A local secondary school has acted to clarify the circumstances of an incident in which a member of staff is alleged to have failed to offer assistance as a student was being assaulted in the school’s reception area after normal school hours on the afternoon of Tuesday 15th March 2022.
A video published on social media following the incident is said to show a staff member at Bradley Stoke Community School standing behind a locked glass entrance door with the victim begging for the door to be opened so that he could escape his assailants. The video reportedly then shows the member of staff “walking away”, without making any attempt to open the door, leading to claims that the adult “did nothing” about the incident.
However, a spokesperson for the school says the video clip “does not tell the whole story” and brands speculation around the incident in a local Facebook group as “inaccurate and unrepresentative”.
The school’s account of the incident says the staff member was unable to to open the locked entrance door without their personal swipe card, which they did not have to hand at the time, meaning that they had to leave the scene to go and get it.
A statement published on the school’s Facebook page on Thursday 17th March 2022 reads:
“As a school, we wanted to be clear about the facts around the posting of a video clip as we are all well aware that a short clip does not tell the whole story about a traumatising and upsetting incident. The incident happened at 4.15pm and our reception closes at 4pm. There are staff present in school later than that who are available should they be needed. With security and safeguarding of our premises, we have a lock on the main door that can only be de-activated with a swipe card.
The member of staff seen in the clip is not ignoring the student but did not have their swipe card on them to release the door to let the student through the main door. What is seen is not them turning away and ignoring the student but they are instead going to get their swipe card to open the door, which is exactly what they did.”
“Once in school, the student was then supported by a number of staff, including first aid trained staff and a member of our senior leadership team, to check that they were physically OK, albeit clearly traumatised. The incident was immediately reported to the police and the student’s parents were informed.”
“A member of staff escorted the student home to ensure that they got home safely and to offer further re-assurance.”
“We hope this clarifies the facts around this matter and stops any further inaccurate and unrepresentative speculation around this incident. If parents have any further concerns about this incident we are very happy to discuss those facts as outlined above directly with them so I would encourage them to contact the school as the best way to communicate any concerns or issues.”
In response to an enquiry from the Journal, a spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said:
“Enquiries are ongoing after a teenager reported he was assaulted in Bradley Stoke.”
“The incident happened in woodland near Bradley Stoke Way at about 4pm-4.10pm on Tuesday 15th March.”
“The victim was approached by a number of youths before being punched.”
“The local neighbourhood team who conduct regular patrols around Bradley Stoke has been made aware of the incident.”
“Anyone who witnessed what happened should call 101 and give the call-handler reference number 5222062345.”
Editor’s note: One sentence has been omitted from the school’s original statement, at the request of the police.
