Parents of child sexually assaulted in the toilets told to move

The parents of a six-year-old child who was sexually assaulted in the bathroom by a classmate are outraged they have been asked to change schools.

But if they don’t find an alternate place both children will be in the same class, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Wyong MP David Harris addressed the issue in state parliament after being approached by the parents and another family who went through a similar scenario, who were concerned it felt like their child was being punished.     

‘Both sets of parents — the incidents are totally separate and the parents do not know each other — have come to me expressing similar thoughts,’ Mr Harris said.

‘If they tell their young child, who enjoys being at the school with their friends, who likes their teacher and who likes being in class, that they have to move it might cause their child to think somehow it was their fault that they were assaulted.

‘The schools are in the difficult position of having perhaps used ­suspension or some other measure but being unable to remove the ­perpetrator from the school because the perpetrator’s rights must also be protected.’

While there is no overarching way for educators to handle difficult situations such as these, there is some debate that suggests keeping the victim and perpetrator in the same class allows the teacher to watch them.

It has brought to light a separate issue surrounding young children being exposed to mobiles and how this is contributing to their early sexualisation.

With child-on-child sexual assault on the rise, the use of phones has been blamed as one of the key elements provoking this increase.   

The parents of a six-year-old child who was sexually assaulted in the bathroom by a classmate are outraged they have been asked to change schools