I get bitten, kicked and pushed. Other people have been punched

“We are spread so thin now that I feel we are letting the children down,” says one pupil support assistant working in Aberdeenshire.

“The demands are so much greater, especially as we take on more kids with complex needs, that I think it is inevitable that we see more of them playing up essentially.

“It is not as if overnight these kids have got any more badly behaved.

“It is more that if you are not spending the time with kids then they will rebel.

“This also has a knock-on effect as other children think the way to get attention is to lash out.

“My school took on new pupils with additional needs this year, but there’s no extra staff.

“There’s one pupil with a medical condition who needs checked three times a day and another two with daily medication needs.

“Myself and another PSA joked that we will soon need a medicine trolley and a nurses outfit we’re doing so much of this sort of thing.

“I have been pushed, bitten and kicked – often a few times a week – by pupils and the other PSAs in my school have been punched and kicked.

“Previously we didn’t report them all, mainly because you would spend half your time reporting the incidents, but I have tried to get better at doing it, partly as I hope it makes the case for getting extra staff – but that might be a bit over-optimistic.

“The lack of staff I feel is a very big issue.

“I am afraid to say that inclusion, or lack of, also has a big part in the behaviour of some children.

“I hate that I am not getting the chance to actually help the children in the school that really need it.

“That is not to say children with additional needs don’t need help, they obviously do, but sometimes the ones who just need a little help get squeezed out.

“I always feel like I am checking the clock or being pulled away to sort something out.

“We just need more staff.”