CAROL MORRIS
MAY 2012
MAY 2012
Governing Body Subcommittees who have been involved with the creation of this policy:
Name of Committee Date
APIC sub committee
APIC sub committee
23/05/11
September
2013
Nov 2014 Reviewed sent to link governor
Other professionals who have been involved with the creation of this policy:
Name
Jayne Sheehan
Role
Chair of govs.
Date
Sept
2013
Ros Wood API Link governor Nov 2014

Policy for use of Time-Out Seclusion rooms in
St Luke’s School (Adapted from policy for Hertfordshire Special Schools)
1. Rationale for the use of a time out room
1.1
A Time Out Seclusion Room is a specially designed and specifically dedicated room to which a child may be removed when their behaviour puts their Health & Safety, or that of others, at serious risk. Schools may continue to use ‘time out’ as a calming strategy, by the child being removed to a designated area of the classroom. This policy is for time-out seclusion rooms.
1.2 A Time Out Seclusion Room should be used as part of an overall strategy for dealing with such behaviour where it has been specified in a pupil’s individual Behaviour Management Plan (BMP), Internal Risk Assessment
(RAMP) or Safety and Support Plan
1 .3 The use of a time-out seclusion room should lessen the necessity for the
Use of Physical Intervention (UPR) and the number of violent incidents in the school, the amount of injuries to adults and children and damage to school property and the fabric of the building. The use of the Time-Out
Seclusion Room needs to be seen as part of the overall package of support mechanisms within the school designed to help children and young people to manage their behaviour and gain greater self-control.
1.4 The use of a time-out seclusion room seeks to reduce the level of stimulation of the child by isolating him/her from other stimuli, particularly reinforcement such as adult attention, which can have the effect of rewarding a child for poor behaviour. Ideally, this should lead to a diminishing of outbursts, with the child gaining increased self-control.
2. Links with other policies/documents
2.1 This policy should be used in conjunction with the following policies and documents.
2.2
The Pupil’s Individual Education Plan (IEP), Individual Behaviour
Management Plan (IBMP), Statement of Special Educational Need,
Personal Education Plan (PEP), Internal Risk Assessment (RAMP), Safety and Support Plan

The County Guidelines on the Safe Use of Physical Intervention in
Schools
Care and Control Policy
Behaviour for Learning Policy
Health and Safety policy
DfEE Circular 10/98
DoH/DfES Guidelines on UPR in Special Schools. (2002)
Child Protection Policy
3. Operational Guidelines including removal
3.1 The criteria for removal to the time-out room are the same as those quoted within 1996 Education Act S.550A for the use of a physical intervention
Provided that they are trained and authorised by the head teacher to do so, staff may use reasonable force, including removal to a time-out seclusion room, in order to prevent the pupil from doing (or continuing to do) any of the following:
• Committing a criminal offence.
• Harming himself or another, or damaging the property of himself or another (including school property).
This includes the reasonable belief that the child is about to or is likely to fulfill one of these criteria. Such a belief should normally be based on predicted behaviou rs as outlined in the child’s BMP or RAMP.
The child must remain in the Time Out Seclusion Room for the minimum time necessary for him/her to be safely returned to normal activity. The child must not remain in the Time Out Seclusion Room once the member of staff is satisfied that the child has calmed down to such an extent that these criteria no longer exist.
3.2 Children may occasionally ‘self remove’ to the Time Out Seclusion Room; this may be appropriate. However, schools need to consider whether such self-removal is likely in the long term to lead to an improvement in behaviour (i.e. the child begins to take control/responsibility for his/her behaviours), or whether it is work avoidance.
St Luke
’s do not feel that this is appropriate for a child to ‘self – remove’ as the room loses its original purpose.
3.3 The child in the time-out seclusion room must not be left unsupervised.
The level of supervision should be in relation the level of stimulation of the child. Unless the child is in danger of self-harming, supervision means being outside the time out room. Staff should avoid, wherever possible, entering the time-out seclusion room and re-engaging with the child; neither should the supervising adult engage verbally or visually with

the child during supervision.
The child should be clear about the behaviour required to end the use of the Time Out Seclusion Room. The
Time Out Seclusion Room must never be used as a punishment.
3.4 Under no circumstances must a child or young person be locked in a time out Seclusion Room. THIS WOULD BE A CRIMINAL OFFENCE and may be construed as False Imprisonment under the Children Act
(1989).
3.5 The Director of Pupil Development and Progress / Director of API(Access,
Participation and Inclusion) should be consulted if the child remains in the room for ten minutes. If not available, any member of SLT can be called.
After twenty minutes, The Director of API(Access, Participation and
Inclusion) or another member of the SLT should be consulted.
After thirty minutes the senior member of staff should consider notifying the parent/carer in order to seek an alternative response.
3.6 Once the member of staff is satisfied that the child is sufficiently calm that the above criteria do not exist, the use of the time-out seclusion room should not be continued.
3.7 If a child in the time-out seclusion room asks to use the toilet, a judgement will need to be made by the supervising adult on a Health and Safety basis whether it is safe for the child to be moved. The adult may wish to seek advice from a senior colleague. A visit to the toilet and a request to visit the toilet should be recorded in the time-out seclusion room logbook with a note of the time.
3.8 When a child’s removal to the Time Out Seclusion Room coincides with a meal time, the child should be offered a meal if the supervising adult is certain that the child is safe. The adult will need to recognise that a child who is safe to be given food may well no longer be fulfilling the criteria for remaining in the Time Out Seclusion Room.
If the judgement is made that the child is not safe enough, the food should be put aside until she/he is calm enough to eat the food safely.
3.9 When a pupil’s removal to the Time Out Seclusion Room coincides with the end of the school day, Heads / SLT will need to make a judgment whether it is safe for him/her to be allowed to use the transport provided.
This judgment should be made in conjunction with the parents or carers.
If a child’s response to the Time Out Seclusion Room causes concern, if she/he repeats the behaviour or it appears not to bring about positive outcomes, the school might consider calling a multi-agency review to look at the placement in the light of the most recent guidance from the
DoH/DfES on UPR in schools. In any case the school should review the
BMP, RAMP or Safety and Support Plan.

4. Recording and Reporting
4.1 The time-out seclusion room should have a logbook situated conveniently and securely close to the door. The supervising adult should note the name of the child, date, time in and time out plus any comments with the adult’s name printed and signed. Any use of Physical Interventions should be noted, and cross-referenced to the UPR logbook. The time-out seclusion room log should be kept in a bound A4 volume with numbered pages.
5. Monitoring
5.1 The headteacher and Chair of governors should monitor the amount of time spent in the time-out seclusion room by individual pupils as part of the review of BMPs, IEPs, PEPs, PSPs, RAMPS, Safety and Support Plan etc. The headteacher should include information of the use of the
Time Out Seclusion Room in his/her termly report to the Governing
Body.
5.2 The use of the time out room by individual adults should also be monitored to indicate patterns such as difficulties between certain adults and individual children. Any such emerging patterns may lead to extra support in class or for individual adults.
5.3 The use of Time Out Seclusion Rooms will be monitored by the Adviser for
Behaviour on behalf of the Authority.
6. The Time-out Seclusion Room
6.1 The time-out seclusion room should be safe, secure, and large enough for an adult to withdraw safely; it should not be ‘inviting’ enough to make it attractive for children.
6.2 It should be properly lighted (preferably recessed lighting, with switches outside the room). Lighting should remain on at all times.
6.3 It should be adequately ventilated.

6.4 It should be kept clean.
7. Parental involvement
7.1 Parents should be informed of the use of the time-out seclusion room as a behaviour management strategy and should be allowed to visit it during the interview process, or when the school is considering its use for an individual child.
7.2 When the use of the time-out seclusion room is indicated in a BMP /
RAMP / Safety and Support Plan, parents/carers should be informed in writing.
Carol Morris 4/2/11
Policy to governors May 2011
Updated July 2013
Updated November 2014