Members of staff have the power to use reasonable force to prevent pupils committing an offence, injuring themselves or others, damaging property, or to ensure the safety of pupils or staff.  

It is academy policy to only use reasonable force as a last resort in these cases. Incidents where reasonable force or restraint are used will be logged accordingly onto CPOMS. 

We will only ever use positive handling methods for pupils who have a specific risk assessment for this and by those staff that are trained to do so. There is a positive handling protocol that NGA staff follow, which is in line with the DfE use of reasonable force advice document DfE advice template (publishing.service.gov.uk) 

When can reasonable force be used?  

• Reasonable force can be used to prevent pupils from hurting themselves or others, from damaging property, or from causing disorder.  
• In a school, force is used for two main purposes – to control pupils or to restrain them.  
• The decision on whether or not to physically intervene is down to the professional judgement of the staff member concerned and should always depend on the individual circumstances.  

Schools can use reasonable force to:  

remove disruptive children from the classroom where they have refused to follow an instruction to do so;  

• prevent a pupil behaving in a way that disrupts a school event or a school trip or visit;  
• prevent a pupil leaving the classroom where allowing the pupil to leave would risk their safety or lead to behaviour that disrupts the behaviour of others;  
• prevent a pupil from attacking a member of staff or another pupil, or to stop a fight in the playground; and  
• restrain a pupil at risk of harming themselves through physical outbursts. 

On occasion it may be necessary to carry out a physical restraint. This is a restrictive intervention involving direct physical contact where the intervener’s intention is to prevent, restrict, or subdue movement of the body, or part of the body of another person. Teachers could physically separate pupils found fighting or that if a pupil refuses to leave a room when instructed to do so, they will be physically removed. We have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled children and children with special educational needs (SEN).