Bullying problem, what to do?

[JacquesDerrida]

We have a bit of a problem with one of the children in ds's class.

He's been bullying almost everyone and it's apparently been going on for over a year, though I wasn't aware of it.

The other parents want to get something done about it, and so do I now I know, but no one it seems is able or willing to speak to his parents.

I feel it would be better to approach them rather than excluding their child, as it's more direct and could cause less ill feeling in the long run.

However I am not very friendly with his parents - I barely know them.

We have decided we'll all talk to the teacher when we have parent meetings, but if you have been in a similar situation how did you handle it - what would be best?

By the way, the school is aware. They knew it was a problem last year but afaik nothing has been done.

If it happens at school it's the school's problem.

I would def not recommend talking to his parents about it.

As IndigoBell say if the bullying is within school then the teachers and head need to deal with it.

The school should have a copy of the Behaviour Policy and how to deal with Bullying Policy in the office or on their website available for parents to read.

They will also have a complaints policy which you can get a copy of in order to find out how to escalate the issue if nothing is being done.

If he's been bullying "almost everyone" and it's been ongoing with the school aware, then I'd wonder if there are bigger issues here than you realise.

Thankyou very much. I had wondered about his parents being very hurt by no one telling them, but then again I had thought that because it's happening at school, it should be dealt with by the school and a teacher addressing the parents might be less horrible than another parent iyswim.

I will raise it with his teacher ASAP, wish me luck, she's not that helpful at the best of times.

Thanks for your help, I'm glad I asked.

DeWe - what d'you mean?

I should say the school knew he was having a go at one of the other boys, last year. It was documented. Seems to have got far worse though.

They do have a policy on their website.

Jacques - he could be being seen by the behaviour support therapist, or the educational psychologist or something like that. None of which school could tell you about.

He could be on the SEN register for his behaviour and have a support plan in place and all sorts of things.

He could be waiting for a referral to CAMHS or a paed to investigate all kinds of SN.

Alternatively there might be a problem at home which school know about, and again couldn't share with you. In the most extreme case SS could be involved.

So basically, there could be a hundred things going on which school know about and are dealing with and can't share with you.

That's a very good point. I didn't think of it.

I've emailed the class teacher who has replied saying she has had several people raise concerns in the last few days, and will be giving it her utmost attention once she has spoken to all the children involved which she is doing tomorrow I think.

Nice result. Many thanks for telling me what to do, I could have ballsed it up spectacularly.