The Blue Room

At Westlands Academy, due to the needs of the students around their social, emotional, mental health and sensory needs. We have a room called "The Blue Room” (also known as the Duty Lead Room).

Essentially, The Blue Room is a place where students spend time away from other students supervised by a member of staff and either allowed time to talk or given time to de-escalate their behaviours/anxieties, using de-escalation techniques, time for reflection, relaxing techniques, sensory regulation and the five-point scale. Generally, this is used as a positive strategy to help more vulnerable students identify their own systems for calming themselves and managing their emotions effectively through encouraging use of the facility as and when necessary. The Blue Room should be used as a place to help students manage their behaviour and anxieties at times when they show high levels of arousal, with support and direction from staff.

Guidelines for the Blue Room for Students

• Students may be directed by their Form Team to use The Blue Room to calm down when they are angry or upset.
• Staff may remove students from the classroom to The Blue Room if they demonstrate that they are presenting a risk to themselves or others.
• Students can voluntarily use The Blue Room with permission from their Form Team, a member of the SLT or the Duty Lead Manager
• Students must use the room as an area to calm down if they feel angry/anxious/upset
• Students must return to their class once they feel ready to do so. When a student leaves the room, they must make sure that it is left tidy, ready for the next student to use.
• Any damage caused in The Blue Room by a student, a letter will be sent home to parents/carers and a financial contribution to the repair of the damage must be made by the student.
• Students must respect The Blue Room and ensure that it stays in good condition

Children’s Rights

Like all children, those with disabilities have the right to protection from abuse. Key articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on this subject include:

• Article 2, which says all children have the rights the Convention lays out, and that no child should be discriminated against
• Article 3, which says the best interests of a child should always be considered in all actions that concern them
• Article 19, which says children should be protected from all forms of violence and injury
• Article 23, which says children with disabilities should enjoy full lives in conditions that ensure their dignity
• Article 29, which says a child’s education should allow them to develop their personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential. Additionally, the 2008 Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged the UK to make sure that “restraint against children is used only as a last resort and exclusively to prevent harm to the child or others and that all methods of physical restraint for disciplinary purposes be abolished”