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It’s now been a month since children have been back in school. Through Lockdown, for many families bullying and school violence fell down their list of worries as the reality was no longer as apparent as children received some levels of respite while not in school. Now schools are back in operation, the inevitable issues and stories are beginning to surface and sadly some of those stories tell of circumstances that have resulted in considerable harm to children and even death. No matter what the authorities would like the public to think about this perhaps being a trivial issue that is under control and nothing to worry about, this couldn’t be further from the truth and without intervention at the highest levels it will only get worse.

Many people who have experience working in schools will know how horrendous a situation can become, when just one child having gone through some kind of emotional or psychological trauma and returned to school has found it impossible to cope. Imagine the levels of trauma and pressure that the Coronavirus crisis has placed on millions of children and staff and what that effect may have on schools going forwards. It’s almost certain schools will be dealing consistently with major incidents of aggression and violence associated with that trauma and the resultant rise in Mental health issues that many experts have already warned about. With schools and staff having even less resources and structures to address things than they had before and in the schools minds, a lot more to worry about with the virus than looking out for bullying and violence issues, there is so much potential suffering on the horizon for children that we need to be putting the correct safeguards in place long before it happens .

There are stories and there is anecdotal evidence of various schools having real issues already but there are still too many professionals involved in education, including teaching staff and people in authority, with nowhere to turn in the system with their concerns because of the way Governments have set up the system, who are fearful of exposing the problems they are already facing and as a result remaining silent as things inevitably get worse. We want to encourage all those in education to at the very least begin recording evidence of the issues and to eventually find the courage to speak out on behalf of the children. As a campaign we need to know we have done all we can to keep sounding the alarm to prevent children being harmed and lives being lost, others who now know of our story and continue to hear of our fight, if they are to be able to have a clear conscience going forwards, need to be able to say they did the same.

As a parent, what lengths would you go to, to protect your child from harm? How would you feel if your child was a victim of bullying physical or sexual violence in school and that information was kept from you?

With children returning back to schools across the UK, we released this short film last week, as we are continuing the fight to raise awareness and sound the alarm as to the dangers all children are in, as a result of policies that allow Violence in schools to be covered up. This is something that needs to be addressed urgently with statistics showing violence increasing in schools year upon year and them having to deal with all the potential issues they will face after lockdown that this system is going to allow to be covered up and only exposed when its too late and something goes badly wrong

This is the story of how over a hundred families who’s children have been harmed or lost to suicide after violence in UK schools exposed the system and fought to hold Gavin Williamson and the Government to account, to ensure the solutions they have discovered are put in place, to better protect every child in Britain and how we are now calling for a Public Inquiry so that lessons are learnt to ensure that no lives are unnecessarily lost in the future.

We’ll be doing everything we can to keep building pressure on Government to put in place policies to ensure all children will be safer. We’re ensuring the British public can all play their part by showing support for our campaign simply by leaving a comment On the YouTube video which you can access below.

Today saw the release of a review into what was described as Columbine massacre-style plot at Northallerton school in Yorkshire. The case hit was covered by the media in 2017 and described how two Students Thomas Wyllie and Alex Bolland had planned to carry out an execution at their school and had drawn up a “hit-list” of targets – which included students – at the school, who had bullied and wronged them, as well as teachers.

The boys were arrested and given ten and 12-year custodial sentences for conspiracy to murder as tragedy was avoided but now what has been done to address the issues including bullying to make sure it can never happen in the future will be kept confidential by the authorities and agencies involved.

A multi-agency lessons learned review followed in order that lessons could be learnt and now 2 years later the report is concluded but will not be made public and vital safeguarding information will be kept from the public. The report has recommended action to support vulnerable pupils and to tackle bullying amongst other issues but again a policy that allows a lack of transparency and accountability means no one outside of the agencies will know if everything possible has actually been done to stop this happening again.

As has happened in so many of the tragic stories within our campaign, a lack of information means parents and teachers are unable to take steps to protect children from harm. Our Government and politicians need to heed the warnings of cases like this and our efforts to continually highlight what is happening with the hidden issues of bullying and violence in schools and we’ll continue speaking out until we are heard and policies changed to increase transparency. We just hope and pray that as much as we are trying to do and with all that we have done so far, that our efforts don’t come too late.

Our Government is reluctant it seems to be pro active rather than reactive on many issues that affect children especially it seems when it comes to prioritising their safety and Well being. Government should be aware that the recent race tensions between Black Lives Matter protestors and others will affect children and in cases will negatively impact on the prevalence of bullying and violence in schools.

What we see in wider society will always have an influence on our young people and children, so it shouldn’t take lot of effort to see the potential issues that schools will face after Lockdown, with potential race aggravated attacks and assaults in schools that sadly given the lack of attention given by politician to the increasing levels of violence in schools and to our campaign warnings could lead to deaths and tragedy.

Aside from the most obvious and consistent call we are making for policies to be changed to allow greater transparency and accountability within the bullying and violence complaints procedures, greater effort needs to be made by everyone including Government to create more unity in the wider communities rather than stoking division.

It’s taken Marcus Rashford speaking out about free school meals, to highlight the issue of how low on the list of Government priorities the well – being of children is in Society today.

Last year The Government launched their National suicide prevention plan, with commitments from all the relevant Government departments to stop suicides among all groups across society including veterans, prisoners, people in work, university students and so many others.

While all these groups have received in depth attention and commitments, there is only one commitment from the DfE throughout the whole plan to prevent suicides among children. That being to:

‘Explore issues affecting young people which may be impacting their mental health such as body image and other pressures from social media’

Absolutely no mention of bullying and violence including sexual violence, despite the increasing amounts of suicide in schools related to the issue.

We may not have a Marcus Rashford leading our campaign but we have an army of determined families that will not stop until the priorities of politicians and the policies when it comes to children are made to change.

The majority of families within the Safer Schools campaign have dealt with issues of bullying and violence of a non-sexual nature. We cannot stress enough though, that there are families within our group, who’s children have been victims of sexual violence, and therefore it is a serious issue that we are challenging and is an integral part of the campaign that we are demanding be addressed, when it comes to the way complaints are dealt with.

From sexual assaults to rapes within schools, these incidents and crimes are often ignored by schools in the same way that non-sexual bullying and violence is, as a result of government policy and procedures and a lack of legislation that allows schools and authorities to do just that. There are thousands of sexual assaults and rapes that have occurred in schools over the last few years and yet families and parents are simply unaware of the fact. The fact that the government they trust to protect their children has policies in place, to allow schools and authorities to avoid responsibility and blame, when vicious crimes such as rape and sexual assault take place.

How many parents could be certain that if their child was a victim of a serious and violent sexual assault or even raped at school, that their child would come home and tell them. If your answer is that you are not, then we assume that your reason for never having thought about this before stems from a belief, that if that was to happen to your child, then they or someone would report this to a teacher or appropriate adult in school. But then what? At the very least surely that adult would have to write a report or record? Surely they would have to inform you, surely the Police would be informed the local Safeguarding officer and other relevant authorities. The fact is that none of this has to be done by law and the horrific truth is that Government legislation and policy leaves it’s completely up to the school to use their discretion to decide what should be done if anything at all.

So what’s the danger of allowing schools and authorities to police themselves in this area and trust them completely to decide when something should and shouldn’t be reported. An even more important question is should school’s be given so much freedom with so little oversight and accountability when they may be largely at fault for a crime taking place. What happens when a rape happens because students were perhaps left unsupervised or because poor management or the culture within a school has clearly caused issues that have led to an incident.

When crimes and serious harm have occurred as a result of potential negligence by schools and authorities or for any other reason, the way the issue is dealt with must be accountable by law, to the families, outside agencies and the Government. Our campaign continues to call for the policies laws and legislation to be put in place to ensure that this happens and our campaign continues to call on the Secretary of State for Education to meet with us, to look at our evidence, to ensure that no other child or family is made to suffer in the future because the changes weren’t made.

Government need to act now to ensure violence in schools does not become the next care home crisis as a result of Coronavirus (Covid 19). If one child was to return to school after suffering the trauma of grief or as a victim of domestic violence or abuse without the necessary support in place, most professionals in teaching or childcare, would accept that there could be real issues with negative behavioural issues and increased aggression in that individual.

We are talking about millions of children returning to schools, who have been affected by lockdown and all the issues associated with that. Add to that, the likely disruption that may exist within many schools as a result of a variety of changes from the norm.

The changes may come in the form of rules and in how staff would normally engage with students and enforce any safety measures or learning, to the absence of familiar staff and the use of supply teachers, to issues with people being anxious and at times irrational about their personal space and possessions. Add to that, the psychological issues that could be prevalent with millions of children living in a constant state of fear and having to engage and relate to each other, under the threat that every other child around them, carries the threat of being a potential carrier of a killer virus. A virus that could be transmitted to their loved ones at home resulting in their deaths. Essentially every other child could be seen as an enemy and a physical threat and with children having to constantly deal with these perceived threats and the associated increasing levels of anxiety, the situation needs to be addressed and that has to happen now.

Another issue that needs to be considered is the idea of school bubbles, where children are confined to the same room or group, with access to perhaps one or two members of staff. What happens if a child is singled out to be the victim of a bully within their group and additionally if the only adult or adults the child is allowed to engage with, chooses to dismiss the situation as little concern, when that simply may not be the case. That child then has no option to be forced to be with their potential tormentor every second of the school day, with no respite and no way out and therefore left with the potential feelings of hopelessness that a situation like that might bring. All the issues described above could quite easily lead to serious incidents of harm, mental health issues and ultimately suicide in schools, directly as a consequence of increased pressures and levels of bullying and violence.

The flaws in the current Government bullying and violence complaints system that have already led to so much tragedy even before this crisis, are primed to exacerbate any problems that could result in deaths and it is absolutely imperative that these issues are addressed now and appropriate procedures and policies put in place to protect life. We can only continue to demand that the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson and the Government, take onboard our warnings and concerns, and act on our requests to meet and look at the evidence and solutions, that will stop this from happening, before it’s too late.

The coronavirus act 2020 threatens to be a blunt instrument that has the potential to exacerbate societal problems and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, especially children in schools across the UK. The protection of the most vulnerable children is often seen as the Cinderella of societal issues. Well if children’s issues as a whole are often neglected and often seen as an afterthought, the issue of bullying and violence in schools would probably best be described as Cinderellas dirty little secret.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 will affect many children but especially children with special needs and disabilities. The act is in place for up to the next two years and can be extended. One of the most concerning aspects of the bill, is that it relaxes the legal duty on the local authorities by government, to provide support to some of the most vulnerable in schools.

Up until now there has been very little discussion and debate by any of the Government, professionals or charities about the issues that many children will undoubtably bring back into a school environment when they return after Corvid 19. So much of the talk has been about the issue of keeping children safe from the virus. My concern though is not the enemy that we can’t see but the problems that I foresee will manifest quite clearly in children’s behaviour, when they try to return to normality in schools and deal with all the dysfunction and potential mental health issues that this current crisis has caused.

As mentioned in the previous post, to keep children safe amidst any dysfunction, there is going to need to be massive investment in resources to support much of the physical and psychological trauma many of the children will have faced over the last few weeks and months. The Coronavirus Act and this particular area of legislation, runs contrary to the obvious demand that will exist for greater support in schools, especially in personnel, by giving Government and Authorities license to provide much less than was ever available before. This is an absolute recipe for disaster and in the context of our campaign of bullying and violence increasing in schools over the last few years and leading to more and more serious incidents of harm and suicide, there have to be appropriate safeguards in place to ensure that this simply can’t happen.

Our campaign to ensure correct policies and laws and procedures are in place to hold all schools and authorities to account, is now more important than ever and it’s imperative that the DfE and Secretary of State Gavin Williamson start to take our concerns seriously. When resources are tight and the temptation to take shortcuts in regards safety is potentially a problem, schools cannot be left, as they have been over the last few decades, to police themselves. It’s time for those who care for the most vulnerable to stand with us and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Without doubt when the current Covid 19 Pandemic crisis ends, society will have to make some difficult choices both socially and economically. Some of the most vulnerable in society, which includes our children in schools will suffer, unless there’s a conscious effort made to protect them and address the flaws in safeguarding that have resulted in so many deaths because of bullying and violence. Unless the current flaws in school bullying and violence complaints systems and the lack of accountability is addressed children and families will be counting the cost physically and emotionally for many years to come

The negative social and emotional effects the crisis may have on children’s behaviour when they return to school, reminds us that’s it’s more important than ever that we fight to have steps put in place to mitigate those and ensure laws, policies, accountability measures and oversight are put in place and raised to the highest standards possible.

We’ve seen over the last few years that School safety when it comes to violence and bullying has been far too low a priority for a long time. The temptation to allow standards to slip will be even greater, with so many issues that will be vying for resources and attention when children return. Nothing else in Education is more important than safety and it’s imperative that at this time we are able to hold Government to account and compete for their attention with every other issue that’s deemed essential, to make sure as many children’s lives are saved as possible. 

In the run up to the General Election in December 2019 Numerous Ministers and Mp’s made promises to meet with the Campaign and Families to look into our case that children had been lost to suicide or seriously harmed, as a consequence of failures to properly address bullying and violence complaints in schools.  

After the Election From December to early February, a total of over 650 Ministers and MP’s were invited to attend meetings held in Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. due to take place on February 25th. As stated the aim was to hear evidence from the families and learn how they could prevent this from happening to any other children and families in the future. Only two MP’s attended the meetings and no MP took up the invitation to be interviewed by the National media, including Sky and ITV news throughout the day.

A number of MP’s had agreed to attend but either cancelled at short notice or simply did not show up, with no notification at all or apology at the time or since.  Therefore not for the first time over the last 5 years, Regulators, Government Departments, Ministers and MP’s., have all failed to accept various opportunities to investigate the whole issue, with a view to preventing further deaths and protecting all children from bullying and violence in schools.

It was said by the MP hosting the meeting that other MP’s had discussed attending and everyone had been advised that meeting the campaign group in an open and public meeting was not appropriate but if the families insisted on meeting with MP’s to ensure it was done on a more individual and private basis. There can be no way that Ministers should be allowed to avoid public scrutiny when it comes to the deaths of children in schools and the decision and the explanation for failing to do so, simply raises further questions that we will continue to ask, as to the levels of Government failure that are involved and how far back historically they go.