 The formal warning follows a series of complaints from parents |
A school's governing body is facing the sack for failing to stop the bullying of Polish students. The formal warning issued to governors of St John Fisher RC School in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, follows a series of complaints from parents. Polish children at the 730-pupil school claim they are the victims of physical and verbal assaults and intimidation. The school is now being asked to allow police officers into the school to help sort out the problems. 'Range of bullying' A notice sent by the council in February to the chairwoman of governors, Judith Jones, and head teacher Mary Mihovilovic, requires them to take extra measures. Among them is an order for the school to let police help deal with the situation and for a "parent champion" to be appointed. Allison Sunley, head of secondary school standards at Peterborough City Council, said: "Safety is paramount. "We want to be confident of the safety of the students, particularly the Polish students who have been subjected to a range of bullying - physical and verbal. "A worrying number of Polish parents have made complaints. "We have been working with the police and the Catholic Diocese of East Anglia in a bid to get a police presence in the school. "We also want to appoint a parent champion - independent of the school - to be a point of contact for pupils and teachers." If the school, which has 40 Polish pupils, fails to undertake these measures the council could remove funding, federate it with a successful school, sack the governors or appoint new ones. The school - 56% of whose pupils are from an ethnic minority - was given 21 days to comply with the request for measures to deal with the problem but it appealed to standards watchdog Ofsted to overturn the notice. Appeal turned down Ofsted turned down the appeal and on 7 April, the school was given another 21 days to comply with demands. If the governing board is sacked, the interim executive board would make all decisions for about a year to bring in the rapid changes that are needed. A new board of governors would then be appointed by the city council and the diocese. Ch Supt Paul Phillipson, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: "We have been working closely with the director of education in relation to ensuring safety at the school." The school has refused to comment.
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