iPAd 7th Gen external keyboard Errors

I have a student at our school who's 7th Gen 32GB Wi-Fi model iPad is showing weird symptoms. When an external Bluetooth keyboard is attached, specific keys do not type, but would sometimes perform a IOS action, e.g. i key will show the control center, enter key will lock the iPad. 8 does nothing, u does nothing. Its always the same keys that have an issue no matter what we do.

This issues doesn't happen after reboot and seem to work ok, until suddenly, it starts behaving like above as soon as you enter the settings app (this seems to be the culprit). We have wiped the iPad, updated to latest IOS 18 version, disabled all Assistive touch function and keyboard functions, tested with 4 keyboards, all different brands, some brand new. Tested keyboards on another device and they perform fine.

No additional Apps have been installed so we are using core IOS apps. No visual damage on the iPad. May be unrelated but with the keyboard attached, at times I was using it, it locked itself a few times without interaction and a few times the lock screen just appeared without warning.