Attempted assaults at school, and an illogical class move - Australia based

[CommanderDaisy]

My DS11 has a serious personality clash with another boy at his school. This other boy has attempted to assault DS at least twice at school late last term. The boy has behavioural concerns - I'm quoting the school here, that cannot be specified due to to privacy laws.

Last term DS had a table thrown at him by said child, and on a later occasion was attacked physically in the playground. I believe these assaults have been minimised by the school due to the other childs behavoural concerns. On neither occasion did the school call me to let me know. I had to contact them later after hearing about it from DS. I am not allowed to know what the schools response to either incident was, also due to privacy laws.

I don't think my DS is a saint, he may have provoked this child on the second occasion - yet this child now has a fixation on my son, following him everywhere, taunting him etc.

The school, in all their wisdom - has decided to move this child into my sons class this term due to problems with peers in his previous class at the school.

I now have a child anxious of going to school in case he gets attacked again in his classroom.
( DS was fine dealing with playground issues,as he says he can run faster than the other kid, but is now on edge as he expects to get something launched at him randomly while he is concentrating on something else.)

I have contacted the school with my concerns about them not fulfilling their duty of care to DS by putting this boy in his class and requested they find an alternative class ( there are two other options) but other than that what could I do? And am I being "that parent" by having concerns about my sons safety?

All advice welcome.

Is this public or private school? Also, which state?

I had problems with DD2 in high school (yr11) and I went straight to the principal and explained my worries and concerns. I made it very clear to her that I was fully intending on contacting the state education board (for us that was Sydney) and also the police if things weren’t sorted instantly. DD was in public school, so this was the way to report things up thto chain. If she’d been in catholic school it would have been a call to the diocese office and police.

I'm sorry that is so sad. Your son should feel safe in school. He shouldn't have to need to run faster than this boy in the playground. If it was me I would do two things if I didn't feel the school was doing enough - speak to the governors and speak to the police. I'm not sure of Australian law, but in the UK children are legally responsible for their actions from 10. If this boy is throwing tables at children he needs help and your son needs protection.

Pressed post too soon!

I did contact the police and spoke to the duty sergeant and made a formal complaint of assault (my daughter had been spat at in the face and the other girl tried to push her down a flight of concrete stairs). The police/school liaison team were involved and the other girl was cautioned and suspended from school. We also took out an AVO and the other girl wasn’t allowed in any of DD2s classes and was restricted in where she could be in common areas of the school so that she wasn’t near DD2 at all.

I was really pleased with the way the school handled things but I had to make the initial push to get them to take such action. I was later told that as I got the police involved there were more options available to the school as there was outside involvement.

It sounds like the school aren’t dealing with this properly. DS was assaulted by a girl in his class why has behaviour problems. The school called me immediately to let me know what had happened, and the girl was suspended for a week while they assessed what they should do. When she returned they allocated an assistant to help the girl in class and there have been no further issues.
This was a public school in Sydney. For me, the parent contacted me to apologise, so slightly different situation, but the school dealt with it well.

who has

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Public school in NSW.
It's a fair point to make that if ann adult started tossing furniture around they would be reported for attempted assault, yet in this circumstance the school does't even call us!
That may remain an option if they don't do something. I cannot believe they put this kid in the same class.