Is my child in danger at school?

Slightly off topic, but I watched 'Crimewatch Live' this morning, and they featured a young man who died from ONE PUNCH, as a music festival. This really hit home with me, how easy it is for an angry person to kill someone with one lucky/unlucky punch. Therefore, if this school isn't capable of handling a child with violent tendencies, then I would be taking my child out of there right away.

Also, as a teenager in school, I was punched in the face by a lad who was 2 years above me, simply because I told him to 'watch out', after he accidentally banged his school bag into me. I reported it to a teacher, but absolutely NO action was taken. because the staff were scared of the boy/man, who was over 6 feet tall, and well built. This was in the days before violence became the problem that it is in schools today, and thankfully I wasn't badly hurt. However, if the school feel they are unable to deal with violence, then surely THEY should be calling in the police? This sort of behaviour just IS NOT acceptable, and shouldn't be swept under the carpet for ANY reason, so if school won't or can't deal with it, then the police MUST be involved.

Again, and with respect, you just cannot know that for certain. School cannot disclose such things.

https://www.isc.co.uk/schools/sub-pages/safeguarding-children/ You need to do some more research, but from the 5 mins I've done, isc, appears to be the equivalent to Ofsted for private schools.

https://www.isi.net/safeguarding/raise-a-concern/overview

The Department for Education cannot investigate or intervene in individual complaints about independent schools. However, the Department for Education has certain powers as a regulator if an independent school is not meeting standards set by Department for Education for:

• education
• pupil welfare and health and safety
• school premises
• staff suitability
• making information available to parents
• spiritual, moral, social or cultural development of students
If you have a concern about an independent school, relating to the standards, you should report it to Department for Education.

They can use the information in one of three ways: to either bring forward a future school inspection, ask ISI to do an additional inspection to look at pupil welfare, health and safety or to ask ISI to take the concerns it has received into account when the school is next inspected.

Some are under Ofsted. Some are under the private school equivalent.

So there is this level of oversight. You just have to identify the relevant one.

If it’s a private school then contacting the police will get them to take it seriously.

I don't think Ofsted have any jurisdiction over private schools @stichguru

Definitely report to Ofsted and social services. I'm surprised given it's a private school. Pessimistically I do wonder whether the school in under subscribed, and are more concerned about keeping the place full, than the impact of the kid's behaviour.

Hi OP. I’m a teacher, here’s what I’d do:

• Team up with other parents. Find a group of other parents who are scared about this and serious about stopping it
• Arrange a meeting with the head, turn up as a group and let him know how serious you are and the next actions you will take if this child remains in school after his violent attacks.
• Contact the police - try to encourage the parents of injured children to make reports if they haven’t. Also go as concerned parents for advice to report the situation
• If this doesn’t help, refuse to send your child to school (as a group) until this is sorted and let the school know why. If there is a bigger group of you, this will be more effective
• If nothing else helps, I’d contact the papers! (As a last resort.)

This is really serious. All it would take is a child falling back and hitting their head, or falling back down the stairs… the next person attacked could be killed. Find other parents and team up. The bigger the better. The school wants to brush this under the rug - don’t let them. Make a huge fuss.

It is a lot harder if they have a special need

It's a private school. It's not hard for them.

Really?
So perhaps you can explain why the girl who bullied my DD at her Private school was expelled while my friend whose daughter is at the well regarded State school nearby had to remove and homeschool her daughter as the school couldn't remove the bully?
I sit on an exclusion panel for our local State school and we keep kids who I know would have had been expelled for far less at my sons Private school
Private schools do not keep violent or disruptive children as the Parents of the other children have too much power and there are no exclusion panels in most cases, they just ask them to leave.

The joys of inclusion, it’s hard for schools to get rid of these children.

Where did I say it was okay, or where did I day he had a SEN. I said you can't possibly know whether he has SEN or not, and also you don't know tge school are brushing it under the carpet.You do not know what actions they have taken and what agencies are involved.
Please do not put words in my mouth.

If its money orientated I'd have thought it would be in the best interest for the HT to clamp down on this type of behaviour in so much as I'd be more concerned I'd lose multiple paying pupils if parents did decide to pull their DC out.

Not to mention the reputation it could be having on a school with my name on the headed paper.

Do that and tell the school why.

It's a private school. They can do what they like

Agree

Exactly right.

Another reason why everyone obsessed with private education should give their head a wobble. All decisions are financially motivated, not based on welfare