CLASHROOMS Fifty kids aged four to seven sent home every day for threatening primary school staff
THOUSANDS of tearaway primary school pupils as young as four are being sent home for attacking and abusing teachers.
More than 50 infants aged up to seven are suspended every day in England – double the number five years ago.
Children have threatened staff with knives, hurled chairs at them and bombarded them with foul-mouthed abuse, a shock survey reveals.
A teachers’ union chief says Tory cuts have decimated levels of specialist care for pupils with behavioural problems, sparking a classroom crisis as teachers quit in droves.
“Primary school teachers face equally serious pupil indiscipline,” said NASUWT general secretary Chris Keats.
“But they are often discouraged from raising the issues and led to believe it will ref lect negatively on them because of the age of pupils.
“For too long, too many teachers have suffered in silence.”
A total of 8,807 children from Reception to Year 2 were suspended for attacking adults at school in 2017/ 18, Department for Education figures reveal. A further
1,190 were sent home for verbally threatening adults in the classroom – equal to about 52 each day during term time.
Children sent home are initially banned for a certain number of days.
But there were also 140 cases in England last year where Key Stage One pupils were expelled for attacking an adult.
KNIFE
In one disturbing incident in an NASUWT survey, a teacher reported being “threatened with a knife and scratched with nails” while another had “tables tipped over, and chairs and equipment thrown at me”.
One staff member told of being “kicked, punched, scratched on a daily basis”. And another warned: “The impact on the other children is huge. They are scared.” Another teacher told the union survey: “The age of the pupils exhibiting this type of behaviour is decreasing and there is a much higher level of verbal and physical violence, aggression and threats.”
The revelations come just weeks after the Sunday Mirror revealed schools are facing the worst staffing crisis in decades, as new teachers quit at the fastest rate on record.
Almost one in three leaves the job within five years of qualifying.
Ms Keates said: “The Government must take responsibility for the impact of policies which have reduced or removed internal and external specialist support for pupils for whom behaviour issues are a barrier to learning.
“These policies have driven qualified and specialist teachers out of the profession, narrowed the curriculum being offered and increased disaffection among pupils.
“Pupil indiscipline is now one of the main reasons given by teachers for considering leaving the profession. No teacher should have to go to work with the expectation that they will be abused.”
The Department for Education figures reveal a 21 per cent rise in suspensions of four to seven-year-olds for attacking or threatening an adult.
The worst offenders were children from Year 2, where children start the school year at just six years old.
The figures also showed 3,490 pupils were sent home from school in shame in 2017-18 after attacking another pupil.
ALARMING
Christopher McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: “These figures are alarming but represent only the tip of the iceberg.
“Schools are, in fact, under huge pressure not to suspend pupils, especially the younger ones.
“With thousands of infants out of control in schools we should be very worried indeed for the future of our society.
“The collapse of behaviour in our classrooms reflects what is going on in too many homes and out on our streets.
“It is small wonder that over a third of new teachers leave the profession within five years and never return.”
I was threatened with a knife. Kicked, punched and scratched on a daily basis...
A PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER ON BEING ATTACKED IN CLASS