Bullying at school needs to be tackled

This letter sent to the Star was written by CD, Barnsley
School bullySchool bully
School bully

I am writing this as a parent of a child who is constantly bullied and harassed, which has culminated in my child suffering bouts of anxiety and stress with days off school due to insufficient safeguards in place.

Despite numerous meetings and promises of safeguarding my child with the school hierarchy the bullying continues. Friends and family are suffering or have suffered the same.

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Where is the government perspective on this? Apparently each school is free to draw up its own anti-bullying policy and it’s left to them to sort it out.

Why? Surely there should be a government policy for all schools to abide by with strong repercussions for the children who continue this anti-social behaviour. If this happened in a workplace it would be called harassment and there are plenty of laws surrounding this behaviour. This should have been sorted out years ago.

I strongly believe this is one reason why we are seeing anti-social behaviour, child mental illness and suicide rates all increasing.

The policies I have seen are weak and Barnsley council’s education department have offered home schooling as the only alternative.

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Something has to be in place in schools to keep children safe and in check, the promises are weak and empty with procedures not being adhered to in order to safeguard our children.

The rules and regulations need a thorough overhaul as most depend solely on the child “grassing” on their peers, sometimes every day to get any justice. which can alienate the child even more.

The innocent party is left with few routes to follow to get these situations resolved while the perpetrators are free to continue with little more than a ticking off.

Brexit may be in the headlines but if there is any justice in the world this is a strong contender for immediate discussion in parliament.

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