School pupils as young as eight excluded for sexual misconduct (From Surrey Comet)

Pupils as young as eight excluded from Kingston schools for sexual misconduct

8:00am Sunday 29th January 2012 in News By Tom Barnes

Pupils as young as eight have been excluded from Kingston schools for sexual misconduct, an investigation has revealed.

Two primary school pupils aged eight and nine were suspended in the category, which includes sexual abuse, sexual assault and lewd behaviour.

The eight-year-old, who is a special education needs (SEN) pupil, and the nine-year-old, who needs help from a specialist teacher, were both given two-day suspensions.

According to the figures obtained by the Surrey Comet, the children were among 15 pupils excluded from schools in the borough for sexual misconduct in the past three years.

Kingston Council, which looks after schools in the borough, said it could not reveal further information on the two incidents due to data protection laws but said the length of the exclusion would “suggest” a lewd comment had been made.

However, child psychologist Oliver Foster, who has worked with children from Kingston, said the exclusion of an SEN child for sexual misconduct was likely to be for a serious incident rather than just a lewd comment.

He said: “Taking an SEN child out would be a very serious measure for a school to take. It could risk further isolation and is one only undertaken if the school believes the child was at risk or posed a risk to others.

“There are many issues facing children connected with their learning difficulties and a possible problem might be more vulnerable sexualised media content.

“However, in the circumstances described, it would be advisable to look at the significance of the incident to the child, rather general issues such as cultural or social influences.”

However, one female teacher, who did not want to be named, said aggressive marketing and exposure to sexual imagery on the internet and on television encouraged children to copy sexual behaviour.

The teacher, who has taught at a primary school in Kingston, said: “We try to help these youngsters but when they are bombarded at home on the television and on the internet with sexual pictures and aggressive behaviour, youngsters, in particular the more vulnerable ones, will copy what they see.”

Councillor Patricia Bamford, executive member for safeguarding children, said that while sexualized content was a “challenge for schools” they were equipped to “deal with issues of this nature as they arise”.