Violence in Secondary Schools

[JoeCrackers]

I recently read that violence in schools had reached a 5 year high but also that only one pupil in the whole country had been permanently excluded last year which the government were really proud of- not sure if that’s true?
My daughter is in P7 and due to go to high school in North Lanarkshire next year and I’m a bit worried to be honest.
What’s people’s experience, is it really bad? Even if there isn’t actual violence is there a lot of bullying in general? Do schools take it seriously or is it brushed under the carpet?
I’ve definitely found that the children I come in contact with at my work seems to have less respect for authority than before and just don’t seem to care if you threaten to call their parents/police

My experience is really really bad, but others would have had better experiences. The scottish government’s policies whereby no child can be permanently excluded and the police can take no action against under 16s means the authorities have absolutely no power to do anything in response to bullying or even serious assault. The kids know it. Hence petrol bombing police. They know the police cannot do any thing to them.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opinion/4805969/kirkton-riots-holyrood-agenda-jim-spence/

its the SNPs inability to actually punish kids for violence that is the problem.

I agree with @Facebookflight we’re even having issues in Shetland!

There are violent pupils turning up to school who in my day would have been excluded. The same 4 boys are now bringing knives to school. Parents have been told they can’t be excluded as no other school will take them. Despite being reported to the police for assault the police seem powerless. Result - problem has escalated from old fashioned bullying to GBH, kids in their class are terrified and skiving school to avoid them. Fucking joke and all of the governments doing.

Some academic with zero experience of either kids or teaching decided that the best way to avoid young violent bullies from ending up in prison was to keep them in mainstream schooling, and hey ho it’s cheaper too (can close pupil referral units) so the Scottish government went full steam ahead.

Zero thought to other pupils who are powerless Guinea pigs in this failed experiment.

I worked in a school where a student was violently attacked by a group of boys and left with an open head wound.

Loads of staff witnesses and it was on CCTV.

Nothing happened. He just had to keep going to school knowing they were there.

Can you imagine being assaulted like that at work and everyone being ok with it and there being no criminal charges?

And people wonder why there's an epidemic of poor mental health amongst teens.

My DD in S5 in North Lanarkshire.
Overall we are happy with her school and she is thriving academically.

She has not been directly involved in any violence and teachers are well respected.

There were a few idiots in the younger years fighting at lunchtimes etc but nothing too serious.

A bigger issue has been mental health for teens generally . There are some kids on part time timetables as can't cope and unfortunately they also had a death in their year group which was really tragic.

@eitherorneithernor that’s absolutely shocking as you say if it happened to an adult in their workplace the person would be fired and police called. Why are our children worth less? I can’t imagine having to tell my child they need to keep going to school while the people who assaulted them are free to do it again.

@Facebookflight I would say the opposite, giving no consequences to violent young bullies just teaches them that they can be violent older bullies in the future.

@Kyogo67 happy to hear your daughter is doing well although most have been awful losing a fellow pupil.
I know quite a few pupils who are on reduced timetables because they can’t cope with a full day, seems to be more and more of this