Pupil put in isolation booth for more than half a school year, BBC learns

Image source, Getty Images By Anna Meisel  and  Jane Deith , File on 4 Investigates Published 4 minutes ago A school put a pupil in an isolation booth away from the classroom for more than half an academic year, BBC's File on 4 Investigates has learned. The child was one of 23 at Outwood Grange Academy in Wakefield who spent more than 20% of their days in the booths in one of the past two academic years. The school is run by a trust that has previously faced a legal challenge to its use of isolation to manage pupil behaviour. One former student told us they were made to sit in silence, monitored by cameras and banned from even looking around the room. Outwood Grange Academy said students are only sent into isolation after multiple warnings and the policy has successfully improved behaviour. Warning: this story contains references to suicide and self-harm Our findings, from Freedom of Information requests, underline growing concerns about how "no excuses" approaches to discipline are being implemented in schools across England. A safeguarding review last year found an east London school's zero-tolerance policy involved pupils being routinely humiliated by shouting and prioritised control above all else , leaving some children with lasting psychological harm. Another trust in Cornwall - whose discipline policy has been criticised by parents - is considering whether its schools should be run by other trusts. Image source, Google Image caption, "Reflection rooms are successful in improving behaviour," said Outwood Grange Academy in Wakefield Government guidance says isolation, which it calls "internal exclusion", should only be used as a last resort, but one study found it is common. An analysis by education consultants The Key Group found 18% of students at hundreds of secondary schools using the practice were isolated at least once during the academic year. Isolation involves taking students out of their classes and moving them to a separate supervised space. Schools sometimes call it "reflection" or "reset". The former student at Outwood Grange Academy, who we are calling Ben, described how pupils were seated in booths with plastic dividers on the sides, watched by cameras. Ben was isolated 58 times in 2023-4 - one of his final years at the school - usually for a full day, he said. Image caption, Former student Ben shared a picture of the isolation booth where he was sent 58 times in a year Ben said he was often given no work, trivial tasks such as a word search, or work which was too hard - but not appropriate material which could occupy him for the full day. This was despite Outwood Grange Academies Trust - which runs the school and 40 others in the north of England - changing its policies in 2019 to say that students should be given meaningful work. The trust had been threatened that year with a judicial review by a student who had spent 35 days in isolation. If students slouch, lean against the walls or look around, they were given a warnin