School Bully Broke My Child's Wrist :(

[dilydaly]

Can anyone please offer advice on where I stand with this. I live in Swansea, South Wales (as I know rules can vary with area).
There's a boy in my child's class who is constantly in trouble / causing trouble with all the kids. There have been numerous incidents over the years (they are currently in year 4, age 8/9). For example, fighting with other kids, throwing chairs across the class, throwing kids lunch boxes, breaking things, defecting on the changing room floor on more than one occasion. There was an ongoing situation with another child which resulted in the other child changing schools. It's this incident with the other child that makes me worry that the school won't take this as seriously as they should.
I can't say that he's bullied my child as this would imply that there has been an ongoing issue between him and my child which isn't true, there was one incident 2 months back where he kicked her (nothing overly serious, no mark left) but on Thursday he couldn't get his own way in the school yard and was told by their class teacher he couldn't do what he wanted to do (which was to continue to annoy my daughter and her 2 friends) so he (in front of the teacher) lost his temper and shoved my daughter to the ground, with such force it broke a bone. Aside from the broken bone in her wrist, she was left with 2 large grazes down the side of her face, small grazes to her knee and a tiny graze to her wrist.
I phoned my local PCSO for some advice about taking this to the police, she consulted with her sergeant then phoned me back to say this could indeed be reported and recorded as an assault. I went straight up the school and spoke to the deputy head (head mistress wasn't there) and told her what had happened (she noted everything I said down) and I told her that something must be done to stop him. Missing a play time simply won't cut it. She told me that something will be done but they can't tell me what will be done to the bully. She also asked me to hold off reporting it to the police until Monday when I'll have a meeting with the headmistress to discuss the next step.
I suppose what I want to know is does this warrant a suspension ? The deputy head as good as told me he won't be expelled. Also, what affect will reporting this to the police have on the school ? I mean it won't be ideal to have it recorded that an assault has taken place on their premises. I just want to go to this meeting armed with as much info as possible to try and get the right outcome, because so far this child seems untouchable.

Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated,
Thanks

Any update?

Sorry OP that's appalling. He may not have intended to break her wrist but he recklessly inflicted a serious injury which, if he were an adult, would be an offence that he may well have received an immediate prison sentence for.

I can understand that there might be things going on with this child that school can't tell you about but that seems like such a minimal punishment that it does appear as though school are attempting to sweep it under the carpet.

Your DD needs to see that the pain and distress she has gone through has been acknowledged, the person responsible has been punished and school need to make sure she feels safe and is safe at school in future. You as parents need reassurance that you can send your child into school and she won't come home with broken bones (that were not even been noticed) The false account of how she was hurt is worrying, do school have an explanation for this?

I agree that you should put it all in writing send it to the Governors and escalate as appropriate.

I would also report to social services. If your child has witnessed strangling, chair throwing, other violence and the school is minimising, best flag it up

He caused the broken wrist, there should be consequences.

From my experience, schools sometimes insist that they are supporting children with SEN when they aren't seeking all support. It certainly sounds like this boy is struggling in mainstream (*massive SEN assumption but it certainly could / does fit the behaviour you're describing)

I would definitely go to the local authority over this - because the school are failing to provide your child with a safe learning environment. And if the boy does have SEN then keeping him in at break times and putting him with younger children is creating an environment where he might be much more likely to lash out - so they're failing him too.

I hope your daughter is feeling better

Awful Op
Hope your dd ok

"He may not have intended to break her wrist but he recklessly inflicted a serious injury which, if he were an adult, would be an offence that he may well have received an immediate prison sentence for."

Because if he was an adult he would be expected to have adult reasoning, adult impulse control, adult foresight, adult restraint and adult self-control. But he isn't an adult. He is a 9 year old boy, not yet at the age of criminal responsibility, who has none of those things. So whilst what he has done is very bad, and should be in no way minimised, comparing his actions to those of an adult is very unhelpful. Because he is a child and children do stupid things without having any idea of what the result will be.

OP,
You will not get far by demanding the school punish the child, the child clearly has additional needs and punishment doesn't appear to be working. They will also be limited in regards to what information they can give you. It may be that home life for the child is not good and that exclusion would not be appropriate. Too many unknowns for you to repeatedly pursue this.

Your priority is how the school propose to safeguard your child. What additional supervision and curriculum adaptations are they going to implement to ensure she is safe in their care. Those sort of comments will get a more concrete response.

iougle - I did not say he should be treated as though he was an adult. Obviously he is below the age of criminal responsibility and he will not be going to go to prison.

I do think the way in which this type of incident is treated in law is relevant in this context. The school initially described the incident as a fall and based on what the OP has said they do appear to be minimising this. If a child hits or pushes and serious injury is the result then I think that needs to be dealt with in a different way to a child who pushes but no harm is caused. The OPs daughter has had her wrist broken, I think she needs to see that it has been taken seriously. We don't know what the situation is with this child and I agree that it would be better to focus on what the school are going to do to keep her and others safe in future.

I know this is an old post but am curious as to how it all planned out?