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Schools duty of care?

6 replies

BigBird69 · 13/01/2015 13:17

Does anyone know of there is a law to cover children's safety in respect of being bullied at school? Does the school have a legal obligation of care? I have told school, been in, written etc on a regular basis but all the time they say "we have spoken to the boys involved and it's been dealt with"... Until the next time. It's Groundhog Day! My son is nine, the kids who Bully him are teenagers. It's physical and verbal (swearing, saying he or his family are going to be killed, threats of violence etc) schools attitude seems to be "boys will be boys" and play it down. School also say my son "baits them" to try and turn the situation round. Not sure what goes on as I'm not there - I am sure he does irritate them but is that an excuse? DS says boys "stalk" him as he says they seek him out at break times etc. they pin him in the toilets etc, sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading.

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Domino51 · 13/01/2015 16:12

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear you're son's situation. Yes, schools do have a duty of care. Look at the website BullyingUK, they have a whole heap of advice. We had a problem last year with our middle child. We reached the point where she was having regular nightmares, her behaviour changed, and she was getting 'stomach ache'. At the start of the summer holidays after her school report had effectively blamed her for the bullying, we sat her down and had her tell us absolutely everything, that was when we realised it was starting to get physical. We asked ourselves what exactly had to happen to her before we said enough was enough, and so we made the really difficult decision to change schools. Best decision we made. The nightmares stopped, the stomach ache stopped, and the attitude improved. We still have a long way to go but we are getting there. Oh, my daugher is six. Don't let the school just brush it under the carpet. Keep on at them, but also decide when you need to call a halt and consider changing schools.

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Quitethewoodsman · 16/01/2015 20:30

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joozy · 18/01/2015 12:39

So sorry to hear this. The school should be a duty of care/bullying policy on their website. Go to the Head Governor if the Head Teacher isn't dealing with it well.
Like Domino51 we ended up changing schools but I wish we had spoken with the Governor first. Our dd was only 7/8 and the bullying was emotional and we got practically no help from the school until it was too late.
Hope you get it sorted soon x

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BigBird69 · 19/01/2015 10:46

Thank you for your replies. I am trying to research what they "should" being doing so hence the question. I think the next step is probably the governors, but I'd like to be armed with some facts about what safeguarding issues they are required to implement by law. The school is small, only boys. It specialises in children who require "learning support." IMO this should mean better structure and supervision etc. The school takes children through middle school to leaving age, hence he's with teenagers. He is there because he has severe dyslexia/dyscalculia. I think there are children there who have ADHD, aspergers etc. I have little choice of an alternative in respect of his school. I would love to be able to move him, but it's not an option. I feel the school know we're "trapped" so they don't care. I would like it to work, but every day there is some kind of "incident" and I am at my wits end with what to do.

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Domino51 · 19/01/2015 12:32

Write to the Governors. When we pulled our daughter out, which I appreciate is not really an option for you, we complained to everyone - The Local Authority, Ofsted, you name it if we could find an address, we contacted them. Word to the wise though, Ofsted will only 'note' your complaint if you don't follow your schools complaints procedure.

Ask the school for a copy of this, and their anti bullying procedures. They should be able to give you both, readily and without question. Keep a diary so you have written proof of what is happening - who said what, who did what, and crucially the effect physically and emotionally that each episode has on your son and what is or isn't being done to rectify the situation.

Above all, don't give up. I sometimes think there is a belief with these sort of things that if it's ignored long enough the problem will go away. Keep strong and keep going, eventually you will get this resolved.

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BigBird69 · 20/01/2015 12:03

Thank you so much Domino. I have been keeping a record for a while now, a diary on what DS has told me has gone on, how it's affected his behaviour at home etc as well as notes of the various phone calls and copies of emails. Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. It's all so exhausting!