Dear Name
My name is (Full Name). I am the parent/carer of (Full Name of child) who attends (Name of school) and is a student in Year (Year group) .
On (Date of Incident), my child was involved in an incident where they were assaulted/threatened with assault (Delete whichever is not applicable). The incident was reported to (Give details of who complaint was made to) and placed on record. This was the latest in a series of incidents where my child has been assaulted or threatened with violence (Delete this sentence if not applicable ie. Your complaint concerns a one off incident only). As a consequence my child has suffered (Give details of injury or illness including physical and psychological harm). I have attached (Give details of supporting evidence eg Doctor’s/therapist’s report/letter) as evidence (Delete if not applicable). The school has said they will ensure that action is taken to prevent further incident. Despite this, you have been unable to explain what steps you intend to take, to prevent further or even more serious incidents of bullying and violence, or to ensure a reasonable level of protection for my child while in school.
Attached to this email, you will find a statement from the Safer Schools campaign for your attention. The Safer Schools campaign is a national campaign made up of more than 150 families from the UK, that have lost children to suicide or had a child killed or suffer serious harm, as a consequence of bullying, physical and sexual violence in schools. In some cases, children have been lost to suicide after being pressured to return to school, under threat of prosecution for non attendance, despite evidence they were at risk of further harm in doing so.
Since 2015, the campaign has presented evidence to the Government, of failures both within Government and schools to properly address and respond to bullying and violence concerns, that in turn have allowed numerous incidents of harm and death to occur. This has led to a review of the case by the United Nations, with a view to ensuring that all those responsible for the safety of children are taking necessary steps in line with their lawful duties to protect life and prevent further harm.
With that in mind and my responsibilities as a parent, I have chosen to take what I consider to be the entirely reasonable step of providing my child with a suitable education at home from (Date), until such a time that I am confident that reasonable measures have been put in place to ensure their safety in school and that the chances of them being subjected to further serious assault or threat of assault and risk of serious harm or death are minimised. More importantly, given the subsequent mental health issues that the assault has resulted in, I will be educating my child at home, until such a time that they are mentally and physically well enough to attend.
The steps I intend to take are in line with the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child article 18, which ensures that parents/guardians are primarily responsible for their children and should always consider what is in their best interests. The steps are also in line with UK legislation, that ensures that parents/carers are primarily responsible for the protection of their child.
I would ask that I be fully supported by the school in my efforts to ensure my child can recover fully from the incident. I would ask that you do this primarily by providing the necessary absence authorisation for any time off that may be needed in order to do so, in line with the Education Act, which makes it clear that where a pupil is prevented from attending school by reason of sickness or any unavoidable cause, their absence must be treated as authorised. In the meantime, I will endeavour to ensure an appropriate return to school as quickly as possible and the fullest possible attendance, once the school can reassure me that reasonable and appropriate steps to prevent further harm and illness have been put in place.
I would also request that all information provided is taken into consideration by anyone considering or making any potential decision regarding school attendance enforcement and interventions, including threat of prosecution/fines or School attendance orders.
Yours Sincerely
(Full Name)