The school had an incident reported to us on the 4^th January by a student who confirmed that their parents were aware of the incident and wanted the school to deal with it rather than involve the police. An investigation began straight away.  At 14.09pm the school contacted the parents and the conversation between the school and family confirmed our understanding that the parents were aware.   The school were then informed on Saturday 5^th January that there was a video of an incident between two students that was being shown on social media.    This was the video of the incident we were already investigating which happened outside of school hours and away from school.  The school will complete the final part of the investigation this week in relation to the videoing and publishing of the incident.  Any sanctions determined will always remain between the School and the parents of the student receiving the sanctions. For confidentiality purposes, this is never shared further.  

The school does not tolerate this type of behaviour. Any violent or serious bullying incidents of any nature while in school uniform could result in serious sanctions.  Where it is appropriate we will also ask parents to report it to the police – especially if it is outside of the jurisdiction of the school’s disciplinary powers.  We also asked the School’s parents on Saturday evening not to add to the growing commentary on social media as the School and families concerned are best positioned to deal with the incident.  It is not appropriate for it to be done through an ill-informed social media forum. 

The school is very concerned with the shocking and disturbing way that social media users have tried to trial, convict and punish through sharing this story and video.  The majority of comments from our parent community have been positive about how the school has rapidly dealt with this difficult issue. Disappointingly, there have been a small number of adults in the community that have not shown a positive nor sensitive understanding of dealing with vulnerable young people.    The people best placed to deal with incidents like this are the adults and professionals that are responsible for dealing with it – namely Parents, Social Workers (where necessary), CAMHS professionals (where necessary), the Police and of course the Designated Safeguarding staff in the School.