Schools - violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour: risk assessment guidance
This guidance provides clarity to local authorities and educational settings on appropriately using risk assessment processes to mitigate or minimise violent, aggressive, and dangerous behaviours exhibited by children and young people at school.
Footnotes
1. To note that this guidance uses the term child throughout. This includes young people for the purposes of this guidance.
2. The guidance will also be of interest to independent and grant-aided schools.
3. The Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour is considering the definition of violence for the purposes of recording and monitoring of incidents in schools. This will build on the definition provided by the Health and Safety Executive.
4. If a child’s behaviour is a risk to themselves, it should also be considered in the context of this guidance.
5. Included, engaged and involved part 2: preventing and managing school exclusions – gov.scot.
6. See Appendix 4: Local Authority Exemplars of Supporting resources for Perth and Kinross’s Risk Assessment Guidance for ELC and Education Settings.
7. School security and how to deal with emergency procedures including contacts and first aid provision.
8. See Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment, 2025.
9. Risk in this context should always be considered alongside Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC), Child Protection and National Risk Framework to Support the Assessment of Children and Young People.
10. Child’s plan – Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC).
11. A ‘looked after’ child is defined in section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.
12. In the case of independent schools, the proprietor.
13. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
14. Regulation 5 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
15. Regulation 9 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
16. Regulations 10 and 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
17. Including policies relating to child protection, health and safety, equality and discrimination, site security, physical intervention, data protection and parental engagement and involvement.
18. Employees dynamically assess risk as incidents occur. This assessment still needs to be recorded somewhere, potentially in pastoral notes, to inform or update a formal risk assessment.
19. The Pupils’ Educational Records (Scotland) Regulations 2003.
20. Employees should feel safe to raise their concerns openly however, if this is not the case then they can report things that are not right through the whistleblowing process – Whistleblowing: An employee’s guide
21. This should be part of any staged intervention process and the development of a Child’s Plan.
22. Also social workers, residential care and relevant health staff as people who ‘know’ the child.
23. Children who display behaviours in educational settings that pose a risk to themselves, or others often demonstrate the same behaviours at home or in the community.
24. Some parents/carers find it difficult to engage with their child’s educational setting and may need support with this. See Engaging parents and families – A toolkit for practitioners.
25. The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 and the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977.
26. Scottish Government (2008) Assessing and Managing Risk in Getting it right for every child.
27. This includes being educated outwith the setting such as excursions, educational visits, sporting events, volunteering, participating in additional training, or work experience (not an exclusive list).
28. Different people may have different levels of information shared with them depending on their role and responsibility.
29. Timescales for listing historical behaviours should be kept under review to ensure that risks are still real or relevant, i.e. some historical behaviour may not be included if no longer considered relevant.
30. See national guidance on Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment, 2025 for more information about Staged Intervention.
31. Scottish Government (2008) Assessing and Managing Risk in Getting it right for every child.
32. Supporting children’s learning: code of practice (revised 2010) – gov.scot (www.gov.scot).
33. Referred to by different names in different settings or local authorities. See Appendix 7 for plan definitions and Appendix 6 for a local authority example of a Wellbeing Support Plan).
34. Risk Management Authority (2011) FRAME.
35. Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA): national guidance 2016.
36. National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 – updated 2023 and Contextual Safeguarding.
37. Immediate support from Police Scotland should be sought if there are reason to believe that a crime may have occurred or that a child or young person has been seriously harmed. Schools/organisations should follow national child protection procedures in these cases and should work closely with their local authority and colleagues in core agencies (Social Work, Health, and Police Scotland) to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, young people, and staff.
38. See The 3 C’s model – Gillet-Swan, J. K., & Lundy, L. (2021) Children, Classrooms, and challenging behaviour: do the rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few?
39. For more comprehensive information on principles and good practice around the recording and monitoring of behavioural incidences please refer to the national guidance.
40. Including improving consistency in reporting across the education authority such as identifying and addressing under- or over-reporting.
41. The Pupils’ Educational Records (Scotland) Regulations 2003
42. Make a subject access request | ICO
43. Timescales will be determined by level of need at any given time and may be subject to change.
44. From a UNCRC perspective, a child’s views should be included and considered in all decision making.
45. Where possible a child-friendly version should be available and shared with the child to ensure they are aware of the supports and understands the reasons for them. This work needs to be undertaken by an employee who has a good relationship with the child.
46. Physical intervention training is only likely to be appropriate for small numbers of employees who work in specialist settings or situations.
47. Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2 page 24 states: “A member of school staff, in the presence of another member of senior staff, where possible, may – if they believe it is safe to do so – ask the child to disclose and display the contents of pockets or bags, to ascertain if there is a weapon. If the child will not co-operate by displaying their belongings, then the child should be asked to remain where they are, and the police should be called immediately.”
48. See section 2(1) of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.