Unfortunately yesterday afternoon there were two assaults on boys from Forest Hill boys secondary school by their peers. One incident I believe was by Sainsbury's and the second one on Sydenham Park road by the Dartmouth Road junction. I spoke to the police officer who attended the second assault (whilst the badly beaten up boy was waiting for an ambulance - poor kid) who mentioned the assault was carried out by older FH secondary school boys on younger boys. She also mentioned about the second assault by Sainsbury's - also yesterday.

I am posting this as I think our community should be aware about these senseless and despicable attacks on young boys to their peers. I hope that the police find the perpetrators and prosecute them.

I believe Forest Hill Boys secondary school is amazing and the majority of its students are fantastic kids, but I don't want young boys to be scared or run the risk of being assaulted by their older peers. I imagine these were isolated attacks, but these should be taken seriously.

I will be contacting our local MP Paul Upex about this as I'd like to understand what the police will be doing about this, how Forest Hill Boys school will be addressing this and what else we can do as a community.

This post was last modified: 14-05-2016 10:16 AM by Iheartsydenham.

Very sad to hear about this but then idiocracy is not limited to any particular schools uniform. Kingsdale had a stabbing, still a good school.

Many wanna be gangstaz out there unfortunately. Or idiots with a beef for lack of respect etc etc.

Still, we live in a society where these types of events are pretty rare. Let's hope the perpetrators get more than a slap on the wrist.

Whilst not wishing to detract from this awful scenario, I think it only right that people should be aware that Paul Upex is not our local MP, he is only a local councillor. Jim Dowd is the MP. I realise that some local councillors do great things for the community, but please remember that councillor Upex received only 15% of our vote (while J Dowd gained just over 33% of the electorate’s vote). This is important in this day and age of misleading statistics and so-called “facts”. The one's above are all verifiable on the Council's own website.

To clarify further, P Upex gained 15% of the Forest Hill ward vote, Mr Dowd gained 33+% of the Parliamentary constituency vote.

Thank you for clarifying that Paul Upex is our local councillor and not our local MP - I realised my mistake as soon as I posted my initial post but hadn't had the chance to rectify it.

It was effectively the last day of school for those year 11s not intending to turn up for exams, so it was entirely predictable that there might be incidents.
I dare say their violence is nothing new, and for me generally this type do not belong in main stream education. Lets hope they move to their next holding pen as soon as possible.

67Park - in what way is the percentage of votes cast relevant in any respect here?

I agree Scotdan - What the hell does this matter when the OP is about a kid being beaten up!

I think most of us know that info anyway "67Park" so no need to point it out, especially in a situation like this, when the focus should be on the kid/kids that got hurt & how everyone goes about trying to stop this in the future.

I think the kid/kids that may have been hurt here are what are important. I really hope they are okay

Just saying......

Where are you getting your numbers, 67Park?

The official return shows that Mr Upex got 1814 votes out of the 4423 ballot papers counted - which is 41%. Are you forgetting that you get to vote for more than one councillor in the local elections???

Presumably 15% of the registered voters rather than share of the vote. I suspect the same is true for the Dowd statistic. If it were otherwise it wouldn't be such a safe seat.

In any case this is irrelevant to the subject matter. Hope the kids are ok and that the perpetrators are dealt with appropriately. The school is good and the children that attend are generally well-behaved. When I was their age, 20 long years ago, there used to be groups who would go off and fight rival schools. Picking on younger kids is worse than that. Pathetic cowardice as well as bullying.

Ah yes, the mean streets of Forest Hill and kids fighting with each other? Nothing new, been going on for an eternity, such is life. Agreed though that in this case the perpetrators are nothing more than cowardly bullies, and hopefully they’ll be brought to boot.

Yes, BamptonRoad, 15% of the registered vote is the correct and actual number of votes he gained, ditto with Mr Dowd. And of course, Mr Upex only received 1595 votes as the counting was wrong in this ward, as a week after the election it was realised that duplicate votes had been counted:
  Returning Officer Statement on election in Forest Hill 30 June 2014.pdf (Size: 124.11 KB / Downloads: 499)

Can we forget about any political issues on this & just think about the kids thanks!

Who cares about any of your political issues when kids have been hurt!

I don't give a hoot what anyone believes, kids have been hurt & that's what matters to me.

GET REAL EVERYONE & SUPPORT THE KIDS!

I entirely agree with you, P1971, but when 67Park comes out with things like "This is important in this day and age of misleading statistics and so-called 'facts'" and then repeatedly confuses 'votes' and 'voters', I can't let it stand.

He did it again in his most recent post: "15% of the registered vote is the correct and actual number of votes he gained". No it's not, it's 15% of the registered voters.

I don't even support Labour, but I find it bizarre that 67Park should use misleading statistics and so-called facts to make some sort of weird political point that somehow seems to try to undermine Mr Upex's legitimacy as a local councillor to help deal with the real, serious issue. And to be honest, it's probably more in his remit than Mr Dowd's.

Hello all

I just wanted you to know that i have written to the police, council, school and cabinet members asking for an update regarding this situation. I am happy to share with you what these groups are comforatable with me sharing, as you will no doubt appreciate, it is an on-going investigation.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention please feel free to email cllr_paul.upex@lewisham.gov.uk or follow me on twitter @paulupex

I am aware of how many people voted for me, I just wanted to add I will always strive to work hard for Forest Hilll ward and aim to be thought of as a good local councillor - and hopefully this will mean that more people will go out and vote for me and other Labour candidates at every election.

Completely agree Mr Numbers, this is probably best dealt with by Paul.

Paul, cheers for looking into this. If there is anything FH traders can do to help try and prevent incidents like this in the future please let us know & I'll have a chat with our PCSO's on this too.

Thank you Paul for your reply and for looking into this. I look forward to hearing from you (through this thread) regarding this matter.

As previously promised I have been in contact with the Head Teacher who has informed me that he is taking the incident very seriously and is aware that it involved a small number of Year 11 boys. They are working to identify all of those involved and are also working with the family of those involved and the Safer Schools Community PC to be clear about a way forward.

I received assurances that whether or not prosecutions take place, on a school level they will respond to this with sanctions against the perpetrators. Also clear messages have already gone out about the unacceptable nature of this incident. The Head has said he will continue to lead from the front on this to ensure that incidents such as this are not repeated. I received further assurances that the reputation of the school in the community is very important to them, and what happened on 13 May in no way reflects the culture of the school. Rather it flies in the face of it.

I am meeting with the head after half term to discuss this and wider more positive issues as to how I as a Forest Hill Councillor can further support the school, pupils, staff and parents.

Paul, many thanks for looking into this and sharing FH boys' reply on this query. Their response highlights just how much they care about the wellbeing of their students, I have only heard great things about this secondary school. I find it reassuring that they are taking a strong stance on these assaults. I imagine all the staff at FH boys as well as the vast majority of its students were horrified to hear about these awful attacks.

Do keep us posted on any further developments on this. Thank you.

Good work - thanks Paul.

As a parent of a year 7 boy at the school all I can add to this thread is that whilst pupil on pupil violence is sadly something that has always happened in every school everywhere, I am comfortable that FHS does everything it can to minimise and eradicate the problem. Any teacher who tells you it does not exist is either a liar or a fool (and yes Ive heard such a claim made of a different school).

My son is happy at the school and is proud to be a pupil there. Whilst, as with all other young men, there are things he moans about he recognises that standards of education and of pastoral care there are high, just as he did with his Primary School - Eliot Bank.

As a community we can all be more supportive of all the schools and look upon the pupils as vibrant young people starting their adventures in life.