Girl, 12, battered by bullies is 'EXCLUDED from lessons for bringing school into disrepute'

February 14, 2019

Year 8 student April Ward screamed for help as she was battered to the ground in the sick brawl that was filmed and shared on social media.

The schoolgirl's family then shared the video themselves in an attempt to shine the light on bullying.

April required hospital treatment after she was attacked as she made her way home from Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School in Kingstanding, Birmingham, last Wednesday.

Stomach-churning footage shows April being surrounded before a gang kick and beat her as she screams for help and tumbles to the ground.

But her ordeal didn't end there – with the school allegedly sending a letter to mum Roxanne Jones to saying the daughter had been excluded.

Speaking to Birmingham Live, Roxanne asked: "Is this school kidding me?

"My daughter got punched, kicked, hair pulled, abused by a group of students from Cardinal Wiseman.

"I can't explain how frustrated, angry and hurt I am for my daughter.

Is this school kidding me? My daughter got punched, kicked, hair pulled, abused… then [for her] education to be penalised… it's disgusting

"The fact that she has to relive this moment and then to be penalised her education… it's disgusting."

The letter said April had been excluded for an initial five-day period between February 8-14 for "fighting and bringing the school into disrepute".

"This means that April will not be allowed in this school for this period," the letter read.

"April is not to visit the school premises or its neighbouring area during this exclusion.

"The decision to exclude April has not been taken lightly."

Previously Roxanne spoke of how she and her daughter "started crying together" when they first saw the footage.

"Bullying has been going on for so long," she said. "She's had a support worker to help her though school and things have improved.

"But it's happened again, the way she was circled and ganged up on on her way home knocked me sick. She was battered."

The attack comes after The Sun Online launched its Block The Bullying campaign with the NSPCC to stamp out videos of children being attacked.

The reason why we want everyone to see this video is to show everyone what these kids have done

Our aim is to educate children, parents and schools about the horrendous effect filming an act of bullying, then sharing it on social media, can have on children.

But mum Roxanne said she wanted people to see the impact the attack had, saying: "The reason why we want everyone to see this video is to show everyone what these kids have done.

"We want their parents to see, we want the police to see, we want them to see what they've done to April."