Parents remove their children from school over bullying claims
FURIOUS parents claim bullying at Merrill Academy left them with “no choice” but to take their children out of the school.
Two mums claim to have removed their children from the Alvaston secondary school permanently with one saying sending her child to the school was the “biggest mistake” she had made.
The school’s head teacher, Marcus Shepherd, said he could not comment on individual cases but said that the school does not tolerate bullying in any form.
He said: “As with every other school in the city, and indeed the country, we do have instances where young people are bullied. This is increasingly done via social media and out of school, but there can be repercussions in school.
“We don’t tolerate bullying, and will always deal with it once we become aware of it.”
The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection was in April when it was found to have “improved in every aspect” since it was branded inadequate two years ago.
One mum, who would not be named, claimed her son’s strong prescription glasses were taken from him after a group of six pupils tackled their child in the school playground. She said the loss of the glasses meant the boy “couldn’t see in front of him”.
Mr Shepherd said: “As a school, we drove the parent and the child to the optician and provided him with prescription glasses. The boys involved were excluded from the school.”
The mum-of-three said that, originally, all three of her children attended Merrill, but now one has been moved and another is in the process of being removed.
Another parent claimed that her daughter, in year seven, left just one week after starting in September this year. She alleges this was after her daughter was threatened with physical violence on her second day by pupils in a toilet cubicle.
Prior to starting at the school, the mum alleges she informed Merrill Academy of her daughter’s anxiety issues as she was previously cyber-bullied.
She says the school reassured her that “safeguarding” measures would be put in place to help her child. However, she claims this was not done.
The mother of the girl says she called the school after receiving a text on her daughter’s second day at Merrill, which read: “Please mum, can you get me out of school.”
The mother then claims to have rang the school four times that day before the situation was properly dealt with. She said: “You constantly feel like you’re chasing them.”
She says the bullying continued and she became even more concerned about her child’s wellbeing. She said: “I asked ‘Is my daughter safe in your school?’ And they couldn’t answer. They just weren’t reassuring me at all.
“They sat my daughter down with the bullies in the same room and told her the whole thing was a big misunderstanding even though four of the five bullies involved admitted to threatening my child.”
Mr Shepherd said of that issue: “Working in schools is busy and demanding and there are times when we recognise that we can’t get back to parents as soon as they would hope, although we will always aim to respond as quickly as possible.”
Mr Shepherd, who has been head teacher at the academy since 2016, added: “Improving communication with parents has been a priority for us. Myself and other senior staff are highly visible in and around the school at the start and end of the day and throughout lessons and social times.
“I regularly go on duty on the canal path where I speaks to parents and carers regarding any issues in the academy. My work mobile number has also been made available to parents/carers so that they can get in direct contact if they so require.”
Deputy head, Paul Beedle, said: “One hundred and twenty students joined the academy last year after September. I can’t understand why all those parents would bring those children in if there was a big problem here.
“The perception of bullying is often skewed but we’re working around that in mentor time to define what bullying is. We have a behaviour team that communicates with parents to take immediate action. That’s along with a safeguarding team and two councillors who are working within the school that students are aware of.” Mr Shepherd added: “Behaviour at the school has improved rapidly over the past two years. This was recognised by Ofsted in May when the school came out of special measures, as was the increasing effectiveness of our behaviour management strategies.
“We continue to work to improve further, and welcome the support of our parents as we do so.”
Both parents who said they had transferred their child to a different school told the Derby Telegraph that in their children had not been bullied at their new schools.
Marcus Shepherd
We don’t tolerate bullying, and will always deal with it once we become aware of it.