An application is being made for a judicial review to consider a multi-academy trust’s policy of sending pupils to a “consequences room” for poor behaviour.

The case relates to a pupil who attends a school run by the Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT).

It was reported today that the child in question had spent 60 days in a consequences room, where children sit in booths, at an OGAT school.

The trust said that it was working in some of the toughest schools in the country and that pupils only go to the consequences room after four warnings and two failed detentions.

The Outwood Grange behaviour policy says that silence is required in a consequence room at all times and pupils must not leave their seat without permission.

Pupils are allowed to go to the toilet three times a day for a maximum of five minutes per visit, according to the trust’s website.

‘Supportive’ behaviour policy

In a statement, the academy trust said its practices followed Department for Education guidelines and were part of a “supportive and inclusive behaviour strategy” designed to ensure that children can learn in “a safe and constructive environment”.

It added: “In order to experience just half a day in our consequences room, where children are supported to reflect on their behaviour, a child will have ignored four warnings and have failed two separate detentions. 

“We also apply reasonable adjustments and have a wealth of supportive and alternative intervention packages for those children who need additional support to manage their behaviour in school.”

Outwood Grange said that pupils were never left alone and were supervised by trained staff at all times.

The statement added: “Our staff go to and work in some of the toughest schools in the country to support and care for children, and our schools have never been more popular with parents, with many [schools] currently full and being asked by local authorities to admit over their capacity.”

The trust said that in the past 20 Ofsted inspections of its schools eight have been judged “outstanding”, 11 “good” and one “requires improvement”.

The application for a judicial review comes as a controversial Ban the Booths campaign has been launched calling for the practice to be stopped.

One of the campaign organisers, Paul Dix, has claimed that putting pupils in “isolation booths”  takes away their dignity.

However, the campaign has sparked fierce online debate about how schools should manage pupil behaviour.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that hundreds of pupils spent at least a week in isolation booths last year.

More than 225 pupils in England spent five consecutive days in school isolation booths, including one child who claimed to have spent three months in a classroom on his own.

One school had five separate isolation rooms, each permanently staffed, at an annual cost of more than £170,000, BBC News found.