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AN investigation has been launched after teachers at a Godalming specialist school were told to allow a pupil with a history of self-harm to have controlled access to razor blades.

Principal Steve Dempsey and headteacher Laura Blair, of Unsted Park School, face the prospect of a professional conduct hearing by the Teaching Agency under allegations of unacceptable professional conduct.

The allegations surround the decision to give sterilised blade kits to a pupil at the school, in order to allow them to self-harm under specific and controlled conditions.

The school, in Munstead Park, is run by the Priory Group and offers education to boys and girls aged seven to 19 with Asperger’s syndrome and higher functioning autism.

According to the controlled self-harm procedure, handed out to staff but aborted after just six days, the pupil would be escorted to a bathroom and allowed to carry out self-harm in a "safe and controlled manner".

Teachers would wait outside the bathroom while the pupil was inside, checking on them every two minutes. The wounds would then be dressed and cleaned by staff.

Several members of staff were understood to have protested against the policy, complaining to Surrey County Council’s Local Authority Designated Officer. The policy was stopped after less than a week.

Following the investigation, a panel will determine what action will be taken. If the allegations are serious enough, the case may be referred to a hearing before a professional conduct panel.

A Priory Group spokesman said: “We are always willing to review cases with the Teaching Agency. This was a short-term, local procedure introduced by the headteacher and school principal who genuinely believed it was in the best interests of the pupil.

“However, they accept that the procedure should not have been implemented without further approvals having been obtained from key stakeholders and senior management prior to its introduction.”

Unsted School was ranked good with outstanding aspects in its last Ofsted inspection, published in February.

The report stated: “There are robust risk assessments and health and safety processes which protect young people from harm.

“The behaviour management system at the school is outstanding. Boarders have individual behaviour plans which operate on a traffic light system and clearly identify triggers and strategies for addressing these.

“They also include work with the boarders on them developing the skills to control their own behaviour.”

The Teaching Agency was unable to comment on ongoing investigations.

A spokesperson from charity Selfharm.co.uk said: “The issue of controlled self-harm has proven to be effective in some areas, but only under the correct supervision.

“Self-harm is sometimes the safest option for a young person – if they’re using self-harm to make life a bit easier to manage (for example) then taking it away from them without replacing it with something else can actually bring on a desperate kind of depression that could make them slide from self-harm to having suicidal ideation.

“I’d rather someone be self-harming in a way they can manage as safely as possible than be left stranded with no way to cope and be thinking about more desperate measures.

“In essence, it’s not possible to say that it’s a right or wrong approach to dealing with self-harm in young people – that judgment comes down to how it’s being supported, the policies in place and the point at which someone is deemed appropriate to engage in such a programme.

“I’d be horrified if a school was trying to manage such a scheme, but open-minded to an appropriate residential facility implementing it as one of many care pathways.”