To report after-school incident to school

[RedSkyAtNight]

I genuinely can't work out whether I am over-reacting (or possibly under-reacting!) here and what I should do.

Yesterday DD (11, in Year 6) walked home from school with her same aged friend. About 15 minutes walk away from school (distance mentioned to be clear this was not a "at school" incident), 3 Year 6 boys thought it would be amusing to squirt water at the girls from water bottles and stuff grass down the back of their tops.

The girls are adamant that they did nothing to provoke the boys and repeatedly told them to stop it and leave them alone. They were both a bit shaken when they got home, but not seriously upset.

I have told them that I will ring the school after the bank holiday and see if someone can "have a word" (not sure if they can/will as it was out of school?). However my gut feeling is that the boys thought it was a funny prank that they took too far, rather than it being malicious, so I did wonder if this was overkill. DH thinks I am being too blase and it could be considered assault.

I don't suppose it matters but for the sake of completeness I'll add that the girls are actually physically bigger than the boys involved.

Does my response (ringing the school) sound like the right thing to do?

Definitely tell the school.

Letting older children and teenagers get away with this kind of behaviour normalises the idea that girls can be ignored when they say no, or that other people can put their hands down girls' tops with impunity.

These particular boys do need to learn that this kind of behaviour isn't acceptable, and writing it off as just a prank does nobody any favours in the long run. They are certainly old enough to understand that other children have the right to stop anybody doing anything to their bodies that they don't want.