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Huge surge in number of ‘assaults’ at Aviemore Primary School





Copncered parents Mike Dearman and Andy Norrie outside of Aviemore Primary School.
Copncered parents Mike Dearman and Andy Norrie outside of Aviemore Primary School.

The number of ‘physical assaults’ at Badenoch and Strathspey’s largest primary school has rocketed in the latest reported academic year.

Figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request reveal that there were 116 incidents in 2023/24 at the Aviemore school.

The number of reported assaults in previous years were 28 in 2019/20; 27 in 2020/21 and 10 in 2021/22.

Data for 2022/23 was not provided because there was a change in the reporting process for school staff.

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Education authority bosses have said that this means comparisons with recent years might not be accurate but this is disputed by parents who have said the rise in assaults reflects what they are hearing.

They have said their understanding is that the statistics are the result of incidents of violence and aggression.

Aviemore Primary School parent Mike Dearman, who obtained the information, said: “I think these figures clearly demonstrate that there is a serious resourcing issue in Aviemore and I don’t believe that our school is unique.

“In fact over the last month I've repeatedly heard similar concerns from many other staff and parents at primary schools across the Highlands.

“This has never been about bashing our schools, the staff or the pupils.

“The current situation is a direct consequence of Highland Council's ruthless cuts to education and under-resourced policies.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for the council to shrug this rise off as a new reporting system.

“They need to publicise numbers for other Highlands primary schools now, and open a meaningful investigation into these safeguarding issues affecting both pupils and staff across the region.

“I would encourage parents across the Highlands to submit FoI requests to the council for their own schools because only concerted pressure from the public is going to force the council to act.”

Fellow school parent Andy Norrie said: “Unfortunately I am not surprised by these figures - but I feel that we should be.

“Depending on the number of duplicates, that is still more than one incident significant enough to document every few days.

“I think it is also reasonable to assume that any given incident could have been worse.

“For example if one involved a child throwing something, perhaps it hurt a bit but with a bit of bad luck it could have taken out someone's eye.”

He added: “Any incident that involved people at my place of work harming each other would be very likely to involve police and/or dismissal.

“The assumption is that zero incidents of this form should happen, and a single one would be a major event requiring significant changes to avoid a repeat.

“In the school, it seems that protection of staff is just not a priority, only the budget matters.”

He ended: “I would be asking if the council here similarly accepts that ASN (additional support needs) care is failing and needs urgent and major reform.”

The two parents point out the forms take 30 minutes to an hour to complete and must be carried out on a school computer so a staff member has to be motivated to act and many other incidents are simply not reported.

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “Minimising violence and aggression and promoting positive behaviour in all education settings is a top priority for the council and we are actively working with our staff and unions in agreeing the way forward that supports all young people to successfully access education and learning, whilst ensuring staff are protected.

“Aviemore Primary School has enhanced provisions and highly experienced ASN trained staff to support complex pupil needs, which aim to minimise the need for pupils to travel to Inverness for special ASN provision.

“A new reporting system was designed and implemented at the start of the 2023-24 session to make it much easier for staff to report incidents, and staff have been encouraged to report everything, however minor, so we have a clear understanding of the impact on staff.

“In some cases, this has meant that incidents may have been reported more than once.

“There has also been a degree of dual running of reporting systems in year one which also means the figures may be somewhat inflated and this is being reviewed.”

School employees log whether the incident is verbal, physical or both and may not involve causing injury to anyone.

The council said many incidents include examples of things being thrown including a sock, a pencil, an eraser and so on and are ‘more representative of a child experiencing frustration than actions being deliberately aimed at another’.

Police had to be called to deal with a young pupil at Aviemore Primary School ‘waving’ about a knife in the playground at the end of November.

No-one was injured in the incident.

The school’s parent council was approached for comment.

The Strathy is still awaiting a response to its FoI request to the council for reported assault incidents at local schools in recent years.


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