The blazer of a St Joseph’s pupil whose mother claims has been bullied at school
A LOCAL MOTHER has called for urgent action to be taken to tackle bullying after claiming that her son has been subjected to years of bullying at his school.
In a heartfelt interview with the Herald this week Enniskillen mother Edel Rice claimed that for the past three years her son, who suffers from ADHD and an attachment disorder, has been subjected to both physical and emotional torment at St Joseph’s College and has called for stronger action to be taken before it is too late.
“I don’t want him to be the one I’m burying before me and if it keeps going on the way it’s going on this is what’s going to happen.”
The local mother claimed that her son, now a third year pupil at the school, has been subjected to bullying from his first weeks at the school, with the first incident of note when her son came home with a slashed blazer covered with paint. In his first school year she claimed he was also assaulted during PE class and stabbed in the hand with a pen, but no affirmative was ever taken by those at St Joseph’s.
“It was getting to a point when he was getting abused and threatened on a daily basis” Mrs Rice explained, and while she admits at times the bullying does quieten down it always rears its ugly head again.
“He’s been assaulted six times in the last year alone from last March, even on his driveway at my house he was assaulted. The latest assault was three weeks ago this Thursday.”
Due to the serious of recent incidents the mother has now involved the police.
“I’ve had to get the police involved because the school are not taking responsibility for it.”
She continued: “I have seen him going from a happy young boy to a child that falls to the floor in pieces and the school will not acknowledge it, they hide behind closed doors. I have fought and fought for three years, but they always say that he needs to build self-confidence, he needs to build self-resiliance, it can’t always be him.”
Mrs Rice has called for a tougher response not just at St Joseph’s, but in all schools.
“The issue is there needs to be a stronger stance on it, I think it has been ignored for too long and we’ve just accepted it. When we were growing up the teachers were a lot harder on us and I think children nowadays can get away with far, far too much.”
In response to the allegations the principal at St Joseph’s College Helena Palmer said the school had a strict no tolerance policy on bullying.
“Under data protection guidelines I can’t discuss any individual case. However, I can reassure parents and the wider school community that at St Joseph’s College we take any allegations of bullying extremely seriously. All allegations that are brought to my attention are immediately and thoroughly investigated by the school in line with our anti-bullying policy.
“Under no circumstances will we tolerate bullying within our school and we encourage an atmosphere of openness and acceptance at St Joseph’s for all our pupils. At all times the emotional and physical welfare of our pupils is of paramount importance and we will not accept any behaviour within the school that impacts on this.
If parents have any concerns that they wish to raise they can do so through the school’s parental complaints policy.”
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere