A total of 13 young men and teenagers have been jailed for their part in a horrific attack at a Wiltshire school.

Was the incident which left Henry Webster with short-term memory loss a one-off - or are our schools becoming more violent?

Figures obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that in the past five years more than 52,000 pupils have been excluded from schools across the west of England.

Last year hundreds of teachers and thousands of pupils were assaulted.

The worst behaved pupils were in Gloucestershire, where 700 children were assaulted and a further 185 threatened.

What is behind these statistics and what can be done to protect both teachers and schoolchildren?

Unions say trouble in the classroom is putting intolerable pressure on teachers.

SUSPENSIONS FOR ASSAULTING STAFF (ACADEMIC YEAR 2006/7)
Wiltshire: 74
Bristol: 72
Gloucestershire 46

John Pemberthy from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said some staff had taken early retirement because of their injuries or stress suffered.

"The shock and stress of an incident has caused some to lose their confidence and they've been unable to return to work.

"[Incidents] range from verbal abuse to physical assault. For women teachers particularly this can include sexual and lewd behaviour."

Teachers argue that there are already enough laws to allow them to discipline pupils here in the classroom.

But some school governors are reluctant to back staff because of the risk of legal action from parents who are unable to control their own children.


Violent attacks like the one on Mr Webster are comparatively rare

Trystan Williams, head teacher of Springfields Special School in Calne, Wiltshire, said: "Certainly in this school and in other specialist schools if we didn't have the [discipline] policy in place the school would be unruly and the place run by the bullies and the dangerous elements in the school."

In what has been seen as a successful method to stop the violence one Bristol school practises a "restorative approach".

This means that those responsible have to meet face to face with their victims.

John Matthews, head teacher of Brislington Enterprise College, Bristol, believes adults in a school can only offer children the best education if they feel safe and secure.

"I believe the restorative approach is one way we can move it on to the next level.

"Certain behaviours are not acceptable.

"While we will hold young people and their parents or carers to account there are ways you can resolve that student back into the organisation."

He added: "Violent attacks like that suffered by Henry Webster at school are fortunately rare, but assaults on both teachers and pupils in the classroom seem almost to have become the norm rather than the exception, and until that situation changes exclusions will continue at their existing level."

Reasons for anti social behaviour:-
Television, mostly agressive USA films.
Tolerance of drug and drink crime.
Poor role models ie Parents who have absolutely no life apart from debased behaviour and politicions whose trough feeding examples are paraded as rewards for a succesful career.
Overcrowding caused by immigration.
Race hatred caused again by immigration.
No self discipline by example whatsoever.
Virtually no punishments to fit the crime.
In other words the place has had it.
When did it all start to accelerate, strangely enough about the time when CP was abolished in schools.

Well done Mimi

SC

Mimi add to list:
plain ol'evil demons (unfashionable explanation nowadays)
you know like spiritual E-V_I-L duh people under the influence of demon like spirits makuing them rebellious hurtful and destructive?
To me school-public school-was from the start a violent often nasty and terryfing place
violence from teeches - caning,heads banged against walls
violence from pupils-bullies kicking,pinching,punching ,pushing,grabbing,shoving,nucking books,throwing things.
violence on the CCF training course being made to walk on 20'high rope walkways,jump off high diving boards,wear a parachute,do acrobatics,sit in the firing range pits whilst bullets sang overhead,being made to breathe in CS gas in a shed with no gas mask,.......its all aboutconquering fear lad and building confidence.More like brain washing.as a 13 year old during all these Iw as TERRIFIED!
violence on telly nightly -mid east terror,Nortehrn ireland,skinheads,bovver boys,nat front,
my whole young life was filled with terror of all this and more,1969 was the year.the teeches had been wound up by "the kids"for 4 long years and were stressed.1969 was the worst year for indisciplne in the history of academic education.they were really uptite with the kids.
oh for the days of when it was "just"the cane one feared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!