This 12-year-old boy turned up at school without having had breakfastand then got himself a lunchtime detention. The whole class had gone onstrike over using the computers.
The child was the first to sit down and behave yet he was one of onlyfive to be kept in and felt hard done by. By this time he was veryhungry and tried to leave, but was told to sit down by the teacher. Inhis frustration, he kicked the teacher in the shins. When he was finallyallowed to leave, the canteen had run out of food.
He was angry so sought out the teacher who'd kept him in and punchedhim. He was taken to see the school's behaviour manager and kept inisolation while the school called his mother. She was asked to attend ameeting at the school later that day.
Meanwhile, the police arrived. The boy was arrested and locked in apolice cell.
The school didn't tell his mother about this until much later thatafternoon.
She was furious.
The school's policy was that violence towards teachers meant permanentexclusion. The mother was too angry to deal with the school and it wasat this point I got involved. There were other circumstances that meantthe family was going through a stressful time and it seemed that amanaged transfer to another school was the best option.
The boy hadn't really been in trouble before and this was an isolatedincident. If he was excluded it would remain on his record. When I spoketo him he said he'd be happy to change schools. He was sorry for what hehad done and wrote to the teacher to apologise.
The headteacher and I presented a united front to a governors' meetingabout the incident and they agreed to a transfer.
When children are permanently excluded the local education authority issupposed to find them a new school but it can sometimes take more thansix months for it to happen.
We arranged for the boy to do his schoolwork at home while the authorityfound a place. The most important thing was that the boy was listened toand involved in the decision-making. If he had simply been excluded hewould have been left feeling resentful and it could have been incrediblydamaging.
- Have you ever faced a tough professional choice? Call Stovin Hayter on020 8267 4767 or email stovin.hayter@haynet.com.
