Are local schools soft on bullying?

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Figures suggest Hounslow may be London's most lenient borough

New figures have been published which seem to suggest that Hounslow Borough may have the most lenient policy on bullying in London.

The report which appeared in the Evening Standard showed that Hounslow excluded only one pupil for a bullying related matter compared to close to 100 in some other boroughs and 46 in neighbouring Ealing during the 2004-5 academic year.

The figures are likely to raise concerns of some parents who have been unhappy with the response of teaching staff to complaints about bullying in local schools.

One mother of a boy who attends a Chiswick primary school said, "My son who is 11 has been bullied for a while now but recently things became worse and his nose was broken in the school playground by one of the bullies."

She continued, "The school say there is no bullying going on and its just arguments between children. This child head butted my son and was simply told to say sorry. I feel the school has seriously failed my son."

However, in their published policy on bullying, Hounslow Council claim they have been effective in reducing the problem in local schools.

Schools have a legal duty of care to ensure that pupils come to no harm which also means that the school becomes the prime target in any litigation claims should there be deemed to have been a breach of that duty. By law every school must have a bullying policy and appoint a senior member of staff to ensure that it is implemented. However, because there is no one policy, different Education Authorities implement procedures in varying methods.

In a landmark case this week, Sophie Amor was awarded £20,000 as compensation for the bullying she endured throughout her school days. Miss Amor, now 23, told the hearing how she suffered from the age of four to when she was forced to leave mainstream education due to severe depression aged eleven.

Another parent who has three children at school in Chiswick said, "My problem with bullying is that there seems to be a different attitude taken to boys and girls. With boys what one person sees as bullying it often construed by others as a 'bit of rough and tumble'. The boy in question doesn't want to look 'soft' by telling tales so keeps quiet.�Where as with girls it's often cruel remarks or name calling.�Both can be as damaging to a child as the other."

She went on to say, "I have found myself in the situation where I take something that has happened at school to upset my child seriously and yet the teacher is dismissive, it hardly sends a positive message to children that bullying in any form is not tolerated."

A spokesperson for the Anti-Bullying Alliance said, "There is sometimes a reluctance for people to acknowledge there is an issue of bullying. There isn't a school in the country, as far as I know, that doesn't have some sort of bullying at some time."

February 25, 2006