Is this 'normal?' Worried....

[worriedabroad]

Morning all. NC as this could be a bit outing. We live overseas in the Middle East (in a very British enclave.)
DS1 is at a very highly regarded British School. He's 4 and in the Nursery year group, which is their main intake. Huge school - 6 forms per year group, Nursery - Yr 6.
Since starting he has been hurt a number of times by a boy in his class and a couple of other times by other boys in the playground. Enough for me to be called by the school nurse 3 times. His teacher says all the right things about 'gentle hands rules' etc, but no significant sanctions seem to have happened, even the time when he was punched straight in the face for no reason at all.
I am not alone. Amongst my friendship groups here, it seems very few children in the year group have not been hurt in some. It's absolutely rife. Of course I expect some pushing, shoving and scuffles, but this seems to be more serious across the board.
I guess I'm just wondering if this is a normal part of this age group at school? The Head of Year seems to think so.
Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks.

It isn't unusual for there to be a child in a class that regularly hurts others due to additional needs or delayed development meaning they do not have the empathy or awareness of the impact of their actions on others.

Here (UK) we are massively under funded to support those children which makes it very difficult to protect others from that behaviour. Maybe it's the same there.
Given the size of the school it makes sense that there would be more of these challenging behaviours.

It's not ok. But I don't know the answer.

Thabks @AuntMarch
It's a fee paying school so lack of funding not the reason. There is a teacher and 2 TAs to 24 children so 1:8. They also have a good Learning support team who are frequently
In and out of the classes. But clearly they're not coping.

How much supervision in the playground? It's not unusual for there to be a challenging child prone to violence but if the supervisor is aware of who that child is they can be monitored more closely. We had scuffles and minor cuts and bruises one time my eldest was bitten by a nursery child but not punched in the face that does sound extreme. It never required the attention of the nurse. Does DC feel safe at school?

Let’s just blame it on the special needs kids.

Your problem is (I guarantee) 6 forms and too little supervision on the playground. 6 forms is just to damn big.

Yes I agree it's way too big. Sadly where we are, there is not really a credible alternative. The only other accredited British school is quite a drive away - although if it continues I will have to take drastic steps. We've already lined up potential schools back in the UK for Yr 2/3.
He likes school but doesn't love it. He was very excited when he first went but I definitely think these incidents have taken the shine off it for him. Which makes me so bloody sad.

6forms is not too big. Sheesh, get out a little. The UK has unusually small schools. In the US, NZ, Australia and even Finland which is regarded as the world leader, schools can be enormous. It isn't relevant, what is relevant is the class size and the student to teacher ratio which in this case is fine. My experience of international schools is pretty negative though. Too many people moving around so the schools have little vested interest in forming good practice as there is little come back on them. In a local school, the results will affect the school's appeal but in international schools, the school can dismiss failure as a problem created somewhere else. Rather than finding amazing dedicated teachers, I found teachers who were there for the pay which is inevitably better than at home. Also, they are poor at identifying children with SEN as there is a higher proportion of children who are just not very settled due to living a fairly transient life.

Nobody is blaming SEN children.
If SEN is an explanation for these incidents, it is certainly not the child's fault, especially not at 4 years old.

But additional needs doesn't just mean SEN. Behaviour can be influenced by all sorts of different factors that mean a child needs extra support at the moment.
No child, or adult come to think of it, acts like that because they are happy and secure!
As we get older we learn what is and is not acceptable, and the majority of us are able to control our behaviour so as not to negatively impact others. Some children find it harder than others. I just think its important to realise it doesn't automatically make a kid "bad" or "naughty" and that hopefully things will improve.

1:8 is a better ratio than most classes with teachers get here in the UK. Here it's 1:30 with a part time TA if you're lucky, so that does certainly take away some of my claim about it being lack of support though! It shouldn't matter how many forms there are if there are that many adults, in theory. So no, I wouldn't say it's normal.