A FATHER has said schools need to do more about violence and bullying after his daughter was assaulted by another pupil at John of Gaunt School this week.

The dad spoke out after his 13-year-old daughter needed hospital treatment after she was kicked in the head by pupils at school on Monday morning. He says the pupils responsible have been picking on his daughter for the past three months.

He said that the pupils involved were excluded for three days but he feels the problems will continue so long as they are kept at the school.

The dad said: “The school should have stepped in when this first started three months ago.

“I am furious that it had now led to my daughter being assaulted. She has previously been threatened and we fear that next time it could be a whole lot worse and weapons could be involved.

“These pupils will continue to bully people until they are removed from the school completely.

“It is getting out of control and the school needs to do more because if I have to get involved it won’t be nice.

“My daughter has been complaining of a headache ever since and she was really shaken up. It was a really scary ordeal for her.”

The girl was off school for two days with a headache as a result of her injuries. She went back to school on Wednesday.

She said: “I was really nervous to go back to school and I want something more to be done.

“All that will happen is a meeting will be held with the people responsible.

“It is a distraction for me in school and I want it all to stop.”

Police officers were called to the school to help deal with the incident and are launching an investigation.

A police spokesman said: “We were called to John of Gaunt School, in Trowbridge, at 9.10am on Monday morning following an assault on a 13-year-old girl.

“The girl did not have any visible injuries, so it was left with her father to decide if she needed to seek medical assistance as a precaution.

“We are investigating and our enquiries are ongoing.”

PC Sophie Woodfield, from Wiltshire West CPT, said: “We have good relationships with all the schools in Trowbridge and provide support and assistance to help them deal with bullying or incidents between pupils.

“Very often it is most appropriate for schools to deal with matters internally, however, if an incident is serious enough to be classed as a police matter then we carry out our own investigation.

“This particular incident is being investigated as common assault and we will be liaising with the school as part of our enquiries.”

It is believed the matter is being dealt with internally and meetings are being held between the father and senior members of staff.

The anti-bullying policy on the John of Gaunt website states that “students demonstrating bullying behaviour must not be accused or labelled but supported, encouraged and given a chance to rectify their behaviour” and that “sanctions such as exclusions are applicable if students displaying bullying behaviour are intransigent over time and all other avenues are exhausted.”

The Wiltshire Times approached the headteacher of John of Gaunt, Paul Skipp, but he refused to comment on the incident.