School isn't doing a very good job in tackling this...

[KungFuPandaWorks]

My friends daughter is currently in year 4. Since term has started there has been one child (B) who has quite literally terrorised the class.

flipping tables
throwing tables and chairs
physically attacked 6 members in the class
throwing work books and children's work
screaming foul language
having to be physically removed when her tantrum happens

Many complaints have been made, the teacher has acknowledged that something will be done but can't comment when.

From Monday - Wednesday the child in question attacked the same pupil (L) each day. Varying from punching her in the back of her head to clawing down her face and neck.

Ls parents went in for a meeting yesterday, and was told a strategy will be put in place from Monday, she can't tell her what strategy as she hasn't informed the other child's parents. Ls parent suggested if this child is SEN could they not get a TA in the class for help, the headteacher responded that the girl in question has no SEN and is not statemented so it would be pointless in allocating her a TA. The headteacher asked Ls mum to have faith and let her sort this out. Ls mum pointed out it wasn't just the attacking of her daughter, but also how her education is being affected due to the outbursts. Headteacher promised by Monday this will be sorted.

Roll on today leaving school, it turns out the teacher decided every pupil in the class should make B a card, because B is quite upset and if the class makes her nice cards, B might stop attacking.

My friend and other parents are furious at this approach, L never recieved an apology of B after being attacked 3 days in a row yet they made B one!

Is this a normal approach? Is there anything else my friend can do as it just seems nothing is working.

sorry that was a bit of a long post - probably cross posted lots of stuff.

Lack of funding and schools at breaking point is never going to be a valid argument for children being physically attacked. There are TA’s in other classes and I’m sure the head and deputy have non teaching roles so they will have to do the support until something is in place to protect the pupils. It is not ok for 29 children to suffer daily because of ones child’s behaviour. This is a massive bugbear of mine as a teacher. It’s an issue that senior management need to sort.

Parents of the assaulted child can contact child safeguarding and raise a concern.

It does not matter that the school has likely already done this. The parents can do it too.

The school will have to provide safeguarding with a plan of what they have in place to minimise the risk to others.

I'm a TA who spends a lot of time working 1:1 with a child like B.

The making of cards is very stupid and counterproductive.

Rosa who would Ls mum need to contact. That sounds like solid advice. Thankyou everyone else for amazing advice aswell.

kung
In this situation either the head or the safeguarding lead. I'm not sure how primaries are structured as in secondary they are separate people 99.9% of the time.

L's parents need to put it all in writing, keep it factual (no hyperbole or over emotive language) and calmly assertive.

The only place I differ from rosa is I don't believe it is reasonable to be instructing schools on how they must safeguard. It's not for parents to decide that child X mustn't be near other children etc.

Essentially what needs saying (in my opinion but others may disagree) is:

1. These are the recent incidents
2. These are not isolated
3. Given that L is being exposed to repeated violence and verbal abuse you have concerns about how the school is safeguarding L and their peers with regards to B's behaviour
4. Ultimately, the chain of events is having a significant adverse impact on your child and their education and you are seeking assurances that the school have approrpiate safeguarding procedures in place to protect all children and staff in this class.

Behaviour like this is communicating something regardless of how inappropriate it is. There is no way I can know what that 'something is though'.

I will say that in my 16 years of being teacher I have seen an increase in violent and socially unacceptable behaviour.

There is a wider culture - based on funding of keeping children in class to the detriment of others..

Reasons for the increase could be ...diet based, family situations, a nonstop use of powerpoint for lessons (I am not joking), less time in lessons just working in silence (which keeps people calm), a diet of abhorrent content on social media...many of these are outside the control of a classroom teacher but the effects are wide ranging and cause real fear and pain.

OP, MaisyPops probably knows better than me who to contact - would agree that the Head and the Safeguarding lead would be the best place to start. In ds's primary school for example (it's a big one) one of the assistant or deputy heads is the safeguarding lead and there are a couple of deputy safeguarding leads too. All the info should be on the school's website. I've just googled it for my dc's school and lots comes up, they also have a governor with responsibility for safeguarding, a local authority designated officer (LADO) and a multi agency safeguarding hub, which looks like it is also run by the council with contact details for all of them.

I agree with Maisy that you can't be too demanding about what they do - was trying (obviously not very successfully!) to show that you can put forward some suggestions (and yes, they need to be specific to your child, you can't demand that they keep B away from all children, just your child, sorry for confusion. But you can ask that your child is kept away from the other child if you see what I mean - trying to type in a hurry when tired is never a good combination!) about some safety measures to help protect your child that will act as a starting point for discussion, particularly if you have experienced them trying to brush you off by saying they'll deal with it - if you have suggestions that htey need to reply to, then if they say that they won't do xx suggestion due to staffing resources required even though it's a good idea (or don't refute it's a bad idea) then you have something to talk to the council and your MP about because when safety is at risk, money/lack thereof shouldn't be the only limiting factor.

My daughter was in a y6 class last year with a violent child and it really affected her confidence. He flipped tables, pulled displays off the walls, hit the TA :( snd was very aggressive. I spoke to the teacher many times about the impact on my child.
He was excluded a couple of times and eentually he left the school, but there had been many full class evacuations because they couldn't control his behaviour.

I’m not sure a TA would be a magic solution. Tricky one though op. Sympathy, for whatever that’s worth.

It isn't ok for a child to be repeatedly hurt by another child. It sounds like the Head is trying to put a plan in place or to adapt the plan they have. They are probably trying to get an educational psychologist to visit and advise them. In some areas there are very few EPs and school budgets don't always stretch to paying for external services. Some children can be triggered into this state because of the frequency and intensity of adversity they are experiencing or have experienced - from adults This child is 8 yrs old. The school clearly know the likely reasons for her fear and terror and they are trying to respond with empathy and kindness. Punishing children with these experiences does nothing but push them into a shame state 'I'm bad which is what adults have shown them anyway. School do need to put in arrangements quickly so that the education of others does not suffer and the child does not harm herself or others. Why might the others have made cards? Perhaps many of them wanted to? Have they been asked to imagine what it would be like to be taken from your family, your room, your pets, your toys, all the people you know and who you love and be taken to a strangers house and told this is now your home? Maybe that's why they are making cards. Maybe they can see how much distress their friend is in, a friend who can sometimes be funny and kind, a friend who started crying in the middle of an assembly about 'my family', a friend who hit X when they accidentally pushed her - or leaned against her and triggered that terrifying memory that made her feel that right in that moment she would die. Triggered in that memory she can't she can't breathe, she feels as though she might die, and she lashes out to keep them away, until a teacher whose voice she recognises soothes her and reminds her she's safe. Perhaps there's also a group of mums who start a petition to get her sent away from the only place she ever felt safe. She's only a kid and has to do whatever adults want, whether it's best for her or not.....I've got my cards, the ones you get before you have to leave. The ones that say I know how great you are really and I'm sorry you are in pain.

Just wondering whereas the buck stops in the meantime sirzy. A child is seriously injured in the mean time and ends up in hospital either seriously ill or with life changing injury and the parents of that child take legal action.

Legally the school, in locas parentis in its duty of care to all children... Where would it stand. It's been told about the violence and its done nothing?

😂 I only read first page but I see Rosa has already covered my points and with more detail and weight.

But that's the bottom line.

Re the child lashing out. I concur that that child is in pain.
Yes that child needs needs tons of love and support but I think it's abut cruel to make 8 year old write cards to their tormentor. They have feelings too!
We don't want to turn them into violent angry people lashing out because they are under attack and no one is supporting them either.

In mean time I would withdraw child from school and tell council why

I guess I can give the perspective from the other side. I have a child who WAS like that child, all the things you described. He had multiple ANs that the school repeatedly refused to acknowledge, no one at the school had any special needs training. He didn't cope with the noise, movements, children touching him, and being forced into situations he wasn't yet able to deal with. Things like, they used music to trigger tidy up time, he hated music, and the sudden burst of loud music accompanied by fast movements and things being taken away from him, in particular if he had been building and some other child took away his Lego etc would result in him being violent, throwing things, screaming, running away etc. Schools answer was that he needed to learn to enjoy the music and do what everyone else was doing.

I in no way think my sons behaviour was acceptable, I never ever once justified his actions, but equally there were reasons for his actions and a child with complex and multiple needs can't just adapt over night.school repeatedly put him in situation which made the situation so much worse for everyone, he started self harming at a young age and begging to not go to school and that it was "killing him" and he was "dying there".

Eventually I got him the right support. And a new school. He has never once lashed out in his new school. He's been there for over a year, he is happy, he has friends, he is achieving and he is a clam and likeable boy. A very very different example of the child in another school.

In this case the school are failing at their duty of care. They are not safeguarding other children nor are they providing the support the child needs. No schools can't just pull a TA out of their bums but they should be taking steps to minimise the issues. They could look at reallocating a TA temporarily to see if that helps, they could consult with the behavioural support team, they could be looking strategies to deal with the behaviour. They need to do something.

In your case I would look at writing to the governor board and perhaps the LA, also ask the school for a copy of their safeguarding polices. See what happens Monday as the school indicated their had something in place but then write to both bodies and tell them about the schools failings to protect the children. I always wished parents were more proactive in my case rather than being all passive aggressive on the playground. It would have helped get the right support faster.

mummyhaschangedhername
Brilliant post.
All children have the right to an education and to be safe at school.

With more parents raising factual concerns appropriately it might give school enough evidence to say 'see this child needs more than we can offer. We need extra resources and input'

If all is as written then the school aren't handling the situation well. If they can't juggle around tas in the short term then they need to book one on short term supply. Either whatever the issue is will improve or the child will be moved to a specialist behaviour place/excluded before too long (probably the latter).
There is a lot a ta can do with behaviour like this. I have been classroom support for children displaying this kind of behaviour and I would tend to sit with the child slightly hemmed in so, if necessary, the class could be evacuated. Thankfully it never came to that and I was always able to encourage children to an area away from the classroom to calm.
As for cards I'm not sure. A sudden onset of extreme behaviour like this with no Sen would suggest some kind of trauma. Maybe one or both of her parents have died? It would depend on the context and how it had been done as to whether it was appropriate.

Pork

B was always causing some kind of chaos in the class but not to this extreme. It's a daily occurrence now since starting year 4. None of her parents have died or immediate family, if you knew her mother you'd understand why B acts how she does. I think because B behaviour has always been brushed to the side, she's been more ballsy and seeing how far she can push it.

DD moved schools in year 6 for this very reason - she want attacked but was fed up of the disruption.

Schools won't do anything until they receive complaints in writing from several parents - do this to help both children because it adds weight to Child Bs need for help

One of the main problems is that schools have a huge list of requirements that they have to fulfil before they can actually do anything proactive towards solving issues like this.

If they don't do it (and record it) it is back to the beginning and teh process starts all over again.

So sad and yet so true boney.

yes we appreciate that for the 22nd time this term X has been verbally abusive to staff and assaulted staff and multiple children in the class. Yes there have been 18 class removals to keep other students safe. Yes as a school you've pulled resources from elsewhere and have all senior staff trained in team teach for when it's needed but unfortunately you can't have a managed move for X despite the fact they've just repeatedl punched a peer in the face because today is Tuesday. You really should know Tuesday is a hard day for X because they have science. X struggles with science and you've clearly failed as a school to find a way to engage X in science so you can only do a 1 day exclusion. Then you need to have a discussion with X where you agree that instead of doing science, they can go to the trampoline park on Tuesdays as this will make them feel better about Tuesday. Finally, you need to tell the victim they must remain friends with X so that X feels safe at school. Until you've done that we're afraid you haven't got a strong enough case to do anything Head teacher and your hands are tied

(Slight exaggeration obviously)

Might be worth approaching your area's local safeguarding board directly. Every area has one.