Teacher Assaults: £200,000 Payouts For Staff Attacked By Pupils

Teacher Assaults: £200,000 Payouts For Staff Attacked By Pupils
School children crossing sign with copy space
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School children crossing sign with copy space

Teachers who were attacked by pupils were paid more than £200,000 in compensation last year.

There were 17 incidents in 2013, which involved punching, biting and head-butting, and led to councils across the country paying teachers compensation.

According to the Sun on Sunday, a Dorset teacher received £43,000 after suffering injuries inflicted by a student.

One female teacher was handed £3,000 after a pupil bit her on the head in Croydon, south London.

Another teacher received £3,500 after being hit by glass thrown by a student.

The figures come after 16-year-old Will Cornick was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years last week after stabbing to death 61-year-old Ann Maguire at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds in April.

Christopher McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, told the newspaer: "Schools should be places of learning, not battlefields."

The NASUWT teachers' union, which records reports of attacks, said: "Staff are entitled to work in an environment free from violence and disruption and to appropriate access to training and support on behaviour matters.

"Pupils are entitled to a safe and orderly learning environment, together with effective teaching and support, to assist them in achieving their full potential."

Earlier this year, a 14-year-old boy attacked seven teachers in school after he was told off for chewing gum.

The pupil head-butted one teacher up to 15 times, body-barged another and kicked out and punched others as they tried to calm him down, a court was told.

Staff at the school in Oldham, Greater Manchester, including the headmistress, attempted to restrain the boy but he began to kick out and threaten them.

Last year, a teacher whose arm was knocked into a filing cabinet by a pupil received almost £400,000 in compensation.

The secondary school worker was putting a confiscated football into the cabinet when the child smashed his arm in the drawer.

The victim was unable to continue working after developing 'complex regional pain syndrome' – described by the NHS as a 'burning pain' - and was given £382,930 in compensation.

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