‘Police treat classroom jibes as hate incidents’.

winterwhite

I don’t think police involvement appropriate. Dealing with bullying must surely be part of teacher training courses and maybe should be ‘refreshed’ every few years. Better use of their time than supervising toothbrushing.
Children should be taught from at least 7 that not only will bullying not be tolerated but neither will being a passive bystander. Bullies often thrive on an audience. Schools should be able to crack that.

Maybe dealing with bullying 'should' be part of teacher trying courses, but it isn't.

I wonder how people think bullies should be dealt with - it would be interesting to know.

The school should be able to deal with an incident like this and involving the police was an over-reaction if it is as reported.
Police resources are stretched enough without calling them to incidents which should be promptly and properly dealt with in school, particularly at primary level.

If the bullying becomes something ongoing at senior school level, with gangs of children consistently targetting one child until they become suicidal, then that is different. The school's policy on bullying should be robust. Sadly, that is often not the case because often parents of the bullies themselves will complain.

That silly rhyme is the culprit, it should be "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will hurt forever"

Often the parents of the bully simply refuse to accept that their 'little darling' could possibly be guilty of such behaviour. When my son had problems with one child at primary school, the head teacher tried to brush it off by saying the said child 'had issues' - namely that his mother was deaf. I pointed out that whatever 'issues' this boy or his family may have had, it did not entitle him to use my son as a punchbag. Schools often claim to have a zero tolerance policy on bullying - but it seems that they still often don't act on it.

I often wonder about the people who try to minimise bullying. Were they the bullies, was their child a bully or is there some reason they don't think all children should feel safe?

Whatever the reason I'll leave them to it. I will never forgive the bullies for the harm they did to my child and the adults who stood by and let it happen are even worse.

Surely it depends on how serious? As in the guidelines on criminality or not?

I don’t think police involvement appropriate. Dealing with bullying must surely be part of teacher training courses and maybe should be ‘refreshed’ every few years. Better use of their time than supervising toothbrushing.
Children should be taught from at least 7 that not only will bullying not be tolerated but neither will being a passive bystander. Bullies often thrive on an audience. Schools should be able to crack that.

Yes, and as someone said above, sometimes there's no support from the bully's parents!
I know some of these go into school very angry if their child is disciplined

Bullying is extremely damaging and should always be taken seriously. Schools aren't always the best at dealing with it. I don't know anything about the case the OP has mentioned but I would think the child being bullied was in danger.

I hope it works out for your GC. Kids can be so cruel and so many adults make excuses for them.

My grandchild is ASD and one of the children in his class called him a "retard". His father overheard and asked the teacher to have a general chat about that. My son also spoke to the parents. On this occasion, he was happy to keep it as a gentle chat but if the matter isn't resolved he will escalate it along the appropriate channels but eventually, he would make an official complaint if the police were the appropriate people as a last resort. He wants his child to live his best life, not to be demoralised by this sort of bullying.

I wish I'd gone to the police and don't know why I didn't. Ten years later when she was at university and told me she would always sit alone unless invited to join others as she still feared how people would react it broke my heart.

Why is bullying of children minimised?

Surely whats needed is a proportionate approach. Current govt guidelines (D Express) says

"The latest code of practice states that hate incidents in schools that do not amount to crimes should be referred to "the school management team" and "no police record made".

Lack of information here. We don't know who called the police in on this example. Angry parent? - which is out of schools control.

As worriedwell says, bullying can be absolutely horrendous. shouldn't trivialise it. I can't see a school getting the police involved unless they felt it was beyond their purview

Bullying can lead to suicide and lifelong mental and physical health problems. It really is very important to put a stop to it.

Especially as it is currently Anti Bullying week

You were unlucky with your primary school which is a shame.

theworriedwell

As one of mine was so badly bullied she wanted to die I don't have much sympathy for bullies. I hope the police put the fear of God in them.

I don't have sympathy for bullies either, and from my own experience with my children, the school was worse than useless when it came to dealing with incidents of bullying. I would certainly hope things have improved since then, but I'm not sure they have.

If only we could rely on schools to do that and if only schools could rely on support from the parents of bullies. Neither thing happened in my child's case. Of course it can work, transfer to senior school resolved the issue in a matter of weeks when primary school was more worried about supporting the unhappy bullies for 3 years with incidents increasing to serious assaults.

Mostly children as young as 9 copy others and if pulled up on it will soon stop.

That’s such a waste of police time and shows that making such things ‘hate speech’ is OTT when all it needs is the teacher or headteacher to give the child a dressing down over it and say if he or she says it again then parents will be called.If that isn’t any use then a period of suspension. There’s no need for police at all.

As one of mine was so badly bullied she wanted to die I don't have much sympathy for bullies. I hope the police put the fear of God in them.