Daughter attacked at school

[Jollymum81]

Hi everyone, o am after some other points of view please.
Yesterday my 14yo daughter was using a printer in class at her school when a boy walked behind her and said " Does this hurt?" He then proceeded to slash her leg with a blade he had made by smashing open and flattening the blade of a pencil sharpener!! 😱. Luckily he only managed to cause a nasty scratch and was immediately removed from class. He was suspended for one day and is due back tomorrow but has to be in isolation while he the school "work" with him. I am beyond furious that nothing tougher has been done and think that as it was an assault with a basically a blade, that the police should be involved?? I'm terrified that this child will do something worse to another child of something more isn't done. Please advice x

I’m so sorry for your daughter - you are 100% doing the right thing, your daughter needs to see that she is protected and that a boy cannot just attack her and come back to class the next wk.!

I don't think you're stupid at all! When you're child is at school they become the schools responsibility and this happened during school time. I do agree that that it may not legally be their duty to report it and let's face it what school wants to draw attention to these types of incidents happening on their premises. When we reported racist abuse to the police during the school holidays they said every secondary school has a nominated police officer attached to the school and that if racist abuse happened at school we could report it to them. I hope you managed to get some reassurance for your daughter, children should not have to live in fear!

The police publish guidance about when schools should report an assault and when it should be handled via the school's behaviour policy. It is very detailed and includes a flow chart to help make a decision.

I don't think the school have done anything wrong here. They removed him, excluded him for a day, discussed this with his parents and are now allowing him back only into isolation for a further period. Remember, they will have the bigger picture and the full context. On the face of it, they have taken it seriously and followed their behaviour policy.

However, police guidance does say that police should be contacted if parents request it so, if you request this, the school should act accordingly even if they believe it was a one-off incident and has been handled proportionately.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

I’m so sorry for your daughter - you are 100% doing the right thing, your daughter needs to see that she is protected and that a boy cannot just attack her and come back to class the next wk.!

I doubt this will lead to a permanent exclusion. I suppose it depends on the context but I think it's unlikely. If you decide to report op, do manage your expectations and decide what course of action you could live with.

What happened op? You said you would keep the thread updated?

@Jollymum81 did you contact the police and was your DD ok?