A child at Waid Academy in Fife is alleged to have been knocked unconscious in a fight on the same day a girl was filmed being attacked in a classroom.
The boy was said to have been hurt in the incident outside the school on Monday.
The Courier previously told how a schoolgirl was pulled to the floor and kicked on the head and face by another girl.
A witness to the latest incident, described by the school as a “fight”, said a crowd of pupils gathering caught his attention.
When he reached them, he found the youngster on the ground out cold.
He claims five minutes passed without staff coming to disperse the crowd, but says one pupil had put the victim in the recovery position.
He wrote on social media: “Someone’s child…I despair thinking it could have been mine.”
And he called the school an “affront to the community” and added: “The school ought to be ashamed and embarrassed at the hellish time it took to respond.”
Police were not immediately contacted and the Scottish Ambulance Service said it had no record of the incident.
However Police Scotland said it has since become aware of both incidents and is now conducting inquiries.
A former councillor, who previously raised concerns about behaviour in the school, says police should have been called “absolutely automatically” for both incidents.
‘Fobbed off’
Linda Holt, whose own daughter has been a victim of violence at another school, said: “When I was a councillor last year I raised parental concerns about discipline at Waid with the then principal, only to be fobbed off with general comments about behavioural problems in all schools after lockdown.
“My own daughter has been subject to two physical assaults from fellow pupils in the last fortnight.
“The continuing impact of lockdown is undoubtedly a factor but there is little sign that Fife Council has a grip of the situation which has seen an increase in pupil-on-pupil violence and pupil-on-teacher violence.”
Head teacher Scott Duncan insists the “incident of fighting” outside the school on Monday was dealt with quickly by school staff.
He said: “I have written to parents today to reassure them about our processes and more importantly about the experience young people have at our school.
“When incidents of fighting are reported to us they are fully investigated and we have very robust policies and procedures in school to deal with this kind of behaviour.
“Appropriate and proportionate consequences are always put in place.
This kind of behaviour is not indicative of the vast majority of pupils at Waid Academy.”
Head teacher Scott Duncan
“We work closely with families to support young people, making sure they feel safe and help them reflect and work on escalated behaviours.”
The school also works with various support agencies, community police and counselling and educational psychologists, he said.
Mr Duncan added: “We will continue to work with our young people to talk about the impact of such incidents, what to do if they see such incidents and remind them all of the supports that are in place in school should they wish to speak to someone about any concerns they may have.
“We will also continue to share with them information about the law on social media and responsible use of social media.
“We don’t tolerate behaviour of this kind in our school and I can’t stress enough that this kind of behaviour is not indicative of the vast majority of pupils at Waid Academy.”
Inspector Murray Gibson, community inspector for North East Fife, said: “We have become aware of two incidents involving pupils at a school in Anstruther, which both took place on Monday, 16 January.
“Officers have liaised with the school and will be carrying out further enquiries into these incidents.
“We will continue to work closely with our education counterparts throughout this process.”
