Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

My child is being assaulted

384 replies

ImplodingLoading · 13/02/2026 22:26

DD 7has been assaulted multiple times by 2 boys in her year. She has been punched, slapped, kicked and pushed over.

Schools advice is for her to "keep away from the boys she knows are known to be volatile" so when they are playing whole year games, for example, the school have suggested she "uses clear language to ensure they are ready for theor turn, so as not to provoke their anger" and "when explained to the girls that their are some boys who are prone to angry outbursts, and the girls should avoid being around them"

AIBU, or is this absolutely ridiculous?!

OP posts:
Wintersgirl · 14/02/2026 17:48

Shamsie24 · 14/02/2026 13:54

Absolute rubbish - if your child cannot control himself without resorting to violence he shouldn't be in a mainstream School, ND or not.

Yes and it will only get worse as he gets older

Wintersgirl · 14/02/2026 17:46

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:37

It's also why we have such a big male violence problem in the UK.

Boys told it's the girls fault if she 'pesters' them and that violence is ok.

No. Completely unacceptable. They're only going to get worse if they're allowed to get away with it and told it's the girl's fault.

Yes, this is what I was trying to explain earlier but you've put it so much better than I did.

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 16:39

Snaletrale · 14/02/2026 16:34

Well it’s very obvious on this thread, the people who actually have experience of schools and the challenges teachers face, and those that have no clue:

Oh yes, and those who think a 7 yo
being regularly assaulted at school is to blame and provoking her poor beleaguered assailants!

Snaletrale · 14/02/2026 16:34

Well it’s very obvious on this thread, the people who actually have experience of schools and the challenges teachers face, and those that have no clue:

Ladamesansmerci · 14/02/2026 16:04

bafta16 · 14/02/2026 14:49

Really? From daft 7 year olds?

Not the 7 years olds, obviously. The adults who think it's okay to imply that it's fine for boys to be violent and to imply girls are accountable for the behaviour of boys.

BreakingPoint1828 · 14/02/2026 15:37

ImplodingLoading · 13/02/2026 22:33

Spoke to the head who said "I have explained to x name (my child), that she should stay away from boys she knows can be prone to angry outbursts, and if she approaches them, we will see that as her provoking them"
So, in other words you're teaching my daughter to walk on eggshells around males, in case she provokes them to attack her?" Surely I'm not being ridiculous here to be absolutely livid?!

Wtf as someone else said I would record every interaction and incident and escalate as much as you can. Council, MPs, local press, whoever. Teaching a girl to avoid volatile males to not provoke them??!!

BlonderThanYou · 14/02/2026 15:08

I think the kids should be punished for punching and your DD should have nothing to do with them in the playground.

CarefullyCuratedFurniture · 14/02/2026 14:59

ImplodingLoading · 13/02/2026 22:33

Spoke to the head who said "I have explained to x name (my child), that she should stay away from boys she knows can be prone to angry outbursts, and if she approaches them, we will see that as her provoking them"
So, in other words you're teaching my daughter to walk on eggshells around males, in case she provokes them to attack her?" Surely I'm not being ridiculous here to be absolutely livid?!

Put that in writing in a complaint to the Head, and cc in the Chair of Governors. Thats a totally unacceptable response and needs to be taken further. I hope your DD is ok though.

Araminta1003 · 14/02/2026 14:57

Some practical ways around it include doing packed lunch which is often sitting with the nicer kids, signing up to any and all lunch time clubs away from trouble makers. You can try your best with the school, but ultimately you have to keep your DD safe by using whatever tricks you can. I guess getting your older child to check whilst still there could be another.

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 14:55

bafta16 · 14/02/2026 14:49

Really? From daft 7 year olds?

Ah so they’re just being “daft” with their violence?

Araminta1003 · 14/02/2026 14:53

OP does it happen at lunch time mainly and who is on duty then? Some schools have very skeleton staff as they also need to eat and have a break, and it is unqualified lunch time supervisors aka some mums on national minimum wage who do not have a clue/are biased. I am not making this up.

EnidSpyton · 14/02/2026 14:50

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 14:43

This, look at the post above! They can't stop the boys from lashing out if they're going to lash out.. Seriously?! “Violent males gonna be violent…. What can you do?” !!!

You're taking that line from my post totally out of context.

How exactly are the school staff expected to stop these children from lashing out in the middle of the playground? Often these things are unpredictable and sudden, and there may be no staff near enough to get there in time. There may also be no staff available who have restraint training. If a teacher touches a child to try and restrain them without the appropriate training, they could be legally liable if the parent complains their child has been hurt in the process.

It would be exactly the same scenario, by the way, if this were a girl violently attacking a boy, or a girl violently attacking another girl. If a child of any gender has a tendency to lash out at others, it is not always possible - despite all the risk management procedures a school has in place for such things - to stop other children from getting hurt.

And expelling a child with an EHCP is incredibly hard to do, so it's not always possible to remove violent children from the classroom if their behaviour persists.

You clearly have no idea what working in a school is like. This isn't about misogyny. It's a wider issue with ever increasing extreme behaviour issues, particularly in primary schools, that schools are just not equipped to deal with and it's very challenging.

bafta16 · 14/02/2026 14:49

Ladamesansmerci · 14/02/2026 12:33

A failure in safeguarding combined with some absolutely gross misogyny. Nice.

Really? From daft 7 year olds?

Feelingsadtodayagain · 14/02/2026 14:48

This is totally outrageous and ridiculous.

KTheGrey · 14/02/2026 14:46

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:19

Surely in this case then the people in charge of them become responsible for criminal charges?

Children can't just be assaulted continuously!

Exactly this. The school have a duty of care and if they fail in it, then they should be very clear that their failure is facilitating behaviour that in adults we hold to be criminal. Those lads will grow up and if it is bot made clear to them now that their behaviour is unacceptable they will learn it later in more damaging ways.

x2boys · 14/02/2026 14:44

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 14:25

So why is the school (and posters on here) saying the dd is responsible for not getting assaulted?
so the boys aren’t to blame for being violent because they’re 7 and don’t know better…but the dd who’s also 7 is to blame for being repeatedly assaulted and should know better?

I dont know i cant speak for other posters or the school
I would be furious however with the school for failing to safe guard my child.

EnidSpyton · 14/02/2026 14:44

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:40

Why can't they just not be allowed in the playground (or not with the other kids at least, in a different outside area) to safeguard the other children? I wonder if they manage to control themselves in any other situation? E.g. I'm guessing they don't violently assault adult men constantly or the teachers.

'Consequences' need to be meaningful. Too many 'consequences' seem to be anything but.

I bet OP and other parents would pay for a fence to separate them if the school won't. Better use that than small girl children as punch bags - because that is currently what's being allowed by teachers.

Because children are legally required to have a certain amount of time outside for exercise every day.

Because there's no money to build an extra playground space.

Because there's no money for more staff to monitor the children at play time.

You have no idea what the school have been doing behind the scenes to try and manage these children. Many TAs and teachers are indeed hit and kicked and scratched and bitten by children like this on a daily basis. I can well imagine that the boys in question are indiscriminately violent.

The anger you have here needs to be directed at the Department for Education, who keeps expecting mainstream schools to take in children with ever increasing needs, with less and less money every year to spend on them, and fewer and fewer teachers left in the profession to teach them.

DemelzaandRoss · 14/02/2026 14:43

EnidSpyton · 14/02/2026 14:37

The reality is the boys will have consequences every time it happens.

But if these children have behavioural issues, such as poor impulse control, they're clearly not able to manage their behaviour, so the consequences aren't changing their behaviour.

The school won't have enough staff to be with these children all day to ensure they don't lash out at other people.

So they have told the OP's daughter to stay away from the boys and not instigate them in any play as they lash out when she does so.

They can't stop the boys from lashing out if they're going to lash out. They can't keep the children inside all day. The school, I'm sure, has put plenty of interventions in place - the OP can't be told about this, of course - but if these boys are being poorly parented and/or have SEN, then there's only so much these interventions will do. Unless they all have 1-1 TAs who are on a rota to monitor behaviour at playtime, all the school can do is try to keep the children apart.

This isn't about victim blaming or girls having to pussy foot around boys. I am a huge feminist but I am also a practising teacher and am well aware of the challenges around these types of issues. The gender of the children here is irrelevant. We have too many students with SEND in mainstream education and not enough staff, and so we do sometimes (often) have to rely on children understanding that X child is not to be spoken to like Y, Z child is not to be approached at playtime because he/she will hit/bite/scratch, whatever.

The OP has no idea that the school are doing 'nothing'. They may well be. But she needs to go through the complaints procedure to find out.

Calling the police (seriously!), Ofsted, the local council, etc, will achieve nothing here. The school complaints procedure is the first port of call.

At the same time, we all need to be aware of the challenges schools face in an age when too many people are having children without wanting to parent them.

Yes, for older children do call the Police.
This violence has to stop.

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 14:43

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:37

It's also why we have such a big male violence problem in the UK.

Boys told it's the girls fault if she 'pesters' them and that violence is ok.

No. Completely unacceptable. They're only going to get worse if they're allowed to get away with it and told it's the girl's fault.

This, look at the post above! They can't stop the boys from lashing out if they're going to lash out.. Seriously?! “Violent males gonna be violent…. What can you do?” !!!

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:40

EnidSpyton · 14/02/2026 14:37

The reality is the boys will have consequences every time it happens.

But if these children have behavioural issues, such as poor impulse control, they're clearly not able to manage their behaviour, so the consequences aren't changing their behaviour.

The school won't have enough staff to be with these children all day to ensure they don't lash out at other people.

So they have told the OP's daughter to stay away from the boys and not instigate them in any play as they lash out when she does so.

They can't stop the boys from lashing out if they're going to lash out. They can't keep the children inside all day. The school, I'm sure, has put plenty of interventions in place - the OP can't be told about this, of course - but if these boys are being poorly parented and/or have SEN, then there's only so much these interventions will do. Unless they all have 1-1 TAs who are on a rota to monitor behaviour at playtime, all the school can do is try to keep the children apart.

This isn't about victim blaming or girls having to pussy foot around boys. I am a huge feminist but I am also a practising teacher and am well aware of the challenges around these types of issues. The gender of the children here is irrelevant. We have too many students with SEND in mainstream education and not enough staff, and so we do sometimes (often) have to rely on children understanding that X child is not to be spoken to like Y, Z child is not to be approached at playtime because he/she will hit/bite/scratch, whatever.

The OP has no idea that the school are doing 'nothing'. They may well be. But she needs to go through the complaints procedure to find out.

Calling the police (seriously!), Ofsted, the local council, etc, will achieve nothing here. The school complaints procedure is the first port of call.

At the same time, we all need to be aware of the challenges schools face in an age when too many people are having children without wanting to parent them.

Why can't they just not be allowed in the playground (or not with the other kids at least, in a different outside area) to safeguard the other children? I wonder if they manage to control themselves in any other situation? E.g. I'm guessing they don't violently assault adult men constantly or the teachers.

'Consequences' need to be meaningful. Too many 'consequences' seem to be anything but.

I bet OP and other parents would pay for a fence to separate them if the school won't. Better use that than small girl children as punch bags - because that is currently what's being allowed by teachers.

EnidSpyton · 14/02/2026 14:37

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:29

Well said, it's misogyny in a nutshell isn't it.

The reality is the boys will have consequences every time it happens.

But if these children have behavioural issues, such as poor impulse control, they're clearly not able to manage their behaviour, so the consequences aren't changing their behaviour.

The school won't have enough staff to be with these children all day to ensure they don't lash out at other people.

So they have told the OP's daughter to stay away from the boys and not instigate them in any play as they lash out when she does so.

They can't stop the boys from lashing out if they're going to lash out. They can't keep the children inside all day. The school, I'm sure, has put plenty of interventions in place - the OP can't be told about this, of course - but if these boys are being poorly parented and/or have SEN, then there's only so much these interventions will do. Unless they all have 1-1 TAs who are on a rota to monitor behaviour at playtime, all the school can do is try to keep the children apart.

This isn't about victim blaming or girls having to pussy foot around boys. I am a huge feminist but I am also a practising teacher and am well aware of the challenges around these types of issues. The gender of the children here is irrelevant. We have too many students with SEND in mainstream education and not enough staff, and so we do sometimes (often) have to rely on children understanding that X child is not to be spoken to like Y, Z child is not to be approached at playtime because he/she will hit/bite/scratch, whatever.

The OP has no idea that the school are doing 'nothing'. They may well be. But she needs to go through the complaints procedure to find out.

Calling the police (seriously!), Ofsted, the local council, etc, will achieve nothing here. The school complaints procedure is the first port of call.

At the same time, we all need to be aware of the challenges schools face in an age when too many people are having children without wanting to parent them.

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:37

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 14:25

So why is the school (and posters on here) saying the dd is responsible for not getting assaulted?
so the boys aren’t to blame for being violent because they’re 7 and don’t know better…but the dd who’s also 7 is to blame for being repeatedly assaulted and should know better?

It's also why we have such a big male violence problem in the UK.

Boys told it's the girls fault if she 'pesters' them and that violence is ok.

No. Completely unacceptable. They're only going to get worse if they're allowed to get away with it and told it's the girl's fault.

trappedCatAsleepOnMe · 14/02/2026 14:29

Only thing that helped with DS in situation where it was made all his fault - was getting him away from the other boys in question for bulk of the day. It was lucky it was a two form year group - but still had to push for it.

He stayed away where he could and got followed or even had staff tell him off for not working with them he also asked adults for help - still made all his fault - evey talk with staff was same he needs to stay away and ask for help - he was and me saying again the school line to him started to make him lose faith and get angry with us as well.

Became obvious he wasn't the issue the next year when it started happening to other kids with same kid behind it and same follower.

DSis and her ex did manage to turn it round for DN - pointing out using her to pacidy another child wasn't on - but HT there was receptive and it was just TA and teahcers that needed to adjustment in attitude.

I think you may have to consider moving her to another shcool - and using childcare to sort round two school finsihes starts - or wait till end of the year - trying to get some sort of change from school in meantime then move both the younger kids if possible.

pinkyredrose · 14/02/2026 14:29

x2boys · 14/02/2026 14:17

The children are seven so under the age of criminal responsibility.

They can't be prosecuted but they can certainly be spoken to by the police.

Ginnyweasleyswand · 14/02/2026 14:29

EvangelineTheNightStar · 14/02/2026 14:25

So why is the school (and posters on here) saying the dd is responsible for not getting assaulted?
so the boys aren’t to blame for being violent because they’re 7 and don’t know better…but the dd who’s also 7 is to blame for being repeatedly assaulted and should know better?

Well said, it's misogyny in a nutshell isn't it.

Swipe left for the next trending thread