‘Publicly humiliated’: parents describe difficulty of children’s isolation at school

Parents say use of isolation room damages mental health and children’s learning

• One in 12 secondary pupils put in isolation rooms at least once a week, study finds

Max was 11 and had just started his new secondary school when he was first put into isolation. He had asked to use the toilet between lessons, which was not ordinarily allowed, and was told to go quickly.

“He knew he wasn’t allowed to run, so he walked quickly,” his mother, Beth, told the Guardian. But teachers claimed he was running and Max’s secondary school career began with a week’s isolation.