[2024] UKUT 270 (AAC)

there were on 8 children in the kindergarten class that day, with two staff, JI and PM, in the room; PK was one of the older children: she was aged 2;

JI accepted that she put PK in the highchair and picked PK up in the highchair and placed her outside. Her reasons for doing so were only to keep PK safe and to encourage good behaviour (as PK had been “screaming” in the highchair); it was not a “negative reactive” response by JI (to PK’s behaviour)

the management of the school sanctioned use of highchairs in the kindergarten “where necessary”; JI cited the following from the school’s ‘timetable’ document:

“12:00 - Lunchtime: try to encourage the children to sit for as long as possible. Use a highchair for certain children if necessary”

JI had put PK in a high chair as she was running around the room with cutlery in her hands; JI thought putting a child like PK in a highchair in these circumstances was permitted; JI did not, at the time, think she was using the highchair for an unsuitable purpose; she had seen other members of staff adopt the same practice;

having placed PK outside, in the highchair, JI stepped back into the room and stood just the other side of the door to enable her to keep sight of PK;

JI denied telling PK, “It’s wet and cold outside, isn’t it?”; JI’s evidence was that the weather was mild and sunny that day, including when PK was outside in the highchair; JI recalled the kindergarten children going out without jumpers and coats after lunch. When asked about it being recorded in the notes from a meeting with her on 26 October 2020 (which she signed) that “it was not cold and wasn't raining to start with, but it started spitting with rain in the time [PK] was outside”, and that JI had wiped raindrops off PK (though she was “not wet”), JI maintained that there was no rain whilst PK was outside in the highchair. Similarly, when asked about it being recorded in the notes from a second interview with her on 28 October 2020 (again signed by JI) that it just started raining and JI wiped away a few raindrops on PK, JI again maintained that there had been no rain whilst PK was outside in the highchair;

PK calmed down completely after a “short while” outside; JI then brought her back in to eat lunch; PK was very contented. HI came in to the kindergarten room at the point that JI was carrying PK back to the table to eat lunch;

JI was suffering from insomnia and anxiety at the time. She saw her GP about these in September 2020, and started cognitive behavioural therapy in January 2021. JI thought that her actions in the incident in question were a “culmination” of her insomnia and anxiety. JI found the cognitive behavioural therapy very helpful;

JI gave evidence about why working with children is important to her; and the impact on her of being included in the children’s barred list.