How difficult/easy is it to get an injunction/restraining order after sexual assault?

[assdoc]

DD1 (13) was sexually assaulted by an older boy from school whilst travelling home from school. The boy was arrested, admitted to the offence, he was convicted and reprimanded by the police. I was confident that school would expell him and DD would be able to return to school and try to put it behind her and move on with her life.

I was stunned when last week the head master phoned to say he'd decided the boy could return to school and did so last Friday.

I'm doing everything I can think of to make the school/governors etc see sense and in the mean time DD is staying at home.

Would it be realistic to try to get an injunction with powers of arrest that would make it impossible for the boy to be in school with DD and if so how do I go about it?

DD is genuinely terrified of the boy and I feel like the school have totally turned their back on us in favour of DDs attacker who just happens to be the son of a GP and in the Gifted and Talented set.

Any suggestions?

No real progress here.

DD is still off school. The board of governors haven't replied to our last letter suggesting a meeting with them (that was sent almost 2 weeks ago).

The Youth Offenders team are trying to arrange a "restorative" meeting with the boy, his parents, the headmaster and ourselves. The date currently being touted is 16th of June which will be 7 weeks after the assault took place. We've been ready for this meeting for weeks now but the other parties (bless them) are too busy/on holiday or whatever. I suppose there is no urgency for them. It's not their daughter stuck at home missing her friends and school work. (she has had some work sent home but not being a teacher I can't offer all the help or advice she needs in some areas).

We are still in contact with the children's' legal centre who are being very supportive and offering good advice.

We are looking at the very real possibility that DD will have to move school now.(she's adamant she won't as she doesn't want to leave her friends behind) but if the boy stays she will not be going back.

So we have to find an alternative school. DD has a medical condition that means she has poor concentration and finds school difficult. She works best in a small group in a quiet environment. She isn't SEN but not very far from that. We chose her current school as it was much smaller and appeared to have a more nurturing community than the local comp (one of the largest in the country I believe). So we are looking at local private education. This of course comes at great expense. We are considering suing the school to cover the cost of her education for the next 2 years. The Children's legal centre are going to ring me later with their ideas on that one.

I'm going to find us a local solicitor with a good grounding in education/children's issues and hope the CLC will be able to recommend us one when I speak to them later.

So, all in all no progress. The head didn't even have the courtesy to reply to DDs letter to him, expressing her sadness at how she's been treated.

Well done you. It's not no progress. You sound much clearer on a course of action than you did earlier on.

xorry to hear not much progress yet, but guessed with half term last week everything would effectively grind to a halt

So today I got a call from the YOT (youth offenders Team) lady to say that the head had been advised not to attend our "restorative" meeting with the boy and his parents. No big deal as I don't care if I never clap eyes on him again. The meeting is now in jeopardy as she's unsure if the boy and his family will attend without the head.

Shortly followed by a call from the heads' PA to invite us to a meeting with the Governors on the 16th to discuss our complaint about the head. Sounds very formal. All parties to submit any documents they wish to refer to asap and copies from both parties will be sent out 5 days prior to the meeting. Down side is that the head will be at this meeting. I thought we'd be allowed to air our grievances without him there but don't worry. His beady eyes on me won't hold me back.

Oh and I forgot to mention that we have an appointment with a solicitor booked for next Wednesday.

In the meantime, what have you done about DD's education? Are you in London? If so, CAT me as I may be able to offer you the services of a currently unemployed teacher (i.e me)

Thank you for your very kind offer Slug. We're way oop North though.

School have given a pile of text books and some not very helpful scribbled notes on what to do with them, so we're making the best we can of of that.

I had been told that DD would be eligible for 2 hours home tuition a day but after contacting the education welfare office it seems they no longer offer that service.

just read this whole thread in absolute and

i am so sorry that your DD was assualted, and even sorrier that it has been swept under the carpet

sounds like you are doing the most marvellous job of supporting her through this, and she will come through this ok.

it is a disgrace you have had to struggle to get any response from the school and governers.

hope you get somewhere, and this boy gets some punitive consequences for his actions, rather than acting like it was a bit of a joke that went too far

you might get some advice off here from the home edders about how best to educate dD whilst she is away from school

Have you been in contact with ACE (haven't checked if it's been mentioned before.) They should be able to advise you as to what home-ed support you are entitled to. I know there is a statutory requirement to provide it for excluded pupils, so it would be positively criminal if your DD wasn't entitled to some support given she is the victim here.

Betsy- you never let me down with your links! I've just cut and pasted the following from the dept of education website I was linked to from your last link.

The decision to exclude

1. A decision to exclude a pupil should be taken only:

a) In response to serious breaches of the school's behaviour policy; and

b) If allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.

Behaviour outside school

43. Pupils' behaviour outside school on school business ? for example, on school trips, away school sports fixtures, or work experience placements ? is subject to the school's behaviour policy. Bad behaviour in such circumstances should be dealt with as if it had taken place in school. For behaviour outside school, but not on school business, a head teacher may exclude a pupil if there is a clear link between that behaviour and maintaining good behaviour and discipline among the pupil body as a whole. This will be a matter of judgment for the head teacher. Pupils' behaviour in the immediate vicinity of the school, or on a journey to or from school, can be grounds for exclusion.

Thanks for your support Lulu. I'll have a llok over there in a minute.

Hi assdoc

just wondering how the meeting on the 16th went?

Hi. The meeting had to be postponed. Wew were advised to do so by the Police Sergeant who originally dealt with the case. He felt it was inappropriate for us to meet with the governors until we'd had the "restorative" meeting with the boy and his family and the YOT.

In the event we also cancelled the "restorative" meeting, due to the ludicrous restrictions put on us by the other family. We were originally told it would be a vehichle to help DD and us to inform the boy of the damage he'd caused to us and specifically DD and also give us the chance to tell them how they could begin to restore that harm, i.e. take their DS far, far way.

The restrictions were-
You may not discuss

1. The incident.
2. The police handling of the incident.
3. The schools handling of the incident.
4. The YOTs handling of the incident.
5. The possibility of their DS not returning to the school.
6. Any outcome other that DD and their DS being reinstated in school together.

Leaving us effectively just sat listening to them bleat about how distressed and anxious they are, which as I told the YOT lady "I don't give a damn about".

Situation as it stands, meeting rescheduled with governors for the 26th, next Thursday.

those restrictions on that meeting are ridiculous, what were you going to be able to discuss then the bl**dy weather? I'm not suprised you pulled out.

Let us know how you get on at the governors meeting on the 26th.

So the meeting is in 3 hours. I've been up since 4am reading and re-reading our pile of documents. Something leapt out at me.

Unofficial exclusions
25. If a head teacher is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, a pupil has committed a disciplinary offence and needs to be removed from the school site for that reason, formal exclusion is the only legal method of removal. Informal or unofficial exclusions are illegal regardless of whether they are done with the agreement of parents or carers.

Ta Da! Not only has the head behaved in a way that is morally offensive, it is also illegal! He has stated in his own documents that he did not "exclude" the boy, but informally removed him from school with his parents consent. The guidelines clearly state that if they are certain he committed the offence (and clearly they are as he admitted it to the police and has been dealt with accordingly) they HAVE to exclude him and document it.

I can feel a demand for the head to be suspended coming on.

Go me!

So how did it go?

bloody hell assdoc you've done so well. I've only just seen the thread and am as shocked as everyone else. REally hoping that things went well for you today.

Well done indeed assdoc - I really hope today's meeting went well and your DD can look forward to getting back to school.

While this was a horrible horrible thing to happen, and I bet you wish you weren't going through all this stress right now - whatever the outcome, your DD will look back at this and know that her parents fought tooth and nail for her, and that's something that'll be an incredible bond for the rest of your lives

Well to be honest, after a three and a half hour meeting we seem to be no further on. The governors now have 15 working days to consider our complaint (that conveniently takes us up to the end of term. DD was pathetically hopeful that she may be back in school today.

We asked if in light of the illegal action taken that the boy now be suspended formally, pending further decision making. Sadly the governors have no power to exclude and the head ignored me and stared at his shoes when I passed that suggestion to him. So DD will certainly not be back in school this term.

We now need to find out how we appeal the heads decision not to exclude and set that in motion. We wrongly thought the governors could help us with that but alas no.

I wouldn't want my daughter going back to that school in any circumstances now, after the way the head has behaved. But of course you know the whole situation much better than I do. I am just so sorry you have been treated in this shabby way. Your poor DD

TPL, that's exactly how I feel really. If it was up to me we'd move DD regardless of the schools decision. We have been looking at alternatives. DD got wind of this and was distraught at the prospect. She feels (quite rightly) that it would be a unfair for her to have to leave her friends and teachers she trusts to start a fresh at this stage. We've explained our reasons for wanting her to move but she's adamant she's returning to this school. As the whole issue is about her in the first place I think we have to try to respect her wish and just push on in our fight to achieve it.

Yes I think you are right about wanting to respect her wish, though she might have to be realistic and appreciate that once back at school there may be difficulties. For example the boy's friends giving her a hard time, her own friendship groups having changed etc. What a disgrace that this has all happened to your DD and not to the attacker. IMHO as soon as he had starting telling others not to believe her, and she was getting called names by other children as a result, the head should have reconsidered the situation even if it did mean he had to stand down from his big man stance.

I'm sorry to hear the meeting wasn't more fruitful

Just a thought - I'd be pushing for it to be sorted before the end of term or asking what the arrangements are for continuing to resolution during the school holidays, otherwise I can just see them saying we can't do anything because this person or that person is away & then you will end up no further along by return to school time in September

I spoke to the advisor to the governors on Friday afternoon to explain my concern at their decision taking us to the end of term. He said that knowing how urgent it is for DD to get back asap they had already agreed to reconvene next Friday with a view to getting things resolved quickly.

He also said that whilst they can't decide themselves to exclude the boy they can challenge the heads' decision and urge him to re-think it. I'm sure they'll also point out that as he has acted illegally he'd be onto a no hoper if (as we said we will) we take it to a judicial review.

I feel altogether more optimistic now and am counting the days 'til we get the letter in a week or so.