Feeling Gutted for DS

[nonameslefttouse]

My poor ds 8 was attack at school today by two boys in the same class in lunch break, although two other children tried to get the playground supervisors attention she just told them to go play and stop telling the tale whist my ds was being held in a head lock by one boy and being kicked and punched by the the other boy.

I feel so guilty I knew there was issues with them and reported some bruising which had been caused by nipping to his teacher who did move him, but this today has just made me want to go pull him out of school, there are three pupils doing as they please without anything happening. Please give me some advice, finding it hard to be cool calm and collective! I am going into school first thing to see the head teacher.

Put it all in writing. Complain to the head about how the incident was handled. If you get no joy, go to Governors.

That is so terrible.

How would that work as the mother of one of the boys causing misery is the chair of the governors!

There are plenty of other governors to deal with it though.

If you get no joy with governors, then write to the LEA.

Thank you, never had to deal with anything like this before head teacher on the phone appeared to think everything is fine has she put a compress on his badly bruised and swollen legs!

Thanks again

And ask for a copy of their anti-bullying policy if it isn't readily available on school website.

Report to the police - its assault

Take photos too

Ask for a copy of the anti-bullying policy while you are booking an appointment to see the Head.
Report it to the police as assault and tell the Head you are doing that.
If you are not happy with the outcome of your meeting with the Head then ask for a copy of the school complaints procedure and follow it.
If you get to that point - address your letter to The Clerk to the Governing Body and mark it confidential. Start the letter by stating that given her personal involvement in the situation, at no stage in the process do you want the letter dealt with by the chair of govs. They might ask another governor to speak to you personally, then if they get to the point of forming a panel, it has to be a panel of "untainted" governors.

I think it's maybe a bit OTT going to the police. This is junior school we are talking about. There was a mum at my eldest sons school a few years back, she made her son a 'victim'. If he came back from school with an injury slip, she'd question him over and over about how it happened, was he ok ? Should she see the head ?,was it an accident or did somebody purposely trip him ? She'd get involved with any little tiff and virtually lived at school. I knew her very well so know that she was completely overreacting on every occasion. The result was a self fulfilling prophesy. He did end up getting picked on at upper school as 'mummy' hadn't taught him how to deal with things himself. I remember my husband telling my son when he started junior school to give as good as he got. I was up in arms about this. It worked, he's never been bullied.
That all aside, what has happened to your son isn't nice. I think you should defiantly go into school and let the head know you are not happy with the lunchtime supervisors lack of input. I just think going to the police is completely OTT and will give your son a distorted outlook on how to deal with things. Hope your sons ok and you get things resolved.

I just think going to the police is completely OTT and will give your son a distorted outlook on how to deal with things.

A distorted view? I'm in my 30's and I can assure you that if I'd been held in a headlock and kicked/punched/both I would report the assault to the police. These boys are only ~8, but it may be that involving the police is the best way to highlight the severity of the incident to all concerned - equally it may be that the HT can deal with the situation appropriately (OP will have to make that call based on how the situation is developing).

I would go to the police over this.

I was badly bullied at school and my parents didn't interfere, probably for the same reasons you are giving blah. it went on for years and kept on escalating because the bullies knew that they could get away with it.

And as Andro quite rightly points out, as an adult most of us would report this happening to us to the police, why would you not give the same protection to your precious DC?

Just wondering what the police would make of being asked to get involved with a playground fight between 8 year olds ...can't think for a moment who in their right mind would jump to contacting the police rather than letting the school deal with it. The OP did say 8 year olds ? Or did I misread

Are you suggesting that I'm not in my right mind?

Of course not Riots ....Im sure you are a very well adjusted individual. Just...come on ! If the police have to start dealing with fights between 8 years olds where will it all end ?

What did the head say about the supervisor telling the children not to tell tales while your son was being kicked and punched while in a headlock OP? What is she going to do about it to make sure the boys are punished. If they do nothing i would take it further.

The parents of the both boys should be contacted by the scool HT regarding their DC's violent bullying behaviour.

My next step if the head does nothing would be to put a complaint in writing to the head and see what she does then, then go higher up if nothing.

school

No you're right, I don't think I would jump straight into calling the police after the first occasion. But I suspect that the bullying didn't start with physical attacks and that the school has already been failing the OP's DS and the bullying has progressed to violent attacks. At this point I would be very concerned for DC's safety considering that the school were hopeless and I would want the bullies to know that their actions were very serious and hopefully give them enough of a fright to leave DC alone.

The police would have a duty to investigate an assault on a child, just as much as they would an assault on an adult. I don't get this view that our kids don't matter as much as we do, or somehow have to cope with mistreatment that we would never put up with ourselves.

So sorry this has happened to your son. I think I would write to the head first, involving the police does seem like overkill to me.

The supervisor was technically aiding and abetting this attack on your son . Good on the children who tried to help.

My ds was bullied at school and the school were perfectly happy to turn a blind eye. In hindsight, I can see that I let the school away with it by not being as tough with them as I should have been. If I were you I would do exactly as Schoolgovenor says.

Photos and police.
And raise hell in the school about the supervisor not listening when his friends tried to get help.

My god I am furious on your behalf. Do not be intimidated by the fact that it's the governor's son. All the more reason to formalise it with the police to make sure it isn't swept under the carpet.

Yes they are only 8. Nip it in the bud before they are 15 year old antisocial bullying thugs. Hope your ds is ok.

I suppose it does make it slightly tricky when the bully's parent is a governor, but if you did need to take it to the governors i assume you would address the complaint to a differnet governor and remind them that it is confidential information, not to be shared with the parents of the bully

Riots...of course children matter as much as adults, but, adults know that physical violence is unacceptable and illegal whereas 8 year olds, although should have an understanding, don't always think about consequences. Agree that it is most defiantly wrong but school should be able to deal with situation. Parents of the culprits should be informed and punishments should be issued within school.