Child pinned down and bitten

[Md94]

I was hoping for advice as I just don't know what to do.

My son came home today with 4 bite marks on his arms. He is 7 and in a infant school.

When asked he became very distressed and said he was pinned down by 2 boys from junior school and bitten by a 3rd whilst they were in a PE lesson in the infant school field. My son was walking back to class from lunch across the field when this happened. The teacher of the PE lesson seemed to be oblivious and the lunch ladies had already walked inside before making sure my son was safely in class.

The perpetrators were anywhere between year 3 and year 6 although my son thinks they were on the older side.

What do I do? I don't want to send him and his brother back they are clearly not watching the children and its frightening.

The teacher in the class didn't see his arms covered in bite marks and he was to scared to tell them.

Please help!!!

Bumping for you, mines only nursery age but bite marks from toddlers are awful to see so I can't imagine how that feels on an older child. I hope your son is OK

I’m so sorry this has happened to your son and you must both be very shocked and upset by it.

Firstly, your DS must be terrified and I’m sure you’ve already reassured him that he won’t be going back to school until you know that he’ll be safe there.

Next, I’d call the police. This was a serious assault on a young child by 3 older children acting jointly to harm him.

On Monday, you should speak to the HT and report what happened, quoting the police report. You should expect an explanation of why your DS was unprotected and what measures the school intends to take to safeguard your DS.

I’m not familiar with current guidelines so I’m sure someone else will be able to give more specific advice. Meanwhile do what you can over the weekend to help your child.

Photograph your son's arm and write an email with your son's account of the situation. Attach a copy of the photograph. Ask the Headteacher to investigate and respond and ask the following questions:

How will the school prevent this happening again?
What failure in their processes have been identified that allowed this to happen?
What will happen to the boys who did this?
Has anything similar happened before?
Is it safe to send your son to school on Monday?

No, don’t call the police. As suggested, take a photo and then ask to see the headteacher about a safeguarding matter. If your child didn’t tell anyone, the school won’t currently be aware. Work with the school - they will want to resolve this as much as you do.

Thanks so much for all of the advice.

I am focusing on writing the biggest email of my life today, I've so far been through the schools policies, procedures and safeguarding policies, midday supervisor policies. I need to research more on safeguarding and I'm having at it.

I am going to threaten with the police as the 3 boys could potentially be 11 years old and they are more than old enough to know that behaviour is extremely wrong. That behaviour from them needs to be stopped now.

I'm in 2 minds about sending him in as I feel like keeping him off is going to make him think about everything and stress him out more. But at home I know he is safe. But as I said my son does have emotional issues and what might not matter to much to one child can be a big deal to him and keeping him off may make the bad experience stick in his mind more.

He has been very quiet this weekend and just a change in him that's not himself, it's hard and distressing and I just don't know the right thing tondo by him.

Thanks again for all the support I can't tell you how much it means to me.

I would think hard before involving the police. What would you hope to get out of that? Better to inform the school about what’s happened, and then work with them so that they can safeguard your child. In my experience, working with the school, rather than kicking off and involving the police, is always more productive.

Once you’ve met with the school, if you feel that things aren’t being addressed, then use the school’s complaints procedure which should be on their website.

I will only be in contact with police if children are of the right age because assault and violence are illegal, even for children. It wasn't a 1 child starting, it was 3 older children attacking a small vulnerable child.

My only concern is safeguarding currently and will take it further if I'm not given reasonable reassurance that the problem has been handled. I'm not unreasonable but I find the incident unbelievable in all honesty. Hoping they have enough info in email to get things sorted so that we can have a meeting and go from there. Thanks for advice

How awful for you and your son. Definitely do as you are doing re the strongly worded email with pics. I'm sure they will be horrified. I'd be expecting a phone call or email by 10am Monday, even if it's just to say they are investigating. If not then I'd be calling the school to request a meeting. Do the juniors and primary mix normally at that time? Two secondaries near me ended up staggering lunchtimes to avoid fights - if they can do that your school can watch kids going back to the changing rooms.

I'd probably take him Monday but insist on talking to class teacher before he goes into class. Say he cannot be unsupervised until this is sorted x

I wouldn't take my child in tomorrow. I'd not even consider it!

These kids have had no consequences and will likely have another go tomorrow spurred on by not having anything bad happens to them last time.

Even just the lack of supervision in general would stop me sending them back tbh.

I think you can keep them off without framing it to the child in a way that will make it feel more magnified for them. I'd just keep it light and tell them what you'll be doing instead.

Mine wouldn't be going back in until the school had investigated and reported back to me what they've found and what will be happening next. Consequences for the kids that have planned this and taken part in harming a younger child, and action plans eg upping supervision, risk assessments, referral to safeguarding (to deal with the injury for your child but also to raise concern for the kids that harmed him together - what is going on with them to make them do this?!). In fact I'd be tempting to call the local safeguarding team and put in a referral myself.

I hate to say this but the school will do nothing to protect your child. You need to take them out. I would alert as many other parents as possible and circulate photographs because the school will probably pretend nothing happened and they’ll be many other parents in your shoes

I work in a school and we have cctv cameras covering our outside areas. Hopefully your school will have the same and staff will be able to check the footage to back up what your child has reported and give the school the evidence they need to exclude the culprits.
How distressing for you and your son.

if the skin is broken by a bite, human or animal, you must seek medical attention.
apart from that, i think i'd keep him off school for the moment.
any chance of changing schools ?

This is bullying, assault and a safeguarding issue.
Do not send your son in tomorrow.
Take photos of the bite marks.
Include the photos in the email to the head teacher.
You want a meeting before your son goes back. Tell them you want it minuted & a copy sent to you within a week.
Be armed with information from the school website regarding bullying & safeguarding. Note where they have failed on their own policies
Also look on the education dept info on your local authority website.

In the meeting ask what they are going to do to protect your son.
How is this going to be investigated?
What will be put in place to stop it happening again?
Do not be fobbed off. This happened in school hours when they were responsible for his wellbeing.
Good luck.

Oh my god. I would be horrified if that happened to my children. I would communicate with their class teacher and escalate it if necessary.

What was the outcome, OP?

Or give the school a chance to sort it out? Don’t go down the above route, it’s needlessly provocative and doesn’t ultimately help your child. Keep focused on the safeguarding, ask the difficult questions and hold school to account. If, after the investigation and sanctions you feel you can’t trust the school with your boy then I’d look at moving him as your trust relationship will have broken down. Good luck OP. It’s an awful thing to happen to such a young child. I hope they find and punish the other children.

You've heard of Jamie Bulger haven't you?! 3 children worked together to assault a 7 year old and school are oblivious! I'd be reporting it to the police.

I’m a teacher and this would be taken extremely seriously. Definitely take photos and document everything he says. If you are able to, go to school in person and wait until someone from the leadership team is available to speak with you so you can go through it all together. You could keep him with you and both wait in reception so he’s not missing school but he’s not unattended until you’re confident the school is taking it seriously.
If it wasn’t witnessed by an adult, it might take a while to find out who the boys were, but it will be investigated as a matter of priority. I would expect significant consequences for those boys once they work out who they are.

Guys this took place in May.

I realised that after posting. Still needed to put what I put.

I agree. Police matter.