The case concerns a second form primary pupil. The pupil was included in the less numerous second class with the presence of a support teacher with individual relationship with a non-serious disabled pupil, who could devote attention to him in case of school problems. The pupil was immediately considered problematic, as he was not at all schooled and extremely aggressive and violent towards his classmates and adults.
After a few days, the headmaster immediately summoned the father and grandparents who were taking care of the child at that time as his mother had left him alone. With the agreement of the family, it was decided to attend the free psychological help desk at school in order to find a way to solve the pupil’s violence. In the meantime, the headmaster had alerted social services in order to start a path tending to obtain support for the child himself.The situation in the classroom visibly deteriorated. One day the pupil threatened the schoolmates pointing the pens towards the eyes of the children, running and screaming around the class and then beating the pens on the desks while shouting "I kill you!" The teacher let the children go out from the class in order to keep them safe. Then, the teacher, while chasing the child who ran away from the outside every now and then, was taken to the hospital with a 7-day prognosis.
A few days later, the pupil completely lost all inhibitory brakes and the ability to control himself, thus throwing away everything that was nearby. The pupil was seen touching his sex and tried to do the same thing towards his schoolmates. The pupil was unable to sit up, refused to work, took on defiant attitudes by throwing school and personal items, endangering the safety of the children, broke the classmates' school supplies and used very vulgar language. The headmaster personally spent some time alone with the pupil in order to realize how serious the situation was: he shifted from moments of tranquillity to unexpected outbursts of anger; he ran for the school and climbed trees taking off his clothes. The headmaster tried to support the teachers of the class by supporting available teachers, asking all the teachers to consider the child belonging to the whole school, sharing their management.
The discomfort was so severe in the classroom that many parents asked for clearance to move the children to another school or class. At this point the headmaster held a meeting with all the parents to try to calm them down and to show them what the school was doing to restore balance in the classroom ; the headmaster underlined he/she understood all the positions and highlighted his/hr main concern was the safety of all pupils and their serenity. It was clear that the child's behaviour was a call for help. Actually, during a moment when the child was alone with the support teacher of the class, the child confessed sexual abuse suffered because of his mother, describing sexual moments the child was forced to spend with his mother and her current partner, also taken by videos on mobile.Immediately warned by the teacher, the headmaster alerted the Carabinieri and the social services that have been eager to respond to his/her call by communicating that within two hours they would have taken the child away from the family and started the necessary judicial procedures.
Clara Peruzzi, laureata cum laude in Lingue e letterature straniere presso l’Università degli Studi di Bari, Dirigente Scolastico presso il Secondo Circolo Didattico San Giovanni Bosco di Terlizzi (BA) e ex-docente di lingua inglese di scuola superiore a tempo indeterminato da ventisei anni, con esperienza quadriennale di lavoro presso le Nazioni Unite a Vienna (IEAE), nonché traduttrice in lingua inglese, francese e tedesca presso il Tribunale di Trani, è docente formatrice delle insegnanti di scuola primaria di lingua inglese specializzata in didattica della lingua, formatrice per corsi per adulti e ragazzi con certificazioni CAMBRIDGE di vario livello e referente esami TRINITY. Negli anni ha curato vari volumi collettivi e ha pubblicato “The First English Book for Teachers and Headmasters 100%”, “The English Book for nursery and primary school teachers”, “L’inglese per i docent di scuola primaria e dell’infanzia” e il videocorso “Let’s start learning English together- from 0 to B1”.