School governors child involved in bullying

[Ohbehaveyoutoerag]

Just that, aibu to make a complaint, parent is aware of the situation and being on the school board as a safeguarding officer I’m really surprised this parent has done sweet eff all.

School took minimal action until I made it clear I want their zero tolerance policy enforced, so we will see but the friendship group is finished after this. Sad as they started in reception together except for the instigator who started afterwards but I don’t want my DC anywhere these children after what I’ve heard.

I have been advised not to pull DC out just yet but not sure what to do in the meantime.

Ah that’s really tough because IME schools tend to protect their own. Can you speak to the Chair of Governors?

They are absolutely useless and I say this based on a serious incident last year whereby they did absolutely nothing, so not sure what to do.

The parent of the instigator of this bullying appears to have inveigled her way into some sort of PTA capacity too, so no use there either.

This particular parent unfortunately has a large part to play in the bullying which was only uncovered recently. Outing so won’t get into to much detail.

This happened to me. In the end I took my child out of the school. It was just easier in the long run.

Have you talked the the head teacher?
The PTA has no power at all in a situation like this, so don't waste any time with them. Head Teacher and Chair of Governors is where you should be going.

I would follow the complaints procedure . But would look to move my child elsewhere .

Follow the complaint procedure for the school. It'll be on the website. You should complain to the school in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with how they have handled the complaint, there will be a procedure of who to contact next. (ie chair of governors).

There is not long left in primary so very disruptive but absolutely considering moving them.

I have made the head aware - the governors at the school are particularly ineffective I must say but will follow due process if that is what needs to be done.

The parents of one the children bullying my DC claim their D.C. isn’t entirely involved, how can they be so deluded. It’s very disappointing as the used to be close - the child who is driving this is incredibly underhand in what they’re doing but as I said it all came out recently and I was shocked at the extent of the bullying to include what this parent had been telling their DC about my children - they’ve had a total of I think one play date many years ago, as well as what else was discovered.

I am so sad for my DC as they are very down and it’s impact learning - this was confirmed today by the school when it came to light during a pastoral session with my DC.

I’m also so angry the parents refuse to acknowledge their children’s behaviour too.

I wouldn't worry at all about the fact they are a governor. Governors are not usually some close-knit group, they're a bunch of random people involved with the school who turn up to scrutinise decisions and never see each other outside of that.

This should be dealt with like any other issue. In most schools, that is:

• Class teacher first
• Headteacher next

At these stages, you are attempting to resolve the issue. If that is unsuccessful, you can attempt to raise it at a policy level (the policy is wrong, or the policy is not being followed) by going to:

• Chair of governors
• A panel of three governors who have no connection to the case. If necessary, these can be borrowed from another school. It is unlikely, though, that all the governors are aware/would side with another governor.

Your post - "particularly ineffective", "how can they be so deluded" does not read well, as it is emotional rather than factual. Try to ensure that any communications with the school are factual (on this date, x happened, and the school failed to do y) if you want to be taken seriously.

What year are you talking ? Year 6 ? Are other children going to high school as well as I would want them in Seperate classes . Any lower yes consider a year is a long time .

put it all in writing .It leaves a paper trail for Ofsted and for your child

@Mousey23

Of course I’d not put that in a report to the school - besides there is no actionable response to a parent refusing to acknowledge their child’s crappy behaviour in any case.

For the purposes of this post though I disagree that it’s not factual and cite the following for context: they are ineffectual as there was a safeguarding breach and nothing was done to mitigate any future issues upon reporting to said head governor or whatever they are called until I escalated the matter and only then was action taken.

and yes based on a conversation with a parent not a governor they are deluded, as this parent refuses to believe their child is bullying mine, despite it being witnessed and acknowledged by the TA that their child is actively involved in bullying mine.

reporting the facts is not being emotionally led

I am not worried about the governors I just can’t take them seriously based on experience, and want to know if there is a way to circumnavigate a lengthily process whereby my child is subjected to maltreatment.

In any case I will wait for the head to respond as they didn’t attend the recent meeting but assume will be involved in the response, however as I understand it the school is in breach of its own anti bullying policy so want to as I mentioned understand if there is recourse other than to send a pointless email to a governor who has proven to not really take appropriate action. Assume not and due process must be followed, I’ll check the school site for absolute clarity on their specific process.

If no action is taken by the school and they are in breach of their own guidelines, maybe advise them that you intend to report them to OFSTED and see what action that provokes.

You have to follow the complaints policy through each stage. A poster has outlined usual procedure above. It moves quickly as there are or should be timescales attached. Don’t mention Ofsted, schools know they don’t deal with parental complaints unless the complaints procedure has been followed. And even then not really.

Anyone a teacher / governor / head / DoE in here - what usually happens in these situations when it’s been verified and witnessed as ongoing bullying to the point it’s named as such

Ive started due process but would like to
Understand what is supposed to happen now. I’ve taken the wait and see approach and the school of course have done nothing after several reports so here we are.

I think I’ve a good relationship with the teaching staff and never had course to intervene except on the occasion of the safeguarding issue which is obviously a more production position to be in In order to resolve matters, but this should have been dealt with a while ago.

DC begged me not to say anything but the constant crying and upset meant I had no choice. It’s now starting to come out the extent of it so helpful to D.C. for support.

gosh that’s a lot of typing but cathartic!

It’s unlikely the head will be keen to act on this due tho the fact the governors appoint, monitor and review a head of school and can dismiss.

So they are a parent governor ‘only’. There will be several other independent governors there who whilst not safeguarding leads will have had safeguarding training and access to the all
policies.

Follow the school complaints process to the letter and get it escalated.

I’m an independent governor. Parent governors are excluded from some things ie. they can’t be on the HT performance and appraisal committee. I’ve seen some great parent governors and then there are others…. They are needed but numbers usually kept in check to balance the Board, and doesn’t mean they are BFFs with the Head by a long stretch.

@Palomabalom but if the school are in breach of bullying / behaviour policy surely they have to?

My experience, having worked with lots of governing boards is that you need to make yourself impossible to ignore. Follow the complaints procedure, but at the point where you feel that it is being ignored it could become a safeguarding issue and I would start using phrases like ‘you cannot ensure the safety of my child’ and ‘you are not safeguarding my child’s mental health’ that kind of thing. Safeguarding is so key in schools. Get hold of their Anti bullying policy so you can show they are not following it. You could make a complaint about the Head if ultimately nothing happened. You might not be inclined to do this, but there are also solicitors who specialise in this kind of thing, which might not be the route you want to take, but it does make people take you seriously.
Personally though, I think if I felt I needed to do that it would be time to go somewhere else.

I’m fairness the school have always been very reasonable and supportive which is maybe some of the issue here, but there are only so many circle times to be had when it becomes a policy breach.

Im so sad for D.C. as I said as they are too scared to speak up in case they are labelled as a ‘ snitch’ I believe they label telling a teacher or parent. I breached DCs trust too by escalating this but it’s beyond letting DC try to manage this so hopefully these children will now understand there are consequences to their behaviour towards my D.C.

Moving may be an option of course.

This isn’t true. I am a governance professional and leading clerk to governors. The only governors who cannot be involved in the head’s performance management process are staff governors. This is something a lot of boards get wrong. Bearing in mind that the Chair and Vice Chair should not both be on that committee, and staff governors can’t either, a lot of small boards would run out of governors if that were the case.
Anyway op - you should not write to the safeguarding governor to raise a complaint. If you read and follow the complaints procedure you will see what to do. This parent governor cannot be involved in any part of this complaint because they are considered “tainted” due to their involvement. The Headteacher responds to the complaint, and would prepare a response for panel.
If you get to the stage where a panel of governors is set up, this will be organised by the Clerk. If they cannot get enough governors together who have no prior knowledge they are legally allowed to approach other governing boards to ask if they have a governor who will step in.

This would not surprise me. I am a head of year and my life was made very difficult by a governor because I made sure there were serious consequences when her son bullied another child.

This is complete rubbish. Of course governors don’t dismiss a headteacher because one of their number was unhappy with how a complaint was handled. Nor can it affect their performance management decisions, unless the head was handling complaints badly.
Parent governors have to wear two hats - in this case the governor is just another parent and in any decent board would be kept well away from any process other governors were involved in.

That’s hardly the same as governors dismissing a head and I hope you contacted your union and raised a grievance.

Definitely put it in writing, to class teacher, head teacher, chair of governors, any pastoral support manager. Use the school's bullying policy for reference. Although your child is soon to be moving on, it is important for her story to be heard, believed and acted upon. This could be valuable for their secondary school experience. Also, of course, your official complaint will demand a response, and reflection by the school concerning their response (Ofsted klaxon).

I moved one of mine for the final year, he started in the October of year 6 and it was the best decision we could have made. Years later he has mentioned how glad he was that I moved him. I think the child’s well-being is paramount rather than how long they have left at the school.