What can I expect from the school regarding a violent child?

[PenguinBeak]

My DS (age 9, yr 5) came home from school with an "injury form", which said that he had sustained an injury to his neck in the playground which required a cold compress. DS had red marks on his neck. He says that another boy went mad in the playground when they were playing a word/singing game because he didn't like the noise, and kicked and punched some other DC's, and then grabbed my DS by the throat with one hand and pushed upwards.

DS says that a teacher intervened, the whole group were sent to see the Head and then DS and the other "victims" were sent back to class while the perpetrator stayed in with the Head. The boy came back later to class.

Firstly, is it reasonable for me to expect the school to tell me how DS sustained the injury to his neck? I'm going to go in to school tomorrow and ask - I realise that DS might not be telling me the truth, but even if he was involved in some sort of fight, rather than an innocent bystander, shouldn't the school have told me about it?

Also, DS says that this boy often "goes mad" and kicks and punches others when he doesn't get his own way and that he regularly throws heavy things around the classroom (DS says that a whiteboard cleaning block hit him a few weeks ago which I didn't know about at the time) and said that on the way back from a recent school trip, this boy hit a classmate over the head with a block of wood he had picked up while on the trip. I can normally tell when DS is exaggerating or making up stories; he seems pretty genuine on this one though -there definitely seems to be regular incidents involving this boy and other members of the class.

I'm a bit fed up that DS has to put up with this tbh. Can I expect the school to protect DS from witnessing or being subject to these attacks?
I know it's none of my business how they are dealing with the boy - but can I expect some reassurance that they are going to protect the rest of the class, including DS, from further injury?

[Elibean]

Yes, I would want some reassurance from the teacher, or HT, about future risk.

I'm not sure what that reassurance might look like, but I think its important to ask for it anyway. At our school, I'd probably ask to talk to the HT as well as the teacher - but its a smallish school, and the Head is far more experienced at dealing with behaviour than some of the newer teachers.

Good luck, it does sound upsetting.

[clam]

Sounds as if this other child has difficulties, in which case the school will be trying to get additional support for him. This doesn't always happen as quickly as one might like, but I guess that reasonable concern expressed by other parents (without sounding like a witch-hunt, which I'm sure you wouldn't want) might help the process along a bit?

[PenguinBeak]

I understand that it might take a bit of time to sort out support for DS's classmate - and based on DS has said, it sounds like things have been getting worse over a few months (pre-summer holidays) - but in the mean time, what (if anything) can I expect the school to do?
Because they are older, they are not constantly supervised in the playground, or even in class - which is when this lad kicks off

[clam]

OK, sorry I'd missed the bit where you said Year 5. Has he always been in your ds's class? And if so, has the behaviour escalated since the episodes you quote? Am just wondering if there's always been an issue since KS1, but that TA support has altered, perhaps leading to the boy being unable to cope.

[LeeCoakley]

I would expect them to be supervised in the playground and classroom at that age, unpredictable child or not.

[PenguinBeak]

It's a one-form entry school and DS class is 24 - quite big for the school though; some classes/yr groups are tiny!

The school have only had yr 5/6 for a couple of years - the DCs used to go on to middle school at the end of yr 4, but the system has recently changed and they stay on for two more years before going on to Secondary.

There's always been a lot of rough and tumble as its a boy-dominated class and they're mainly summer babies so quite young, really. The boy concerned is the biggest in the class, and probably the school, thinking about assemblies I've been to!

[Fairenuff]

Unfortunately this type of aggressive behaviour is becoming more and more common in primary school. Unless the boy is diagnosed with SN he is unlikely to get funding for a 1-1 worker. It's very difficult for school staff to prevent assaults on children under these circumstances.

They should record all incidents to build up a fuller picture of what could be prompting the violent outbursts. Eventually, the child may be excluded but that woulld usually be a last resort.

I think it would be perfectly reasonable for you, as a parent, to ask the teacher what measures the school are putting in place to keep your child safe and what does your child need to do to help himself.