Inside Britain’s ‘most dangerous’ school where teachers face death threats and physical attacks as staff walkout
A SCHOOL has been branded Britain’s “most dangerous”, where teachers face death threats and physical attacks and staff are now walking out.
People working at a troubled school in Kent say they’re being constantly intimidated – with one pupil warning they’d cut a female employee’s throat.
Frightened teachers at the Oasis Academy in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey are now going on strike.
They have revealed disturbing new details about behaviour at the school branded “inadequate” by watchdog Ofsted.
One teacher named Lisa, who said she was too afraid to give her surname, has opened up about colleagues’ concerns – and ordeals they face from disruptive pupils.
She said: “We have chairs thrown – I myself have been threatened with death on numerous occasions.
“A particular student told me he was going to cut my throat. Teachers have been pushed and shoved.”
She also described how students used racial slurs as well as issuing threats of violence, sexual assault and death, Kent Online reported.
There have been four physical attacks on staff over the past fortnight alone, according to the Mail.
Lisa said: “We’ve had enough – we are collectively striking because there have been too many incidents of violence and threats of violence against staff.
“We have the N-word used on a regular basis to our black teachers.
“You ask someone to stand in line, you get threatened with death – it happens on a daily basis, on an hourly basis.”
Teachers there are planning a walk-out tomorrow, after similar strike action last week amid fears their well-being was “at risk”.
Ofsted inspectors previously reported on finding pupils using “foul, homophobic, racist and sexist language” there.
They also highlighted vandalism, offensive graffiti, poor behaviour and bad language as “rife”.
Parents too have raised the alert about kids’ safety amid violence and bullying by fellow pupils.
A father of an 11-year-old student there said: “We don’t know how to keep him safe at school – he started in September and has been the victim of at least ten attacks by pupils.”
The National Education Union has called for negotiations with the school’s managing Oasis Trust, making demands such as excluding violent kids for fixed ten-day periods.
STAFF SAFETY ‘AT RISK’
NEU senior regional officer Nick Childs has described strike action as “unavoidable”.
He said: “Behaviour at the school is currently completely unacceptable – lessons are regularly disturbed and staff safety and well-being put at risk.”
Walk-outs are planned for today and tomorrow, as well as on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.
The Oasis Academy was rated inadequate by Ofsted in August last year.
The Department for Education last year removed the school from the Oasis Community Learning Trust, with plans for two new schools.
And the department last month confirmed Leigh Academies Trust and EKC Schools Trust were the preferred organisations to take over next September.
The first is lined up to be a more academic school while the second would provide more vocational and technical courses.
An Oasis Academy spokesman said last week: “Whilst this is a scenario that nobody wants, we have had positive discussions with the union and we are confident that we have made significant progress.
“We remain committed to working positively with staff representatives to try and avoid any future disruption and to ensure that Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey is a school where everybody can thrive.”
The Sun Online has approached the academy for a response to the latest claims.
The school is believed to be the first in England where staff have staged strike action because of pupils’ behaviour.
There was a similar walk-out recently by teachers at Caldicot Comprehensive School in Monmouthshire, south Wales.
Staff there said they were too afraid to work following assaults by “violent” pupils.
Nationwide school strikes were also planned for September, in a pay and conditions dispute.
But they were called off when unions agreed a deal with Rishi Sunak‘s government in July and recommended members accept a 6.5 per cent pay increase.
The NEU’s joint secretary Dr Mary Bousted acclaimed what she said was “the biggest pay award that teachers have received since 2000”.
