School’s first duty is safety

CAPTION: DYDYDYDY

BULLYING VIDEO When we send our kids to school the very least we expect is they will be safe. If it turns out they’re not, those in charge need to take a long, hard look at themselves.

Can you imagine the distress of a family who fled a warzone and travelled half-way round the world to what they imagined to be a safe haven, only for their children to be racially abused, bullied and tortured? That this happened within the grounds of a British school makes me feel nauseous with disgust. A heartbreaking video emerged this week of Jamal, a Syrian boy, very small for his 15 years, being attacked by a much bigger boy and put into a headlock. The bully then tries to pour water down his throat, yelling: “I’ll drown you.”

A crowd of pupils watch, but no one helps. His sister was also filmed being shoved to the ground at the Huddersfield school as her headscarf was ripped off.

The school said: “This situation is being taken extremely seriously.”

Well, it’s being taken seriously by police who plan to charge a 16-year-old boy with assault. And it’s being taken seriously by wellwishers who’ve raised a six-figure sum to help the family relocate somewhere their children will feel safer.

But the school? However seriously they took this sick behaviour, it wasn’t seriously enough.

Can I just state for the record that I am not in the I’m A Celeb jungle, chomping on cow teats. That is the Coronation Street actress Sair Khan, and rather her than me, thank you very much.

I’m at the other end of the temperature spectrum as I prepare for Dancing On Ice. But I do find it frustrating that certain people in the media can’t seem to make the distinction between us. Yes, we are both Asian and our names are identical except for one letter. So let me make it clear – she’s the jungle VIP, I’m the one skating on thin ice.