and what was your solution to the bullying?

There was no solution, its still going on...i've had various meetings with the school and my son was sent home with some booklet called "sticks and stones" where on one of the pages the victim is prompted to ask themselves whether or not they invite themselves to be bullied is their body language giving out the wrong signals blah blah blah

Whe i asked if the bullies parents had been informed i was told it was none of my business ! what a joke

no, the first part where I wrote your name and the quote was addressed to you/for your attention. TBH I thought you may have worked out the fact that you hadn't mentioned anything to do with the rest meant it wasn't specifically for your attention.

Contact the head of Education and inform them you request a meeting with the parents of the bully and the bully present while you and your son is there and you are going to mediate the situation as this cannot be allowed to continue further. If it does they are infringing you childs rights as this will affect him growing into a healthy individual. That should work.

EDIT; I am not talking about the head teacher! Infact they will probably get a telling off but anyhoo...different councils have different titles so you will probably be looking for Chair of Education and Children's Services or similar.

EDIT AGAIN: If you take issue with the booklet then raise that too but remember you have several councillors you can contact about this too.

I think it it would be quite insulting to someone whose home or business had been destroyed by rioters, or family members had been murdered to say that it is important to establish why these individuals had done what they had done. The reality is that there are some individuals who are simply bad. They can harp on all they like about not having money, opportunities or even respect but that does not give them the excuse to behave in the way they did. So their life sucks sometimes. So what? Deal with it. Everyone's life sucks sometimes, we don't all go around endangering people's lives and ruining their lives.

If this is directed at me (?) I have posted SEVERAL times that I am not saying people should not have consequences or that prisons don't have their place.

Whoppee doo !

I've had my son badly bullied by a kid who "doesn't have a good home life" this doesn't excuse this behaviour

It sickens me that kids that cause chaos and even hit their teachers are given excuses because of whatever, as i said what do the good kids get ? not taken on days out thats for sure, we've got it the wrong way round in this country for sure.

What message does rewarding bad behaviour give the kids that don't misbehave ?

As I said there is a way to get the bullying sorted out.

Kids being taken out actually dosnt affect your son being bullied, thats a bugbear, not a solid reason for 'it dosnt work'.

HOWEVER, that being said when they are gone the others can learn.

As for how good the schemes in place are...depends on a lot too. However I would think since funding has been cut, results will lower too.

EDIT; The curriculum here has been changed too so lots more work will be practical etc so help to reduce some of this (I am not saying eliminate, but reduce)

EDIT AGAIN; compared to the one who gets +R at home and school, how does the 'bad kid' learn what works if they receive none?

Those involved should be punished of course.

But nobody was born bad there are reasons why so many young people feel so disengaged from society and look for safety in gangs etc.

You can punish all you like but that is reactive we should be looking at why they feel the way they do or things are likely to get progressively worse.

This is my point too. That, and using ways that we know work. There is a lot to be said for community (and giving people a chance)