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 think they meant 'wish' instead of 'with', a variation of 'you'll wish you were never born'

Raise it with the school as a safeguarding concern and do it in writing (email to the admin / reception team and FAO for whichever teacher it’s for.) Say you are concerned they are not doing enough to keep your child and others safe.

Shouldnt have to but this will get you a quicker and better response. Also have a paper trail when they can’t remember / forget conversations!

@Thisismynewusernamedoyoulikeit oh it very much is true, that’s the thing people can’t get their heads around it as they think these things don’t happened in private schools, as they have fantastic marketing/PR staff who only glorify the good bits. Generally the children are good but that small percentage of a problem and the school refuse to act.

@Bananasplitz97 thank you, will do. I’ll speak to the parents again and see who’s willing to put pen to paper. I just hope my child isn’t affected by my raising concerns as that’s what a few people have said.

@ReadingInTheRain583 no I’ve seen the injured children, that’s enough and hearsay wouldn’t make it to the heads office (not in this school anyways). Bit difficult to miss when it’s a face injury. I am worried as I saw the girls and now realise it’s not a one off out of character attack.

Whilst there might be work going on in the background to sort out this child, it’s clearly having no effect if he keeps on offending and op is absolutely right to be concerned. It is a legitimate worry for her to think that it may be her child next.

Absolutely report to the LEA. I’m not sure if you can report to the police at this stage as you are neither the victim, nor the victims mother-but it’s worth looking into. This child should be in a school For children with behavioural issues-where the staff are trained and qualified to handle him. There was a young boy at my son’s primary school who was very similar, he hit a teacher. That was the catalyst to them finally excluding him.

Do hospital staff have no obligation to report a child being treated after an assault? I know they have more than enough other things to be doing and the parents should be taking responsibility for it, but I'd have thought they d have had to inform police under safeguarding.

I didn't realise this was private school. I wouldn't pay to send my DC somewhere I felt was unsafe. If you feel the schools response is inadequate, it will be the same in other instances like this with other children.

I’d be pulling your kids out now. Clearly the head is scared of the parents. Just pull them out.

I spoke tosome of the parents and turns out he’s been doing it inside/outside of school for years!

not sure, heard they were in shock but don’t know them personally to ask.

I only found out because a mum saw the child who was injured a few days later and asked.

I asked another parent who is closely linked with the poor kid that was hurt and apparently

but apparently there’s no cctv

^ from some of your own posts. There a lot of "apparently" and he said she saids. Also a lot of things you seem adamant on, that you can't really have any idea about. "He definitely doesn't have SEN", "there must be violence in the home" etc.

You can only take steps to protect your child. You'd be completely right to speak to the school and find out what steps they're taking to safeguard children against violence but getting hysterical and trying to recruit other parents into action won't do you any favours.

So he's adhd and hits out. My daughter did the same until recently. She smashed another child's iPad. It cost me 350 quid the child shouldn't have had an iPad in their bag. I was in tears all the time from other parents. Anyways I've paid private and my dd takes elvanse and she's a different kid. Blame cahms not the mum.

Personally, I would start working through the complaints process, stating that appropriate safeguarding is not in place.

Here is the link for how to start and escalate complaints in independent schools. Try and encourage other parents follow the process too.
www.isaschools.org.uk/about/information-for-parents.html#:~:text=If%20parents%20feel%20that%20their,vast%20majority%20of%20our%20schools).

Usually the route to try to resolve issues like this is

Head teacher
Chair of governors
Police
Local authority
Ofsted

Although, as it is a private school the last two don't apply.

Would shaming the school on social media be too extreme?

I would have thought the threat of several parents removing their childen from the school would make the school think again about not getting involved.

Could parents club together to instruct a solicitor to send the school a letter re failures to keep children safe and that any further incidents will be treated as a breach of contract or similar, as well as negligence?

That's a very good idea.

It’s a private school?! I can’t believe they haven’t got rid of the offender in that case.

Complaints process, police, do any parents work for a local newspaper? Private schools are nervous about bad press

@Greentreesandbushes i didn’t think of that but definitely worth considering. Been speaking to parents with children in other private schools and word is that they let lots slide now due to VAT increase as they don’t want to loose business.

I doubt the police will act unless parents of children who have been attacked report this. The school is presumably worried about disability discrimination, but it's up to them to sort out provision for SEN with the parents. You are still entitled to talk to them about safeguarding. My bet is that if enough parents threatened to take their children out, they would act pretty quickly.

Contact the LADO - they are not safeguarding the children.

The class bully at my son’s school moved on to my son a little while back and he’d been dealt with poorly.

I saw the headteacher at parents evening which was fortunately thar day and said to her that if he touches my son I’ll be contacting the police and the LADO and that I wouldn’t be fobbed off so they deal with it fast or get prepared.

He never went near my boy again. Zero clue what they did but I assume they did something.

You need to get tough.

The school are being quite short sighted here. They may be over subscribed. But they sure as hell won't be if this gets out.

I'd be looking at other independents ASAP to safeguard your own child. At the moment independents are struggling a bit with interest. I'd also be seeking advice from the independant equivalent of ofsted. I'd seek advice from the police or encourage other parents to do so. May be worth considering posting reviews online, they're ultimately a business providing a substandard service. Anyone looking at independents will likely be looking and asking around about schools. Word gets out and they may struggle. They deserve to!

If this is a school in East Anglia (suffolk/norfolk or cambridgeshire). Please share it as currently looking in the area and i'd avoid this like the plague!

The police won’t do anything if you report that you’re scared your child will be attacked. They won’t take a report of other children being hurt from you and they’ll tell you that you’re wasting their time reporting your worries about your own child who has not been hurt.

Saying that, I completely get why you’re concerned. But until your child is actually hurt there is nothing you can report to the police. You’d be better off taking it up with the school governors if it’s a private school - bypass the head teacher.

School, and police. Copy in child protective services, the local MP.

I know it's not the point of the thread but I would never in a million years assume that 'things like this' don't happen in private schools. I went to a state school where all the rich private school thugs ended up once they got the boot. They were some of the nastiest, most entitled kids I have ever come across.