A HEAD TEACHER is refusing to exclude a ‘dangerous’ pupil who has reportedly attacked children and staff because it would ‘make the school look bad’, a whistle blower at the school has claimed.
The boy at St Helen’s Primary, Monk Bretton, has been temporarily excluded several times already, but this week a concerned teacher contacted the Chronicle to say head teacher Jo-Anne Charalambous has told her staff ‘under no circumstances’ is the pupil to be excluded as it will affect the school’s exclusion figures, which are reported to Ofsted.
The headteacher categorically denies the claim.
In September the school was rated as ‘requires improvement’ for a third consecutive inspection.
The teacher, who asked not to be identified, said four or five members of staff had been hurt by the boy, believed to be ten or 11, and ‘at least a dozen’ pupils.
“He’s repeatedly attacking members of staff, repeatedly attacking children.
“He’s using racist and homophobic language, he’s effing and jeffing at other young children, he’s caused hundreds of pounds of damage around school, and children and members of staff are frightened of him.
“The head teacher stood in front of all staff and said under no circumstances are we to exclude this child.
“It’s due to how it looks to Ofsted.
“I have never seen anything like this before.”
The whistle blower said the child’s behaviour has included attacking a female teacher with a chair, trying to throw a laptop computer at a teacher, and incidents of punching, kicking, biting and spitting.
“Staff have had to physically restrain him.
“I am very concerned. I think that he is a danger, not only to himself, but to the staff and to the students, and I do not say that lightly about a child.”
The child has been excluded several times, and in recent weeks has been educated away from his class mates, but the whistle blower felt compelled to act and speak out this week after the child was allowed back into the classroom without any warning to staff or the children.
“The children are frightened of him. The way they behave around him, they’re just not behaving like children any more.
“You expect a bit of low level disruption in the classroom, having a bit of a laugh. They won’t even look in the direction of this boy. They won’t even look at him they’re that frightened.”
Mrs Charalambous, principal of Shafton primary, was appointed executive head of both schools in the summer.
“Jo-Anne wants to project the image that her schools are perfect. But they are not.
“I’m sure she thinks this is what’s best for the school but this is not the way to protect staff and it is certainly not the way to protect pupils.”
The Chronicle understands concerns have been reported to Barnsley Council’s safeguarding team.
A spokesman for St Helen’s Primary Academy said: “We pride ourselves on our robust behaviour policy at St Helen’s, and indeed our latest Ofsted inspection notes the range of improvements that have been made under the new head.
“Specifically, Ofsted comments on how well pupils conduct themselves around school, that the number of fixed-term exclusions has reduced considerably, and that parents indicate growing confidence that behaviour is getting better.
“Whilst it would be entirely inappropriate to provide specific commentary on individual pupils, we can say that a number of the claims being made are simply not true. Our general approach, however, is to deal with challenging behaviour from pupils in partnership with parents and, in extreme circumstances, external agencies.”
