School bully hasn't stopped

[MeMyCatsAndI]

My ds8 has been bullied by another child in his class for two years on and off.
My son has a disability where he has to where a medical device on his arm to read his blood sugars. This bully constantly punches & pushes my son on his medical device and has left bruising before.

Last year the child was taken into isolation for the rest of the year as I asked them not to leave them alone as it's putting my child at risk (the medical device could break, could break off in his arm and he'd need it surgicaly removed etc)
They put the bully back into my child's class this year... and low and behold three weeks into the new year he's attacked my child during playtime yesterday on his medical device and there was bleeding down to it the bully then said he'd slit my child's throat if he told so my child didn't say anything. He also took my child's money he had for the school tuck shop!

Now I've told the school once already to keep them apart, what do I do now? Is it a formal complaint to the head or to the board of governors?
I'm very stressed and don't really want to send my child to school but he enjoys school and has plenty of friends but I don't want this horrible evil little kid bullying him again.

Sympathies, OP. This is really dangerous for your kid and could be really expensive to replace, depending on what system he is using. I hope the school sorts it out today.

If the school doesn't take the threat seriously then tell them you will be contacting the police and making a complaint to the local authority due to safeguarding being ignored as there was a threat to life. My friends daughter has a serious allergy and her bully was telling her she was going to spike her food so the child stopped eating completely. The school didn't take it seriously but they sure as hell did when she said that. The fact there is record of last year's attacks should support your request for removal of the other child

Agree you have to lose your shit. The school basically need to be more worried about you than the parents of the bully (who are normally spectacularly unpleasant people themselves).

Unfortunately, this is the most effective strategy.

Either the bully gets removed from the school or your ds will and you will shout from the rooftops why. If it's a trust school go above the head teacher today.

Unacceptable response by the school re safeguarding your child - as others have said read their bullying policy and use it to your advantage
Good luck speaking to someone today

Meet with the headteacher or designated teacher and make sure you are clear that this is a safeguarding matter.

If you don’t get a satisfactory outcome from the headteacher, follow the complaints procedure steps in the order given, pointing out where they have not followed their own behaviour and meeting medical needs policies.

Decide what you want the outcome for DS to be. You have no control over what is done with the other child and the school shouldn’t even tell you. Your focus is DS.

• DS and this child to be separated again
• Staff re-training regarding DS's medical needs and his device so they take such incidents seriously
• A better system for managing money in school
• A system whereby DS (actually all children) can feel confident reporting issues
• Better anti-bullying training for all children. In a school where bullying really is understood, other children who were aware (anyone who saw the incident, saw that DS was upset or knew that he’d had his money taken) would have been reporting that this had happened. It’s likely that DS isn’t this child's only victim.
• A named person to check in with DS, 2x daily initially (after both breaks) then reducing if there are no issues and DS is confident to speak to his class teacher and knows who to go to if they are not there. I’d want DS to have a little book for the adult to log the date, time, all ok and initial.
• A follow-up check in for you with class teacher in 2-3 days and with the headteacher in 3-4 weeks to confirm everything is in hand.
• Better hand over of information at the start of the new school year. DS should have an Individual Health Care Plan (this is different and separate from an EHCP) and it should be updated with you in July, and shared with his new class teacher.

You need to be calm and determined so you get this sorted for DS rather than just making lots of noise in the wrong places.

Changing school might help if you’ve lost trust in this school, but might not be the solution you are looking for. It’s also not impossible, depending on the area you live in, that this child could end up in the same school as DS again,

Don't do what I did and give the school unlimited chances to do the right thing.

Speaking as someone who has worked in multiple primary schools where this behaviour would not be tolerated...

You need to make a formal complaint to the Headteacher. Repeatedly point out they are failing to safeguard your child, and that the behaviour is not just unsafe, but discriminatory towards your DS.

I would recommend recording the meeting if possible - you will need their agreement to do that.

If the Headteacher won't act, go to the Governors.

If they won't act, report to the LADO at your County Council. Part of their remit is safeguarding in schools.