| Teachers, facing violence in the classroom, have held ballots in 25 schools this year to stop aggressive and abusive pupils back into their lessons. The teachers' union, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, has given some anonymous examples of why teachers have called ballots to boycott violent pupils. Hampshire, February 2003: Pupil, aged 12, with a history of violence and disruption seriously assaulted a teacher, hitting her in the stomach with a brush handle and left her with internal bleeding. Essex, March 2003: Two male pupils, aged 15 and 16, punched and kicked a disabled member of the cleaning staff. The staff member went to hospital, and was so traumatised by the incident, that he was unable to return to the school. Wales, September 2003: A group of older teenage pupils have been involved in serious harassment of a female teacher, who has been subjected to a series of obscene phone calls, over many months. The phone calls were premeditated, offensive and overtly sexual. The teacher was left in extreme distress. London, January 2003: Female pupil, aged 14, vandalised a teacher's car. When the teacher reported it to the police, the pupil made allegations that the teacher had assaulted her (these allegations were investigated and found to be untrue), and later made further malicious allegations against the teacher. Wales, January 2003: Male pupil, aged 12, shot a teacher with a ball-bearing gun. Yorkshire, February 2003: Pupil had attacked every member of staff in a small school, including teachers, support staff and kitchen staff. The pupil also bullied other pupils so much that another pupil was too scared to attend school. Surrey, March 2003: Male pupil, aged 15, with a history of violence and disruption, including abusive language and violence towards other pupils, assaulted a member of staff, head-butting him when asked for his homework book. North East June 2003: A 14-year-old male pupil repeatedly hit another pupil's head against the wall. When a teacher attempted to stop this, the pupil punched her in the face. The union also reports two new incidents where staff want schools and local authorities to take action: Surrey, October 2003: A 15 year old male pupil sent a female teacher a series of very abusive and threatening e-mails. Among other things, the pupil claimed that he would rape her. Sussex, October 2003: A 15 year old pupil has been spraying other pupils with lighter fluid before setting fire to them.
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