Schools - violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour: risk assessment guidance

Appendix 5: Possible direct mitigations to reduce risk

The following list is not exhaustive and only contains direct low-level mitigations to reduce the risk of incidents occurring and/or reduce the degree of harm caused if an incident does occur. It does not include other staged interventions to address underlying issues:

• employees aware of triggers, risk factors, support plan
• late start or soft start to avoid busy times in social areas or corridors
• check in at beginning of day, after transitions
• seating carefully planned, seated: near exit; with back to wall; or away from others
• employee attentive to, and respond to, behaviour of others which could impact the child who poses a risk. For example, excluding, bullying, goading, provoking, etc.
• use of ‘out-of-class’ pass to access calm space or specified support (only appropriate if considered safe)
• use of individual changing area/toilet
• restrict access, or unsupervised access, to items that could be used to self-harm or to cause harm to others
• extra support or supervision in lessons where items or resources are used that could be used to self-harm or cause harm
• escort to or from school and/or between lessons
• supervised social times, social time spent in a dedicated room or area, or social time spent with parent or carer

The least intrusive measures are often the most effective however, if the risk level is high, more restrictive measures may be necessary such as restrictions around subjects or activities, an altered timetable, bag or clothing checks^[47] for items or substances that could harm etc. Higher-level mitigations, such as a reduced timetable, would only be considered after a thorough assessment of needs including risk and be part of a holistic plan.