Getting nowhere with a school

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

Thank you for all of your help.

The local Bobby has been to see my neices and taken photos of A's bruises and J's ruined school uniform (have just found out she had shaving cream smeared over her and an egg cracked over her head.. poor baby) and has taken statements off the two of them.

It seems the problem is, A has banned the girls from using their phones on the bus (in case they are stolen) so the kids bullied them for "having crap phones".
Names have been taken, and Mr Policeman is off up the school tomorrow.

In the meantime, amazingly the girls dad has been to school alone (I do not get on with the man and never will, but Kudos to him for this one) and sat outside the Duty Room for 2 hours, and when asked if he wouldn't rather have the Head ring him, he said "No, it's fine I'll wait"

After 2 hours he dropped the line "It'll take the guy from the Sun a while to get here anyway" and the Head was suddenly available.

He has come home with a letter of apology to J for the yelling, and a signed promise that the children involved have been "temporarily excluded" from school and are banned from the school bus.

Hats off to the bloke, he finally realised he is a father and stepped up :yo::yo::yo:

Another plus is, a letter A wrote is to be read out on the tannoy system tomorrow as an example to the kids.

[labman]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

There's a problem here. The most serious 'offence' was outside of school, so interviews would not take place in school time, and the person who would suffer by losing their job would be the bus driver. Have you ever tried to drive a bus full of teenagers and keep discipline at the same time?

Is it reasonable someone should lose their job because of an inability to do both simultaneously?

By all means complain about things that happen in school, but the first question the police will ask is, "Have you talked to the school about this?"

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

yep, thats the first thing the policeman asked my sister and she said, well I tried to.

The serious attack was on a school bus, which apparently (according to Mr Plod) should have a teacher on due to previous complaints. And surely if the driver saw a gang of kids attacking kids, they should have pulled over and got assistance??

Must admit I am more interested in my neices well being than the bus driver's, but I see your point, i have no idea when the interveiws will be, but I am hoping that it scares the bully a bit and that the whole situation is sorted.

Personally I think the line "It'll take the man from the Sun a while to get here" is a work of genius!!

[labman]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

I'm honestly delighted you got the result you needed Puff. However, I hope the Head doesn't live to regret the decision of excluding pupils for something which happened outside the school. It's a brave decision. Absolutely right the bus driver should pull over, but I know a lot of people who do this job - they deserve medals, they really do. As for their being a teacher on there, it would have to be done voluntarily as it is outside of directed time.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

arent the kids still the schools responsibilty on a school bus?

[labman]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

No - they become the responsibility of the bus company with the contract. In Primary Schools (England and Wales, not sure about Scotland) children up to the end of Yr6 (age 11) must have an 'escort' who is responsible for ensuring they have their seat belts on etc.... and for their behaviour.

In secondary schools (Yr8 onwards) no escort is needed, so it is the sole responsibility of the bus driver to drive AND maintain discipline.

Headteachers can only direct teachers for 1295 hours per year, usually during the school day. A teacher going on a school bus would usually end up back in the bus yard of the coach company!

[Inca]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

My step daughter was a bitch on the school bus..trying to be the big 'I AM'....Bus driver refused to have her on the bus and now she has to rely on either her Mum to drive her in (and Mum is bone idle so we know that's not happening often) or a shared 'naughty kids' taxi or Shanks Pony.And it serves her right,,she wanted to be the centre of attention and now she is lol.As I pointed out to her,',so it's ok to put everyones life at risk by distracting the bus driver with your stupidity?' No it bloody well isn't.
She has also had her mobile phone taken off her more than once and has been suspended for it more than once. Her school does NOT allow mobile phones on the premises,they are there to learn and nothing justifies them needing a phone in school,and her school are mega strict on it and rightly so.So by banning phones IN school they are banning phones on the journey to and from school which prevents any 'I've got a better phone than you' rubbish.
We have just had her school report,,it wasn't bad but wasn't brilliant,she has hit that 'Urrgh,,teenage angst' stage,but the one thing she got top marks for was her homework,and you know why? Cos of her insistence of having her phone in school her 'punishment' was homework club (lunchtimes) for 4 weeks..and she'd rather go to Hell than do that again so in the latter part of the term she put her nose to the grindstone.(plus she may have got a roasting from me).
She drew unnecessary attention to herself and now she is on the 'radar' and being watched,,any more crap from her in school hours and she's heading towards permanent exclusion,,and God help her if that happens.
If this had happened to my son (and he was neither bullied or a bully,2 sides of the same coin in my book) I would,in the first instance,taken my kids down the police station and get the attackers bought in for questioning and bring assault charges against them (wouldn't even tell the school at first).
THEN I would have walked into the school and yes,,sat down and stayed there until I saw the Head and not budge until I got answers,and had the teacher bought in as well and I wouldn't leave till I got assurances that it was going to be dealt with (and demand minutes of the meeting be kept and drafted up,,paper trail)
In short,,I would break the whole situation down and deal with each facet individually,,the assault outside school and the problems inside school.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuurgh KIDS,,who'd have them ??????? lol

[Sapphire]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

I was bullied at school and why was that... because I was a fab swimmer and gymnast, fair enough though it was mostly by one particular girl. Our headmistress would run and hide each time my mother went to have a complain, boy did they have some arguments, anyway in the end my old mum being the crafty mare she was had a lightbulb moment and decided to join the Parent Teachers Association, low and behold the bullies mum was on there, our mums became friendly and it transpired that the girl was jealous of me getting extra time off to go training, so mum and dad picked the mum, dad and bully up one day and took them to see me in a competition, suddenly my bully became my friend, we're still friends and exchanged 57th birthday cards this year.
What I'm trying to say is that sometimes its a good idea for parents to get off their lazy arses and take part in things that go on at schools, ie join the PTA or whatever else is going on, sometimes, just sometimes it can lead to the kids becoming friends too, a lot of trouble is caused by parents treating schools as child sitting services and not partaking in their childs education and indeed their future, oh and before anyone gives it the 'I work, therefore I'm busy' crap, my parents both worked full time and also did part time work as well, plus they found time for me.
Oh and by the way my mum and dad and her mum and dad were all friends until they all passed away.
Rant over.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

I was bullied by the majority of the class I was in, it was horrific, I had part of my hair cut off, my head hit in to a wall, called names, you name it.. why?
because my dad was Irish.

My mum had arguments, she tried befriending the bullies parents, you name it she tried it, in the end, I got jumped by a gang of 9 kids in the dinner hall for discussing an Irish Dance class I took and I snapped. I walked past teachers and out of the school to a police station and gave a statement of assault.

I agree that a school is not a baby sitting service, but you send your kids to school on the understanding that the kids will be safe and the teachers will do anything reasonable to protect them, this has not been the case in my sisters experience.

No one has the right to strike anyone else... and this is from someone who practised Martial Arts. If I struck someone harder than I meant or I connected when I shouldn't have I yami-ed (stopped and bowed) apologised and left the floor.

To my mind a lot more could be done about this a lot faster, and the uniform thing.. don't even get me started!!!

A has been sent home with a detention slip for not wearing full uniform. She went in to school with a ladies size 12 (yes she is that tall aged 12) black (correct colour for her year) tailored trousers, and a school shirt and sweater, she was told the trousers are "unacceptable" as they don't have school logo on, and she cant wear the seniors navy blue trousers and uniform as they are the wrong year but nearer her size!!

Needless to say she will not be doing the detention at all, and surely they cannot put a kid in detention for being tall?? My immediate question was, how can they put A in detention so fast for being at school doing her work but wearing £6 trousers instead of £12 trousers, but they can watch a group of kids battering her???

[Inca]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

so,,the school are saying trousers have a logo on as well???? I've never heard of that,,seems a tad OTT.blazer and tie,yes,I can see the need for logos on them but trousers?
I was never bullied at school for one really good reason,behind my little arse was sisters and brothers and my sister Kate is only 16 months older than me and noone crossed her and got away with it.Plus I was always a happy bod,wasn't better nor worse than anyone else and always told the absolute truth,,hated bullies and would tell them straight.Half the time the bullies are being bullied themselves,,either at home or outside school.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

Inca they want to put her in detention for her SOCKS not having the school logo on them

[Inca]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

Inca they want to put her in detention for her SOCKS not having the school logo on them

I would tell them that,as she doesn't buy her own uniform,it's her Mum who will do the detention msl:

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

i cant repeat what was sent in to that one!!!:X

[labman]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

I'm terrible with schools as, I guess inevitably, I see things a bit differently. For example, if Inca had done what she threatened a few posts ago I'd have called the police to remove her. Equally there's no way I would ever discipline a teacher in front of a parent, or indeed just take the parent's version without talking to the teacher. It all has to be properly investigated and dealt with.

In the 90's I was suspended for a VERY short time pending investigation of hitting a child over the head with a ruler. She had complained and the parents had complained to the Head. I had to be suspended. As things turned out, when things were investigated fully, the child and I were nowhere near each other at the time of the alleged assault, but if that had gone to the police (or even dare I say happened nowadays) things might have been very different. It certainly forced home the point to me children do tell lies (mine included) - we all do / did.

I'm not for one moment saying that's the case here, but things do have to be investigated, and schools need the support of the parents in this. Obviously there comes a point where enough is enough and you have to take things into your own hands.

Ex-HT / OFSTED Inspector rant over - I'll shut up now!

[Inca]

Re: Getting nowhere with a school

What an odd school,,never heard of logo socks either,my stepbrats uniform is black trousers,school blazer with badge on and white shirt,school tie.