CONCERNED parents are pulling their children out of Ridgeway Academy after a spate of bullying incidents.
In one case a boy tried to commit suicide in the school grounds after being bullied, in another one parent described the level of bullying as ‘horrific’.
Up to 20 children have been withdrawn from the school or are leaving, with many parents looking to Alcester and Studley for safe havens for their children.
One parent said: “I rang up another school because they have a strong bullying policy and said they already had three students coming from Ridgeway. Frankly I was not surprised.”
Another parent said her son had been the victim of emotional, physical and psychological bullying.
She claimed the school had done nothing despite letters from his doctor explaining the fragile mental state the bullying had led to.
“We have written to the headteacher, the doctor has been in touch with the school quite a few times. My son was hurting himself and did not want to live any more,” she said.
“I contacted the school’s special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco) to see if he might get a little support and the Senco said did you know he was trying to kill himself on the school playing fields and the children ran in to tell the staff.
“We were not told this and had no idea when it happened. Within half an hour I had collected him from the school.”
Parents say nothing is being done to tackle the bullying, that senior staff fail to act on information and fail to answer or get back to parents.
One said: “My child was being bullied so badly – then someone stole a blade from the tech department and threatened him at the bus stop.
“I contacted the school and they tell you you cannot speak to anyone that they are not available.
“Months later I’m still waiting for an answer from the school on it.”
She added her son was not alone: “You have kids in there who are being bullied – I have to sit up with the nightmares and he won’t speak about it until days later – it should not be like that.”
Mike Bennett, headteacher at Ridgeway Academy, said: “As a school and Leadership Team, we take allegations of bullying seriously. When parents and pupils have concerns we act upon the information we are given.
“The school has a robust behaviour policy in place which is underpinned by a strong pastoral structure. Where parents are concerned, we actively encourage them to contact their child’s class teacher in the first instance as they are best placed to know the children involved.
“Our policy is to investigate any allegation and act accordingly on the evidence we find. We ensure pupils and parents receive feedback on any action taken. In line with Government guidance, Ridgeway works with specialist agencies to support pupils with mental health issues when they are identified. “Again, this is achieved through communication between our pastoral team, class teacher, parents and pupils.
“We are proud of our pupils at Ridgeway and their behaviour in and around the school as well as when they represent the school at events in the community. We regularly receive positive feedback about how well the children represent themselves and the school.”
