Letter to Parents 19/03/2025

Dear parents and carers,

I wanted to update you following yesterday’s incident involving a very small number of students as we have now had an update from the police.

You will understand that as this is a live police investigation I am very limited on what I can share with you, but I can confirm that one of the individuals involved has been arrested. Having brought a prohibited item into school and injuring another student, that individual is in the process of being permanently excluded from our school as this behaviour has no place in our school community. A further three students are also in the process of being permanently excluded for their involvement in the incident.

Thankfully the injuries to the pupil are minor, and the child is fine. Whilst this is welcome news, we are very clear that we will not tolerate behaviour of this kind at Swanshurst.

I know that what happened will come as upsetting news to everyone, especially so given there have been a number of concerning incidents in the community more broadly. Incidents like this are extremely rare in school, but I want to reassure you that our staff acted swiftly and professionally, following all our procedures in full.

As a result of how the issue was handled, the vast majority of our students were unaware of what had happened, and the school day continued as normal. Today has also been a normal school day, and I’ve been proud of the way in which our students have behaved and conducted themselves.

Given the wider concerns in the community about how students can stay safe when they are out and about, we will be running a series of assemblies in partnership with our community policing team. These will also remind students of who they can speak to if they have any worries or concerns, they would like to talk through.

I am very proud of the sense of community we have built at Swanshurst, and our team works hard to make sure that our school is a safe and nurturing place in which our young people can thrive. That commitment to creating and protecting such a place continues and I want to stress that we will always put the safety and wellbeing of your children first.

Finally, please could I reiterate my request for your support in monitoring how children are using social media so that together we can help make sure all students are staying safe online.

As ever, please do get in touch if you have any questions through the school office in the usual way.

In the meantime, thank you for your support and understanding.

Yours sincerely,

Mr M Dunn
Head Teacher

Ms S Fletcher
Deputy Head Teacher