worried about my 8 year old soon to be 9 year old son

[jasha38]

My son and I moved back to the uk after living abroad for 12 years my son is 8 years old but is soon to be 9 therefore he was born abroad. His first educational language was Spanish however he did go to a very good private Spanish school where he also covered English. His father suddenly passed away 3 years ago now and we have come back to the UK where we have been for 13 months heenrolled in the local primary school at the beginning of term. Academic whys he would of been going into year three in Spain however because his birthday is in August he had to go into year 4. He has not struggled at all with the work he thinks its very easy but he was put into the second set which I agreed to to build his confidence in English. He is the top of his class for maths as he has always been extremely good with numbers however has very litle interest in literacy and his teacher is very laid back and I asked recently why he hadnt had homework for two weeks to which his reply was "my class are not very good at handing homework in 20 of them did not do it). My sons sole objective seems to be this past year understanbly is fitting in but I am very worried he is going to far as there some children at the school that curse and swear etc and he seems to be friends with this set he tries to make them laugh all the time but its becoming too much and he is getting in to trouble because of it these kids a very street wise but he is not so if theres a disagreement he will shout at them where as they may hit, punch or nip so the techer doesnt see. He has been losing his temper alot lately at home and when I told him how worried i was about him he sais"im worried about myself incase I feel empty inside because I have no friends and they all stay friends with this other boy. This other boys name has been being mentioned all year he seem to be the ring leader and nobody wants to upset him he has bullied boys before but now the boys he bullied are his friends and it looks like this maybe what is happening. I have been to the school a few times a teacher told me this other boy was complaining that my son had broken his nose by punching him as if the teacher did not believe my son but believed this boy. I wish my son could bring himself to do that but he has never been like that however the other boy has repeatedly been in trouble in the past. His mother is very loud and rough and does cause scenes at school so maybe this is the reason for the teacher deflecting the blame on to my son. I know this is alot of information but i am very concerened. The final straw has come as my son came from school and said he hates it there and the teachers are horrible and he told me a teacher strangled him in the play ground however after speaking to the ehad and my son together that was not the case thi other boy had told him that if he shouted at the teacher again he would strangle him and take him off the football pitch when I asked my son why he lied he went mad! shouting and throwing things about and said this other boy and a few others wanted the teacher out of the school. Please advise as my child has always been a good scholar in the past and I do not want him to go in the wrong directions.

[margypops]

This is a dilemma...I have some experience of some English schools now, they used to be very good and many still are I am guessing you are in a poorer area , is ther anyway you can move perhaps into a more rural area, my daughetr lives in the UK and she has had great schooling.but they do not live in any big town .Bullying does go on a lot, and I think you have to speak severely to the school head master  /mistress or someone in charge its their responsibility whilst the children are in school, I dont think you will get anywhere speaking to parents ..again you may have to move .if it were me I would be hi tailing it out of there to a better area ..children have got an upper hand in UK due to big government rules ,...good luck let us know how he is doing ..