Violence in our schools – special report

The scale of violence in Scarborough’s secondary schools has been revealed after a Freedom of Information request by The Scarborough News. The data, for 2013-March 2018, shows that Graham was the only school in Scarborough to have any children with an offensive weapon, as well as the highest number of assaults by other pupils.

It has called the police to school on more occasions than any other school between 2013 and 2018.

Figures from George Pindar School, Scalby School, Scarborough Sixth Form College and St Augustine’s RC School, between 2013 to 2018, are also revealed.

The information submitted by North Yorkshire Police has been released under four categories relating to questions submitted in the information request.

Graham School was found to have three children, under

‘Clear expectations and procedures for behaviour have been established’

the age of 18, to be in possession of an offensive weapon.

It was the only school in Scarborough to have any records of children with an offensive weapon in the specified years.

Graham School also had the highest total of incidents recorded where it has been reported that pupils have been assaulted by other pupils between 2013 and 2018. The school had 33 incidents within the five-year time frame.

Figures show that George Pindar School had 15 incidents, Scalby School had nine incidents, Scarborough Sixth Form College had one incident and St Augustine’s RC School also had one incident.

Graham School and George Pindar School, who had the highest records of assaults, are now under executive lead Helen Dowds who is overseeing the transition of both schools into the Hope Learning Trust.

Stuart Carlton, director of the Children and Young People’s Service at North Yorkshire County Council, said: “We are working closely with Hope Learning Trust, the Interim Executive Board(IEB) of Governors and the leadership team at both Graham and George Pindar Schools to ensure that pupils are able to access education in a safe and secure environment.

“Clear expectations and procedures for behaviour have been established and IEB members and the leadership team in both schools are ensuring that staff implement these consistently.”

North Yorkshire Police also confirmed that all of the assaults recorded were physical assaults, apart from five which were recorded as sexual assaults.

These were at Graham School and Scalby School.

The final set of data refers to the number of incidents, between 2013 to March 2018, where police officers have been dispatched to schools.

Graham School recorded 11

incidents which is the highest number of all schools in Scarborough in the time frame.

Figures show that police were called to George Pindar School seven times, St Augustine’s three times and Scalby School twice. Of the two incidents at Scalby School, headteacher Michael McCluskie said that he made the calls to police due to parents’ behaviour threatening his staff members.

Mark Taylor, headteacher at St Augustine’s, said that the incidents involving police at his school “all involved members of the public who were behaving suspiciously outside of school.”