HEADS UNITE TO CATCH BULLIES

Action taken after schoolboy is brutally attacked

Report by JOHN MITCHELL

    AFTER an horrific gang attack on a 12-year-old schoolboy two worried headmasters have joined forces to stop bully boys beating up pupils from each others schools.

    It is believed the shocking assault on Dover Grammar schoolboy David Downing was by four pupils from next door Astor Upper School.
    This week Astor head Chris Russell supplied photos of the 1,240 pupils at his school to Dover Grammar head Neil Slater so David and his friends could try to identify the attackers.
    Dover police are also investigating the incident which happened when David, from Kingsdown, had just left school and was on his way home. They are also trying to trace the culprits.

    David was walking with two grammar school friends when they were confronted by two Astor pupils.

    After a chase David was eventually trapped and attacked by four boys, all aged around 13 or 14 from Astor school, in the grounds of the old isolation hospital off Noah's Ark Road, Tower Hamlets.
    David was punched, kicked, knocked to the ground and a lump of rock held down painfully on his legs. One attacker tried to pull his shoes off. Another scorched his anorak with either matches or a lighter.
    The attack was stopped by an older Astor student who chased the younger boys away and comforted David. He eventually returned to the grammar school where he was looked after and collected by the parent of another friend.
    David, who suffered bruising to his ribs and his face as well as shock, later went to Deal hospital for treatment. He was back at school on Tuesday.

    Mr Russell and Mr Downing stress there is no running feud between pupils of the two schools and said the attack was an isolated incident.
    "Now and again there is a clash between the two sets of pupils, and this can be expected with two large schools right next to each other.
    "But it's very rare indeed, and one of the reasons is that we both deal with any trouble very severely. We work very closely together and normally the schools get on very well indeed. There is certainly no ill feeling between the two."

    Mr Slater said the attack was a serious incident. "My reaction was one of horror when I learnt about it. We are working very closely with Astor to find the boys responsible.
    "The boy's parents are very concerned and anxious that their son cannot go from school to his home safely. This was an assault outside of school grounds which we hope the police will deal with."