Daughter injured in high school

[loopylou6]

Yesterday dd came home from school with a cut right below her lower eye lid. She told me that a boy (who's known for bad behaviour) had chucked a ruler at her face.
I phoned the school and asked to speak to head of year, was told she was busyand would call me back, I gave details of the incident and asked that she call me as soon as she had finished with her phone call.
An hour later I'd heard nothing, so I called back and spoke to someone else and was told this teacher had gone home she asked what the issue was, so I told her, she said she would flag it as urgent and make sure the HOY calls today.
So after hearing nothing today, I've called back yet again about fifteen minutes ago only to be told by the receptionist that HOY has passed this to the teacher of the class in which this happened, who apparently will be calling today
So, AIBU in feeling that this isn't being dealt with properly and also being pretty pissed off that this woman couldn't take five minutes of of her day to ring me back as promised?

lurkinghusband no I would not call the police if I witnessed a child throwing a ruler at another child. They would probably think it was a prank call.

So, how badly does someone have to get hurt befire it becomes a police matter? ??

be case the only reason this chikd was not more seriously hurt was luck

This is not primarily a police responsibility, it's the school's. However they have failed in their duty of care by failing to punish or even talk to the pupil involved. The Op has given them a chance. She has no choice - is she supposed to just drop it?

lurkinghusband no I would not call the police if I witnessed a child throwing a ruler at another child.

But that's not what happened here, so it's immaterial anyway.

Here, a child was cut (which suggests blood was drawn, and the possibility of a scar) and only by the Grace of God not blinded. Plus I dread to think what the germ count on the end of that ruler was.

This is not primarily a police responsibility

Why not ?

lurkinghusband no I would not call the police if I witnessed a child throwing a ruler at another child.

But that's not what happened here, so it's immaterial anyway.

That's exactly what happened here. It says so in the OP.

Germ count? Is this for real?
OP has done the right thing reporting it to the school so that they are aware of the incident. The class teacher has obviously not dealt with it appropriately so she has taken the right action in alerting more senior staff.

I meant Lurking that it is the school's duty to deal with it first of all but they have neglected this so it's totally reasonable to get the police involved.

I think this is very bad form on the school's part. I'm not one for complaining ordinarily, but I would be taking this further, I think.

This IS a police matter.

As I said- I did something similar. It's assault. While the police took it no further in my case (tit for tat) they were more than prepared to until they heard the full story.

Don't know why you don't just go down there myself OP.

It's funny because when we had the police involved I did tell them that u felt bad using their resources when they are so stretched.

Their response was that that's what their job was and what they are there for.

Take photos of the injury. A school is a public place. If someone assaults you there, it's an offense.

Did the boy purposefully throw the ruler at her or did he throw the ruler and hit her? Was there intent to hit her?

Yeah have taken photo, thanks. Who, yes he threw it at her, and then tried throwing another one so she had to hide her face under her blazer

I found that contacting the Welfare officer and explaining that my DS would not be in school until I had heard from them, with details of how they were planning to assure his safety in future,worked quite well.
Also, after a different incident when I could not get hold of teacher/HOY/Head, I called the Head's secretary, who was able to take a detailed message and tell me when the Head would be available. That worked too.
IME experience, the more fuss you make, the sooner they will call you back, if only to get you off their case. You've emailed, but I would follow that up with phone calls hourly until you get a response. You may not be popular but you will be dealt with. Start calling at 8 tomorrow morning.
If you've had no response by the end of the school day, contact the Chair of Governors and the LEA. Keep a record of the times you phoned.

Sorry this has happened, your DD should be able to sit in class without being assaulted.

I would be telling the school that they have completely failed in their duty of car to your dd in failing to protect her and in failing to deal with the bully. Ask for a copy of their anti bullying policy and question why it hasn't been followed. And report to police. I also wouldn't be too keen on dd returning until this has been dealt with. If they have still not called or emailed in the morning I would not be sending dd. she could have been blinded and clearly her teacher doesn't give a shit or is completely incompetent.

I would be very cross with the school for not contacting me about it after I phoned but I would not contact the police. This boy is eleven or twelve. If prosecuted he could end up with a criminal record which he will have to declare in job applications - it seems very harsh to write him off as a 'bad person' at this age when hopefully he could turn his behaviour around and grow into a decent adult.

That said, I would be phoning the school again and asking for an appointment with the head of year. At this appointment I would ask him how the boy had been dealt with, what action was being done to ensure this doesn't happen again, asking what would be done if the boy committed further assaults on children, etc. Basically I would make a bit of a fuss to ensure that outbursts by this boy are not just ignored in future but are dealt with.

And why is the kid having a criminal record op's problem?

why does the bully get more rights than the victim. she gets hurt and scarred and he walks away.

HoYear should have rung you back - not on the evening of the incident (that is U of you) but the next day. However, in their defence there may have been an incident that required immediate attention that day also and which, for obvious reasons, other staff and pupils do not know about (which may involve dealing with the pupil who threw the ruler...who may have other issues you also do not know about.)
Passing to class teacher is not passing the book. Issues in class, in the first instance, may be the responsibility of the teacher, who may well be investigating / taking statements etc.
You are within your rights to contact again so YANBU but you ABU to expect your DC will know what may or may not be going on behind the scenes.
Why would you keep your DC off school? Is your DC being bullied by this other pupil? Have their been other incidents where your DC has been the victim?

Ask for a meeting with head teacher. Ask for a copy of bullying behaviour accident policies before meeting, read up and then quote the bits of them that they are not carrying out and tell them next step is to write to governors.

One incident does not constitute bullying and if it is an isolated incident the anti-bullying policy is not relevant. However, this does not mean the incident should be ignored.

This is terrible and unprofessional practice. To say to a parent they will be calling over a very important matter, and not returning the call.
I'd be taking her out until they up their game with safe guarding.
Hope she's okay

This boy is eleven or twelve. If prosecuted he could end up with a criminal record which he will have to declare in job applications -

Some people are clueless

Police at this stage won't prosecute - but they may save him from himself later on

Your DD was injured as school and you weren't contacted about it?! That is ridiculous. Glad you've contacted the head, sometimes escalating is the only way to get stuff deal with.