@bean you hit the nail on the head with your example. Bullying very often comes from nowhere. So yeah a bully will just beat someone up.
I agree with you completely that some teachers regard it as none of their business.
I can say catagorically that at our school the teachers suddenly got a kick up the arse because almost overnight they started across the board to care.
In fact, the only time i ever felt uncomfortable at school was around one teacher who had a genuine dislike for me. I did my work I got on in his class but he used to single me out.
I got thrown out of his class one day for no reason (even he later could justify) and in my frustration I stuck two fingers up at him through the classroom window… As luck would have it right in vision of the deputy head.
Oh dear, report to my office!
When I got there and waited a bit I apologised for my 13 year old outburst but explained this strange pattern of behaviour that had been going on in the class room.
Upshot of which, next lesson he apologised to me for his behaviour.
Didn’t stop him threatening other kids, throwing board rubbers at their heads and on one memorable occasion a table. But at least we all knew we could report this stuff and someone would listen.
And schoolkids need to know that they have that right.
I hope that kids classmates are dealt with properly and I hope the school is too.