Concern over pupil attacks on city’s primary school teachers

YOUNGSTERS in primary schools in Leeds are turning on each other in the classroom.

Stark figures show that children in primary schools across the city are lashing out at each other in class.

There have been more than 100 reports of attacks on the city’s primary school teachers in just one year.

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Experts fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg as schools are reluctant to reveal the true extent of violence in the classroom.

Richard Raftery, from the Leeds branch of the National Union of Teachers, said: “First and foremost it’s certain that many schools are under-reporting and the fact that a school doesn’t show up (in the figures) does not meant there are not assaults by pupils on teachers. Any behaviour of this kind is of deep concern to all teachers and teaching unions.”

Figures from a Freedom of Information request reveal that pupils have physically assaulted their classmates 33 times in the last year.

Around 17 of those attacks were made by pupils at Mill Field Primary School, in Potternewton.

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A further five incidents of assaults by pupils on their classmates were recorded at Primrose Lane Primary School in Boston Spa.

Other schools who had recorded incidents of pupil on pupil violence include: Birchfield Primary School; Bramley St Peter’s Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary; Burley St Matthias’ Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary;

Farsley Farfield Primary School; Harehills Primary; Iveson Primary; New Bewerley Community School; Scholes Elmet Primary; Strawberry Fields Primary; and Grimes Dyke Primary School.

Statistics also show that there were 109 recorded attacks on teachers in primary schools across Leeds.

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Around 87 of those attacks involved pupils physically lashing out at their teachers.

A further 17 of those incidents included both physical and verbal assaults and five children were reprimanded for swearing or using foul language at their teachers.

And there are also fears that pupil behaviour could also be affected as Welfare Reforms and austerity measures start to bite.

Thousands of families across Leeds are set to feel the pinch because of swingeing cuts to their benefits.

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Mr Raftery said there was evidence to suggest that children’s behaviour could become more of a problem because of social inequality.

He said: “There’s a wealth of evidence to suggest as a society moves towards greater inequality pupil behaviour is one of many things that becomes more of a problem.”

Mr Raftery said that the union works closely with Leeds City Council to address issues of bad behaviour in schools.

But he feared schools which have transformed into Academies are faced with having to deal with issues, such as bad behaviour, on their own.

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The figures come after a conference by the Association of Teachers and Lecturer’s (ATL) revealed that the majority of education staff across the country said that student behaviour had got worse.

Staff believe a lack of boundaries at home was the main reason for students behaving badly.

Councillor Judith Blake, executive member responsible for children’s services, said: “In Leeds we have developed a partnership system called area inclusion partnerships or AIPs, where schools work together using dedicated funding to arrange services that support the local needs of individual schools.

“These partnerships are already having a huge impact, and this year there has only been one permanent exclusion of a child - down from 150 only five years ago.

“There are over 110,000 pupils in school in Leeds so this is a fantastic achievement.

“Even across fixed term exclusions, there has also been a really sharp drop.”

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