School not dealing with bullying

[Jeffwest1]

So, a few weeks ago my 13 year old daughter was attacked outside of her school by a boy she had had some issues with in the past, and the school she is at had not really dealt with it.

To be honest she has had to deal with almost 18 months of persistent bullying, all the school ever does is take statements from both of them, and, as you would expect, the bully doesn't admit to anything, in fact at time denies even knowing her, or being in the area when it happens, one classic was even saying they were not even at school!!

Anyway, so, the police were called as was a paramedic who took her to children A & E, note, we live about an hour bus ride from the school, we can make it in about 25 minutes on a good day by car, however they wanted to get her to hospital for it to be looked at.

We met here at A and E, where she had 6 stitches in a face wound, and of course gave a statement to the very nice police officer who attend. ed

She had been taken into a local Aldi and they had called police, Paramedic and the school, who sent a teacher to see what was going on.

I had a call from the head of year while in the hospital and informed him that she was shaken up, they were talking about possible concussion, as well as the injury to her eye socket/cheek bone, thank fully non of this came to be, but they wanted to check anyway.

We get a few calls from him over the next few days, and we arrange a meeting with the school for the following Monday.

We are informed at that meeting, that the boy in question got 1 single day as an exclusion which according to the deputy head is all they could give him, Note: the school is well known for not following the policies on anything with any consistency, the policy actually says 1 or 2 days can be given for a level 1 (1st time) offence.

Meanwhile our daughter is still not back at school, she does not feel safe, and as they have, as other people including the police and healthcare professional's have said, has effectively got away with it, this has not made her feel any better.

She is concerned that his friends will take it out on her that he had this whole day off, (This has happened before when friends of the bully have had a go at her as the bully was sent to isolation for kicking the back of her chair for most of a lesson before she complained.

I guess my issue is, what do your children's school say about what is classed as assault, do other school have stiffer penalties, or is our school no different??

Sorry, forgot to mention, as of last week the school also started marking her as an unauthorised absence, after the head of year sent an email telling us he though , after three weeks, that she should be back at school by now, even though in the meeting he said they would go at her pace regarding her coming back.

So sorry to hear this it sounds traumatic.

Personally I do think it should be classes as assault.I would speak with the police directly.

In your position I would move schools asap its gone on too long the school have been ineffective and unsupportive and you would be better off to cut your losses. Not sure if thats practical for you but that would be my initial thought.

Unfortunately sometimes some poor innocent kid just catches the attention of a bully and it cant be move on from once the bully starts to focus on them.

I think given this happened outside school you need to pursue this with the police.

That, in my opinion, should be considered an assault. With the cops, I would be open and honest. If I were in your position, I would cut my losses; the school has been inept and unsupportive for far too long. That is what I would initially consider, but I'm not sure if that would be helpful for you words from letters

The police have already got involved, they have chosen at this time to not pursue this, as the only real thing they could do is a community order, as the boy does not live in the same area as us that would be pointless, and as they cannot make the school keep him more than x yards away from her, that is unworkable as well. They have told him however that any further actions of this nature they charge him with Assault for this as well as adding any new charges, and then it will be a custodial sentence. We have finally had another meeting with the school, last day of term!!, and they are going to help her transition back to school at the start of the year, but we are already having conversation with our daughter that if that does not work, we may need to look at alternatives. Pretty crappy really.

This makes me so mad. You should press charges. The police are useless - they ignore this sort of thing. Imagine if it were two adults in a work place? I doubt it would be ignored, then.

How is your dd? The boy should be excluded permanently for doing this to her.

Can you escalate this to the governors of the school and copy in your MP? That’s what I’d do.

Failing all this, I’d move her to another school.

I don't understand why he has not been charged. Absolutely shocking. I hope u all get some resolution.

I would also be pursuing charges against the boy for assault. What on earth do the police mean they can't do anything?? Are they helpless against criminals?? What is the point of them so. And I would look for an alternative school for your daughter.
She doesn't feel safe because she's not safe. The school have shown her that they won't/ cant keep her safe. ( as have the police in this case, the poor child must be terrified)