Hammer attack school condemned in report

THE SWINDON school where a white 15-year-old was brain-damaged in a hammer attack by a gang of Asian pupils failed to recognise a series of racist incidents prior to the assault, a report revealed today.

Henry Webster was repeatedly punched, kicked and hit with the sharp end of a claw hammer in an assault by the gang on the tennis courts at the Ridgeway School in Wroughton in January 2007.

He had agreed to fight a boy "one on one" to end the harassment which he thought he and his friends were experiencing and because of peer pressure.

The ensuing attack, which happened when four boys pointed him out to three Asian men who had arrived in cars, took about one minute and it was the six blows from a hammer produced by one of the intruders which left the teenager with a depressed skull fracture.

Although Henry, who is now 18, has recovered sufficiently to return to part-time education, he still suffers from short-term memory loss.

The attack led to the conviction in 2008 of seven young men for wounding Henry with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, with a further six men being convicted of conspiracy.

They were given custodial sentences ranging from eight years to eight months, with others receiving suspended sentences of up to 18 months.

Four were pupils at the school.

Last year, Henry, of Beranburh Field, Wroughton, and his family launched a High Court challenge claiming that the school had been negligent, failed to maintain proper discipline and failed to deal with racial tension. The school denied liability.

In February this year, Mr Justice Nicol rejected their claims and said the school did not breach its duty to take reasonable care to keep Henry reasonably safe while on its premises.

Following the High Court ruling, the Swindon Local Safeguarding Children Board (SLSCB) commissioned a Serious Case Review to examine the facts and allow professional agencies to learn lessons.

The executive summary, which was published today, found there were some incidents between white and British Asian pupils, which were not recognised as racist by the school.

Among the 20 key findings are:

• The school, although it knew in advance, did not prepare for the arrival of a significant number of British Asian students in 2005. There was a lack of understanding or challenge by the school on subsequent pupil behaviour.
• There were some incidents between white and British Asian pupils, which were not recognised as racist by the school. The report acknowledges that there was some success in the measures taken to address the racist behaviour of some white pupils in a small part of the school. However this approach was not extended throughout the school.
• The school, by trying to deal with these incidents by itself, missed the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what was actually going on through external intervention. Other agencies did not challenge robustly the school's approach or its procedures.
• The review found that, during this period, there were changes in direction for many agencies with apparent multi-agency inertia, including three new headteachers at the school and the creation of a new Children's Services department at the council.
  
  

• This may have led to lack of a multi-agency intervention to the May 2006 racist incident outside the school and the lack of response under established child protection procedures to the assault on Henry.

Mike Howard, independent chair of the Swindon LSCB, said: "I hope that the Webster family, and in particular Henry, regard this report as a thorough examination of the events around the dreadful attack which he suffered, and it will help them all to move on.

"I am sorry that what was already an extremely distressing experience was made worse by the lack of co-ordinated support they received from some agencies.

"The attack took place over three and a half years ago and, despite the regrettable delay in concluding the SCR process, many of the measures made in the recommendations have already been identified and acted upon by individual agencies."

The report also lists the lessons learned from this case.

One of the most significant is that, in the event of critical incidents within schools, the level of support required by victims and their family should be a key consideration.

The Serious Case Review makes 32 recommendations for improvements.

Mr Howard added: "Swindon has made significant progress in many areas of safeguarding, a fact recognised by Ofsted in their inspection in December 2009.

"The overall effectiveness of safeguarding services was judged 'good'

whilst 'ambition and prioritisation' was one of several areas deemed 'outstanding'.

"It is my responsibility, as LSCB chair, to build upon the Ofsted findings. The effective implementation and delivery of the actions from this distressing case is a key priority for the Board.

"Most importantly, I hope that Henry will be able to move on from this tragic and protracted incident and be able to achieve his ambitions in life."

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