Pre-school children suspended for bullying

PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN are being suspended for bullying and attacks on teachers and assistants, the Northern Ireland Assembly has…

PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN are being suspended for bullying and attacks on teachers and assistants, the Northern Ireland Assembly has heard.

Some 31 suspensions and one expulsion were recorded between 2002 and 2007, according to figures given to an SDLP Assembly member by the Department of Education.

South Antrim Assembly member Thomas Burns was told that the bulk of suspensions were for physical and verbal attacks on staff. A teacher union representative said the figures do not provide the true scale of the problem in pre-school groups.

Mr Burns said: "These figures will come as a great shock to many, however I would be extremely concerned at the amount of incidents that may have gone unreported and will not have been included in these findings.

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He expressed fears that the next generation are turning out to be what he called "a nation of tiny terrors".