Throwing His Weight Around

Vaile v London Borough of Havering (2010) High Court.

A recent case examines where the responsibilities of both employer and employee fall when dealing with challenging pupils in a special school.

Introduction

The claimant was 49 years old at the time of the accident, and had had over 25 years of experience of teaching children with difficulties. Her work had included duties at a Young Offenders' Institution, but the school where the accident took place, Dycorts, catered for pupils with severe learning difficulties, including some children on the autistic spectrum. The claimant had been teaching there for 14 years at the time of her accident.

The accident involved an assault by a pupil in the school, referred to throughout as "X". X exhibited some features of the autistic spectrum, and had the benefit of a Statement of Special Educational Needs. Until the summer of 2003, X had displayed no behaviour out of the ordinary for pupils at that school.

At the time of the incident, the claimant taught a class of ten pupils, all of whom had learning difficulties. They were adolescents, going through various stages of puberty, which, because of their special needs, they found challenging and difficult to cope with.

Events Leading up to the Assault on 9 July 2003

The first notable incident occurred on 10 June 2003, when a computer that X was using, malfunctioned. He became agitated, and when the claimant went to calm him, X bit the inside of her right hand. The incident was reported to senior management, and the claimant was told to keep a diary of X's behaviour, which she did. The claimant did not ask for X to be removed from her class, and no one suggested that he should be.

A further incident took place in early July, not involving the claimant, but another teacher, when X once again became agitated and was aggressive. The teacher took the event in her stride, and carried on with teaching her class.

The material assault took place on 9 July 2003, at the end of the lesson, when X came to the front of the class to put his work down. He put it in the wrong place, and the claimant told X to put it with the other pupils' papers. The claimant then recorded in her diary: "With that X turned on me with an evil look on his face, bashed down on the desk, stabbing me in the back of the hand with the pencil he was holding. He then lunged at me, striking a blow to my left ear. He then grabbed me by the neck and shook my head violently."

The Claimant's Case

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