Future Academies Watford kids 'forced to fight with boxing gloves'

An anguished parent voiced despair at her kid coming home injured, with Future Academies Watford coming under fire for allegedly failing to clamp down on the problem.

However, the school says its “robust behaviour policy” has recently been used to tackle “a number of issues between a small group of younger boys that do not match our values” – adding it feels elements of the criticism is “unfair”.

Pupils reportedly from Future Academies Watford filmed fighting with boxing gloves. (Image: Submitted)

Video footage seen by the Watford Observer shows children as young as 13 going at each other in a wooded area surrounded by others urging them on. There have reportedly been "at least 10" arranged fights between Year 8 pupils alone this week.

One mum, who has pictures of her son bruised and with blood splatters on his shirt, said: “Bringing gloves into school and then surrounding a child and saying ‘put them on, and if you don’t fight we’re going to beat you up anyway’. Can you imagine how terrifying that is.

“That rips my heart into pieces, to imagine my little boy standing there surrounded by a load of boys and he has to fight. How scared must he have been.”

Pupils are allegedly being forced to fight before the footage is circulated on social media. (Image: Submitted)

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She claims Future Academies Watford has failed to call her back for over three days, despite being sent the injury pictures and pleading for a response, and said more fights happened the following day.

“How the hell when the school has been made aware on the Tuesday can it still happen on the Wednesday,” the audibly emotional mum added.  

In what is thought to be a separate incident, another parent claimed in a social media post that her daughter was dragged to the floor and kicked around her face and back. She had to be taken to A&E with a suspected broken nose and ribs.

Others commented on the post claiming the school needs to do more to combat violence.

The video shows numerous pupils watching as two children fight. (Image: Submitted)

Future Academies Watford principal, Deborah Warwick, said: “While these incidents have taken place outside of the school grounds and school hours, we take our responsibility to help young people become positive and proactive members of their community seriously.

“We have been using our robust behaviour policy to impose appropriate sanctions on these students, as well as reinforcing our expectations and behaviour standards through assemblies and other means.

“That being said, there are elements of what has been reported to the press that we feel are unfair or do not accurately reflect the measures that we have put in place or our processes in engaging with parents.”

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Pupils are reportedly told they will be attacked if they don't fight. (Image: Submitted)

She continued: “Separately, yesterday (May 18) there was also a serious incident between a number of girls in a local park. This was about a very specific issue between the girls, and one that we ensured staff were present at as soon as we became aware that there was a problem.

“While we by no means shy away from our responsibilities as a school, dealing with such behaviour in the community is an issue that we all need to be part of.

“We will be working proactively with the police and want to continue to engage with our parents to ensure that students receive a clear and consistent message that violence of any type is simply unacceptable.”