Teacher charged with attempted murder
Peter Harvey, who has been charged with attempted murder
A science teacher has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly attacking a 14 year-old boy with a 2kg weight. Mr Peter Harvey, who taught at All Saints Roman Catholic School in Mansfield, had recently returned from sick leave after having a stress related stroke.
It is alleged that Mr Harvey attacked Jack Waterhouse after he intervened in an argument between Mr Harvey and a female pupil. When Mr Harvey aimed a kick at the female pupil’s bag, the class started singing “I’m looking at the physco in the mirror”, to the tune of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror. According to one account, Jack Waterhouse told Mr Harvey to “Fuck off and have another stroke”.
It was at this point that Mr Harvey allegedly dragged Jack Waterhouse from the room and hit him with the weight. Paramedics found the boy lying in a pool of blood. He suffered a fractured skull and blood on the brain – in short, he is quite lucky to be alive.
But there is more to this story than a teacher simply snapping and striking a pupil. What surprised me most about this sorry tale is the fact that incidents like this don’t happen more often. From ages of 14-16 I went through seven science teachers over the course of my GCSEs. Some of them were competent and perfectly stable, but at least three were not.
Jack Waterhouse: The pupil who was attacked | Nottingham Police
I have sat through lessons where the teacher has been bullied and ridiculed from beginning to end and not once, despite extreme provocation, did any teacher ever give the impression they might hit anyone – never mind with a weapon.
The second surprising aspect of this story is the reaction of many people to it. Rather than being horrified at a child being nearly killed by his teacher, many seem to sympathise more with Mr Harvey. There are a number of Facebook groups – one with over a thousand members – giving ‘support for Peter Harvey’.
It’s true that the attack was verbally provoked, and that Mr Harvey had been let down by those who should have supported him by being sent back to work too early, but this does not in any way justify Mr Harvey’s alleged actions. To write, however, that Mr Harvey “was a bloody good teacher” as one group’s creator does is missing the point. Good teachers do not nearly kill pupils.
The system failed Mr Harvey. He should not have been sent back to the classroom in the state that he was in. But this does not condone his alleged actions. A 14 year old is currently in hospital and lucky to be alive. That is the crux of the issue, and the person responsible should be held to account.
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Guess that will teach that kid to treat elders with respect. Probably shouldn't have been hit with a weight, but I would've knocked his brain loose as well. Children get away with too much and sometimes physical discipline is needed.
Hahaha that little shit got what was coming to him… That teacher shouldn't be allowed to teach anymore but the school should pay him to just walk around the halls. His presence along will keep the little ones in line.
Well, i think the teacher got out of hand a bit. kicking a bag? and i do agree that he shouldn't be allowed to teach anymore, and yes the student should not have swore at an elder….But you have to be phsyco to start bashing a student, and to just leave him lying in a pool of blood?
The kid looks like a little devil, and I am sure that even the purest of heart can be pushed too far. I believe fully that the teacher may have actually been the victim of emotional abuse. Kids exercise emotional abuse. I know. I was one of them. It is practiced to push people to the edge. To call the guy a psycho is rather one dimensional. Some kids are wonderful, but some can be AWFUL. They come from good or horrible homes. It is a question of emotional abuse, and kids do it too.