School bullies across Greater Manchester could be getting away with abuse and intimidation, as incidents rarely result in permanent or fixed period expulsions, figures show.
A recent survey revealed that more than 16,000 children are absent from school every day due to severe bullying.
In the 2010/11 school year, less than eight secondary school students were permanently excluded for bullying across all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.
Oldham and Manchester City Council revealed that ‘less than five’ pupils were permanently excluded in the boroughs for bullying in this school year.
Suzie Hayman, a trustee who helps to run the charity BullyingUK, said: “Bullying is a real concern to the families of bullied children, who often find the situation traumatic and hard to manage.”
Nationally, only 50 students were permanently excluded from secondary school for bullying in the same year.
This amounts to just one per cent of all permanent exclusions, while only one and a half per cent of all fixed period exclusions were due to bullying.
The charity BeatBullying is campaigning for bullies to be punished more severely, in memory of Ayden Olson.
Ayden was a 14-year-old boy from Colchester who committed suicide in March this year, because he was being bullied.
In a letter to the Prime Minister the charity calls on the government to make bullying a criminal offence.
The letter says: “Despite being aware of the torment Ayden was being subjected to, the school does not appear to have acted in a way that made him feel like he was well supported.
“We are urging you to meet with us in a summit to discuss how such tragedies can be prevented through a new Children’s Anti-Bullying Bill.
“The Bill would introduce a law to protect children who become victims of cruel and relentless bullying.”
The 2010/11 school year saw more students permanently excluded for verbally abusing or threatening an adult, than for bullying another child.
Christie Spurling is the founder of N-Gage, which is a Manchester-based charity that aims to help children at risk social or educational exclusion.
He said: “Usually if someone is bullying there is an underlying reason for it. Excluding them should be a last resort after other avenues have been explored.
“Work should be done to look at why the person feels bullying is okay, and to tackle the underlying causes.
“However, it is important to make clear that lots of support should be given to the person on the receiving end too, and any interventions should not appear to condone bullying.”
Persistent disruptive behaviour was the leading cause of both permanent and fixed period exclusions, while nationally more students were permanently excluded for sexual misconduct than bullying.
The survey found that boys are approximately three times more likely to be excluded than girls, and pupils eligible for free school meals are four times more likely.
The most common ages for both sexes to be excluded are at 13 and 14 years old.
As little as four children could have been excluded so far for bullying in the 2012/13 school year, in eight of ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.
Salford, Oldham and Manchester City confirmed that children had been permanently excluded for bullying in 2012/13, but could not divulge how many, however the latter two did confirm the amount was less than five.
They said the number was so low that the individual(s) could be identified through research.
Figures were not available for Bury or Bolton for 2012/13.
Image courtesy of apdk, via Flickr, with thanks.
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
