Serious unsafe situations at school.

It luckily does not happen often, but sometimes there is a serious situation at school. For example, threat, discrimination, sexual harassment, radicalization, drug use, or violence. That is very hard. What can you do in unsafe situations? And where can you get help?

What can you do as a parent?

You worry about your child’s safety. This can cause much stress. There are different things you can do to help your child and handle the situation:

1. Talk with your child
2. Collect evidence
3. Contact the school
4. Contact the trust inspector
5. Help for your child
6. Make a report
7. Extra actions for online safety

1. Talk with your child

Talking with your child sounds easier than it is. Your child is probably scared to say what is wrong. Out of shame or fear the situation may get worse.

Our tips to make talking with your child easier:

• Listen well and ask more. Ask as many open questions as possible: questions starting with what, how, when.
• Stay calm yourself and comfort your child.
• Tell your child they are not to blame for the situation.
• Talk together about how to solve the problem. Often children already think about this themselves: take these solutions seriously and ask more.
• Make clear that you will take action anyway, but you will discuss with your child how you will do that.

2. Collect evidence

Collecting evidence gives an overview of what is happening and helps you with next steps. You can do the following:

• Make a list together with your child of what exactly happens. Who bothers your child and how? And when does it happen?
• Look at what your child has already done to stop it.
• Write everything down so you can easily refer to it.
• Is there online bullying? Take screenshots. For example of messages on WhatsApp or Instagram.
• Save as much information as possible: like name, phone number, online username, email address, and profile picture.

3. Contact the school

In many situations it is important the school knows about the situation so they can take fitting action. Ask your child who they feel safe enough to talk to about the situation.

Your child can at least talk to the trust person at school. There your child can discuss the situation confidentially. The trust person looks with your child at needed and wanted actions. You can find information about the (external) trust person in the school guide.

4. Contact the trust inspector

If your child does not feel safe to share the situation at school or if the situation is very serious, you can contact the trust inspector of the Education Inspectorate.

The trust inspector handles sensitive cases and gives you, your child, and schools advice and information. The inspector thinks along and helps you decide what to do.

5. Help for your child

If your child feels unsafe this can have big effects. Your child can contact different organizations themselves. Often professional help is recommended. You discuss with your doctor which help you can get for your child. Such as trauma therapy.

6. Make a report

In serious unsafe situations it is often possible to make a report to the police. For example, if there is threat, violence, or sexual abuse.

Go with your child and bring evidence. Think of dates and times, photos of bruises, email and internet addresses, usernames and nicknames of those involved, saved chats, screenshots, or photos and videos.

7. Extra actions for online safety

Is your child also contacted online? Then you can do the following:

• Make your child’s accounts private.
• Block or reject the offender in your child’s accounts.
• Report the offender to the platform’s administrator.
• No matter how hard it is, do not reply to messages.