Backpack strap cut with scissors

[IkeSmile]

Hello everyone!
Back in December I needed your advice for actions against the school who covered bullying of a migrant child. Here we are again, with the same child and his backback strap being cut with a scissor. You can see in the picture that it's a clear cut.
Question?
React and complain in writing or ignore it?
I feel is the same child or a friend of his, acting like a thug? The only people wurh access to the cloakroom are teachers and the pupils.
Thank you!

Because you may end up looking very bad in the local press, alienating your community and destroying your relationship with the school for a start.
If you wanted the school to take action you have shot yourself in the foot I am afraid.
Going to the papers rarely achieves the desired result

Remove your child from the school and send him somewhere else OP. A school without any ethnicities you dislike. You clearly have no trust in the school to keep your child safe. So remove him and find a new school.

The bullying reports made against this child are treated with ignorance. I only found out the headteacher is Irish, when another parent said to me that she isn't surprised about the lack of reaction from the school. She is the one who encouraged me in the first place to register my son for self defense classes, which I did.
My son was approached by a group of 5-6 older boys, with one of them being the older sibling of this aggressive child (all in year 6), and threatened. Again, the school did nothing.
Basically, all the Irish children have a gang, and make fun of the children with different nationality. Now tell me this is a made up story...it's a Catholic school in England.
So racism is an issue.
The bully recognised that he hates my son, just because.
So I'm not "that mum"!!!! I know what we're going through.

I'm aware it sounds somehow, but it really is the truth. I'm not the only concerned parent. But hey...we should accept it!

I would say a lot of schools are crap with bullies. My eldest was bullied I complained, nothing was done, I went higher. Still nothing. Apparently there are no bullies in that school. I went to the council, it was added to the bullying child’s record and mines that he had been bullied by him and they were to avoid the same classes in high school. This took years, in hindsight I wish I’d moved him. High school came down like a ton of bricks when he got a flying monkey ( another boy) to start on him who then confessed and blamed everything on bully.

Both kids were white Scottish so no element of racism in my case.

My best advice is to use their language certain phrases seem to trigger safeguarding responses. X doesn’t feel safe in school etc.

My eldest also learnt to box and the direct aggression stopped after he punched the aggressor back. Carried on with the sneaky stuff though.

Probably as well now she will be doing a <insert local paper here> sadface.
Really bad move OP

Nobody is telling you to accept it, just to deal with it properly

I'm sorry but a child in school in London (or anywhere else, but London is known for knife crime) with a blade sharp enough to cut like that is a huge threat. And to be shut down by the SLT in school is shocking. WHY has a child got a blade in school in the first place?

I would pull my child out of a school if I found out blades were carried. Certainly not a safe environment. It's like something out of Gangs of New York.

I'm aware it sounds somehow, but it really is the truth. I'm not the only concerned parent. But hey...we should accept it!

Nobody is saying you should accept it. What they are saying is that procedures should be followed. If the Head is ignoring you, make a complaint to the school board and/or to Ofsted. Follow the complaint procedures that will be on the school website. But don't go to the papers without having followed them, complaining about the Irish ganging up on you. This will not help you or your son.

I disagree. There is racism going on there and it isn't @IkeSmile perpetrating it. It's anti immigrant threats by the majority in the school.

Also this.
I've seen many a broken backpack and the fraying on that strap indicates there is a possibility that it just snapped. It happens.

But the OP prefers to believe an 8 year old snuck a sharp knife or scissors into the cloakroom and hacked at the bag unseen. And despite having absolutely no evidence of this scenario is prepared to go to the press with their version.

Sadly OP Mumsnet is not the place for this discussion. Other minority posters (and some non minority posters) can easily recognise how serious this is- as all the mums would if your child was being bullied and her belongings cut for being a girl.

But you have and will get an enormous amount of people not only refusing to believe racism is a problem but also making out that you are hysterical and paranoid for knowing it when you and your family experience it.

The advice from some to get all communications with the school in writing is good advice.

OP. I'm sorry you feel your dc has been subject to racist bullying by dc. Please ignore those refusing to accept kids of their nationality could be racist and suggesting you must be racist to think that.
You'd be better off either moving your dc or going through the complaints procedure on the website than going to the paper.

So 90% of the pupils are in a gang?

It would help the discussion if the OP stopped spouting anti Irish racism.

Racism is everywhere regrettably and no doubt it is found in this school too.

However, OP’s assertion that the principal isn’t acting because of her ethnicity/nationality (and subsequent bias) is also a racist assumption. There may be many reasons why the headteacher isn’t engaging fully, no evidence of the backstrap cutting being one. Maybe she’s not great at her job, or understaffed/unsupported? We just can’t know why OP isn’t getting the response she needs. Without doubt, following the correct channels to complain and recording everything would help you here though OP.

Your child being bullied at school is absolutely terrible and something you are quite right to pursue OP, but I think you’re approaching it the wrong way.
You say you’re respectful and kind but quite a lot of what you’ve said on this thread seems to be wild surmisings and predictions. I know you’re angry but, the trouble is, a lot of people will take you less seriously when you fling around accusations like that.

If this backpack is constructed in a usual way, this "break" has occurred cleanly, through 2 layers of webbing, and not at a point weakened by stitching. I can't see how that would happen naturally.

It's called majority rule and discrimination. Basic power politics.

And you think Local papers are the best way to tackle that?
They will go with whatever angle creates the most readers/clickbait and will have no interest in actually helping OP and her child.

OP, you sound very racist yourself.

Good grief OP - are you not bothering to read the numerous posts that have told you that you must follow the correct procedure? Every school must (not should) have a Complaints Policy that is agreed by the Governing Body and must be published on their website. This sets out the different stages that complainants must follow if they wish to make a formal complaint and how the complaint must be reported. If the class teacher and Headteacher are unable to resolve your concerns to your satisfaction, then your complaint will be escalated to the governors - whether an individual governor is asked to investigate initially or your complaint goes straight to the Complaints Committee depends on your school’s Policy. You seem to be ignoring this and going straight to the local press just makes you appear to be one of ‘those parents’ that all schools dread. You may well have a very valid complaint but it must be investigated using the proper channels. I would also strongly suggest that you tone down your derogatory comments about the Irish community in the school - it shows you in a very bad light indeed

im presuming you are catholic too OP?

going to the press was a terrible idea. Once that hits the print your son is likely to experience even more bullying. And god help you if you have talked about Irish people to the reporter like you have here.

Request/insist on a meeting with the Head. Don't take no for an answer. Keep records of any correspondence. Ask to see the school's bullying policy and ask them what sanctions they are going to take.
Ask if bullying is being addressed (and how) in PSHE).
If you are not satisfied, write to the head of governors and say that you think bullying is not being addressed sufficiently.

Wow. You’re assuming that anyone objecting to OP’s anti-Irish statements has to be Irish themselves?! Quite the bias going on there!

(I haven’t a drop of Irish blood FYI.)

Going to the papers is not going to help your situation.
As everyone has already said you need to follow the school procedure.
You sound quite racist, which is something you are complaining about.
The school cannot punish a child without evidence. There is always the possibility your own child knows how strongly you feel about the school and this other child, and has done this to their own bag! This would not be unusual.
My daughter's class had a parent going on the group chat claiming rumours were being spread, her daughter was having nightmares and in tears over it, she said other children were also affected by the rumours. She got some other mums to go to the governors (completely unnecessary) to make a point and get to the bottom of it all. Turns out it was her own daughter spreading rumours. She went very quiet after that.

Going to the press will make your child stand out further, and you will come across as that parent. By doing this publicly this will be seen by other schools and if you did move your child they will all be very apprehensive to take on your child (staff not being alone with them in case of false accusations for example, supervising your child very closely at play times).

Possibly. But schools ignoring a worry about racism and bullying towards a child that has migrated to the UK and is an ethnic minority in that school is a very bad thing.

It isn't a made-up thing. I've seen it happen.