clear with them that the final decision was mine. I am the registered person at four voluntary nurseries and if another child got hurt and their parents complained to Ofsted that they had been placed at risk - it would be ME - not the LA - who would be called to account.

[GFCCCC]

Sorry to go on further - but with respect to those who have mentioned equality and inclusion, I have to point out that admitting you do not, at present, have the experience, resources and capacity to provide suitable care for a particular child does NOT constitute being non-inclusive or failing to provide equality of opportunity.

 

As a non-profit making community based organisation which was set up by local families to meet local (massively diverse) need, we are highly inclusive and work extremely hard to be so at all times. We care for a high proportion of number of children with additional needs - some of them very severe - as well as many children with challenging behavior and we have an excellent reputation for doing it well. Many of the children's parents have requested places at specific schools when they move on and often the schools have come to assess them and told the parents they can't have a place because they are not currently in a position to provide for that child's needs appropriately - even though they are part of the LA.

[himum]

Hello I am having behavior issues at the setting can some kind person please share their behavior policy and behavior approach with me as I wish to make a bullet point list with clear team approach to behavior. Stressed and need help. Thanks. ps over half our children have english as an additional language and over one third are on My Plans - IEP that was. This obviously has an impact of understanding but I am struggling to get a sound team approach. Help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[lashes2508]

Himum have you thought about introducing Makaton to your children with EAL , may help

[lashes2508]

* stay calm

* ensure you come down to child's level

* speak clearly and try to maintain child's eye contact ( not always possible )

* be aware of what the behaviour is and what has happened

* assist the child / children with resolving the conflict

* keep language simple

* say thankyou when child has listened or responded to instruction

* alert other staff of situation

* assess the situation , ABC APPROACH - antecedent, behaviour, consequences

Make sure it is age appropriate and consistent

 

Sorry this is just top of head at moment