Hundreds of assaults on North teachers

Aug 31 2008 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A WAVE of violence in North schools has seen staff assaulted more than 600 times in the last year . . . and that figure could be the tip of the iceberg.

Figures obtained by the Sunday Sun show there were 615 assaults on teachers and other staff in schools within eight local education authorities in 2007.

Ian Grayson — NUT national executive member for Tyne and Wear — said local authorities must take action. He said: “This number of attacks is alarming . . . there are a minority of pupils who must be dealt with.”

Each authority recorded the statistics differently, with some saying a number of attacks were accidental, caused by disabled children or youngsters with learning disabilities, yet they were not able to tell us how many.

North Yorkshire recorded the highest number of assaults for 2007, with schools making 188 suspensions — or “fixed-term exclusions following physical assaults on adults” — closely followed by Cumbria, with 149.

In North Tyneside, violent incidents involving kids almost doubled, with a rise of 91 per cent from 23 to 44 between 2006 and 2007. However, a spokeswoman for North Tyneside defended the figures, saying more staff are reporting incidents of violence.

Newcastle saw a rise of 83pc, from six to 11 assaults, in the same time period, but the authority came under fire from Mr Grayson after admitting they don’t record all incidents as they have “not thought them to be significant”.

He said: “I’m not saying the situation definitely is worse, but it’s very important that teachers and schools do report these incidences.” In South Tyneside, 10 primary school children assaulted staff in 2007 . . . three more than those carried out by children in secondary schools.

Meanwhile, Sunderland and Gateshead recorded 147 and 55 assaults respectively, but their statistics were skewed because they include incidents where students have accidentally caught a member of staff without intending to cause harm . . . a number stored separately by other LEAs.

Teesside bucked the trend with attacks down by 75pc in Middlesbrough from 16 in 2006/7 to just four during the last school year.