1,000 bullied pupils have to move schools every month

A THOUSAND children a month are forced to move schools because of bullying, new research has revealed.

The council figures, obtained by the New Schools Network, expose the impact of bullying on the education of youngsters.

Previous research has shown that moving schools within the academic year can be ‘devastating’, with transferred pupils typically performing poorly in their exams.

The New Schools Network a charity which provides support to groups wanting to set up free schools, asked 151 local authorities in England how many children had transferred state primary and secondary schools during the 2014/15 academic year and the reason for the move.

Twenty local authorities responded,

‘No child should

face bullying’

revealing there were 49,111 moves, with bullying responsible for 1,605 children changing schools.

Researchers extrapolated this to an England-wide total of 380,000 pupil transfers in a year, of which 12,000 were because of bullying.

This was the fourth most prevalent reason for swapping schools, behind moving house (161,000), parents preferring another school or being ‘ unhappy’ with the current one (40,000) and schools being too far from home (13,000).

New Schools Network director Nick Timothy said: ‘This research shows just how serious bullying can be.

‘Having to start afresh at a new school can have a really negative effect on pupils, adding to uncertainty, poorer exam results, and more generally feeling unsettled.’

Tory MP Suella Fernandes, a member of the Commons’ education select committee, said: ‘Although overall numbers of bullying and violence in schools have fallen over the last ten years, more can still be done to tackle bullying.

‘If it is a reason to change schools, then it is clear that the bullying has become unacceptable.’

A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘No child should face the fear and victimisation of bullying. We have increased support to teachers to tackle it and our figures show that thanks to the hard work of teachers and charities, 30,000 fewer children now face bullying compared to ten years ago.’