Is my child in danger at school?

[Softheart15]

Hi, a boy in my daughter’s year punched her friend in the throat and kicked another in her stomach, he recently struck again on another child but this time much worse, kid ended up
in hospital again unprovoked! Turns out he’s got anger issues and does MMA so lashes out randomly and whoever is there gets it! School are brushing his behaviour under the carpet but I’m worried and have raised this with the head only to be dismissed as have other parents.He was suspended for two day so we’re all waiting for him to strike again but he gets worse with each attack. I spoke to
some of the parents and turns out he’s been doing it inside/outside of school for years! His parents are total Aholes and don’t care and his mum even told another mother to talk to her and not the school but I don’t want it to be my child next. Am I making a big deal for nothing?

I would report this to the police for starters along with a complaint to the LEA.

Schools should be able to permanently exclude for this type of behaviour. In fact my daughter's school did exclude a child (year 8)permanently because she attacked another child, dragging her to the floor and stamping on her head and the poor girl also ended up in hospital.

Should have added she’s in junior school, year 6

Presumably over the age of 10 then? If anything like that happened to my child I'd be calling the police.

Thank you @Dramatic , school just don’t want to do anything. I want to force their hand but just don’t want my child targeted

@Softheart15
A child ends up in hospital and the school don't want to do anything???
I would be fucking raging.

You can absolutely contact your local police who will have a Safer Schools Officer (SSO) or also known as, school liaison officer (SLO)... or just a police officer who works across local schools in the area.

I did this myself when my daughter was in year 7 and a group of kids were bullying her to the point of suicide and dragged her into a bathroom, telling her to follow through with it.
I also removed her from that school. But yes, I did get police involved. And in your case, I would too because staff and parents do the bare minimum, if I'm honest. And this won't get better if nothing's being done to prevent this boy from going further with his harm.

How have the parents of the child who ended up in hospital not got the police involved?

Are SS involved with this boy and his family?

Do you know where he’s learning MMA or could you guess? Hitting a girl / younger kids like this would get most boys his age permanently excluded. I’d tell them. I’d also group up with the parents whose kids were hurt and contact the police - I presume he’s over 10?

I'd report to Ofsted and I'd go to the local police station for advice and if she was lower down the school I'd pull her out.
I'd also ask for a meeting with the head and tell them, that they better do something with him because if he touches my child, you (the head) and him ( the bully) will both with your mothers had a headache the night you were conceived by the time I've finished.

@ShowerOfShites not sure, heard they were in shock but don’t know them personally to ask. SS are really odd, apparently a parent contacted them for the previous assault but they said school should deal with it

@Ozanj no idea re MMA, but a parent suggested reporting them for teaching these tactics to a child with anger issues. Not sure who to report to as doubt police will get involved in it.

So you'd go in and issue a threat to a person trying to educate your child? Who is probably struggling with making plans to ensure the safety of all children, while having no resources with which to do that, except permanent exclusion, which is highly discouraged and makes headteachers feel like they've failed.

That's not OK. And it's the reason that headteachers are increasingly impossible to recruit.

OP, you're definitely right to be concerned, and to go and express that concern and ask what they are doing to ensure your child is safe at school. You could ask if they have contacted the police, and could contact the police yourself I think. These incidents are not OK and all and none of the children should be expected to tolerate them.

As an ex school governor I know it is very hard to get children like this permanently excluded. The local authority seem to turn a blind eye and are too worried about their ofsted rating for SEN provision. The perpetrator so often seems to be portrayed as the victim. I would try speaking to board of governors or ofsted but ultimately their hands are often tied. My advice would be to change schools tbh.

@Thisismynewusernamedoyoulikeit thanj you, I think I’ll group with parents and contact the police. Everyone talks the talk but are scared their child is next if reported. It’s a private school so no issue of resource, I’m calling it weak leadership.

It's scary isn't it but your DC was not involved and you only have second hand information on what has happened. You can ask the school how they are keeping your DC safe, but they cannot tell you about the other child.

If it’s a private school then they do have the power to expel the child. It’s shocking that the school is not accepting responsibility for this child’s actions. I would suggest to them they you will be getting the police involved if the problem is not resolved.

@MSLRT thank you, he’s not a SEN child. More of a rich, entitled brat! I don’t understand though how he keeps getting away with it and the school let him.

@Fiveminutesinthegreenhouse it really is. I only found out because a mum saw the child who was injured a few days later and asked. The school totally down played it to all the parents and everything goes back to normal until next time

@Thisismynewusernamedoyoulikeit thank you, I asked another parent who is closely linked with the poor kid that was hurt and apparently according to the school policy he’s been given senior school sanctions, so they’ve done their bit

Private school?

Would it be possible for all the parents in the year group to threaten to remove their children from the school if the thug isn't expelled?

My goodness.
When children are as violent as this, some will try to excuse his behaviour as 'special needs' but your innocent daughter has needs too- the need to be safe, and to feel safe from attack in her own classroom and school.

The school ought to expel him, he's clearly getting worse.

I'm shocked that it's a private school (which makes me sad on a wider level that it would have been more understandable in a state school).

Does the school end at year 6? I'm wondering if their reticence to expel is because they've only got a year to go, and would struggle to replace the child (and his fees)

@Fiveminutesinthegreenhouse really scary, the school number came up on my phone last week and I panicked thinking my DDs been hurt. Another parent told me same thing happened to them hence we’re all worried

Private school?! I know kids expelled from private school for considerably less.

I’d get a bunch of like minded parents together and basically force their hand - he goes or the lot of us go/aren’t paying. You’ll probably find his parents donated significant sums to the school roof fund, or six generations of men in his family went there or some other reason why he’s still there.

Why on earth would you pay for this kind of educational setting for your child?

Make sure you apply to different secondary schools!