Kicks, shoves & urine in water bottle: Boy, 8, allegedly bullied at S'pore international school, mum takes legal action

When her eight-year-old son told her one day that he was in great pain, Lily (not her real name) did not think much about it.

She was busy with work, and children can be dramatic, she thought.

It was not until later, when he told her two classmates had hit him, that she realised something was not right.

As she asked more questions and talked to Nexus International School, where he was enrolled, she found out that her son Ben (not his real name) was getting bullied.

For a while, he had been "accidentally" leaving his water bottles behind at school.

He later admitted that two of his classmates had urinated into his bottle. Another time, they put pieces of pencil lead into it.

The classmates eventually confessed to doing this when the school conducted an internal investigation.

According to Lily, the investigation happened after she engaged a lawyer and filed a police report.

Withdrawn and unable to sleep

The bullying happened between September and early October 2025, his mother told Mothership.

Ben claimed that, besides assaulting him and urinating into his water bottle, the two boys also repeatedly threatened to hit him, forcibly took his student card, and extorted over S$100 from him by getting him to buy lunch for them.

"I asked him why he didn't tell me about [the bullying]," Lily said. "He was confused. He's so young...He thought it was normal and didn't know how to talk about it."

He also wondered if it happened because of him, because he was not likeable, which shook his confidence.

A psychiatrist later diagnosed him with acute stress disorder, and said the incidents had led to emotional withdrawal, disturbed sleep, and self-harming behaviours, according to a letter from the psychiatrist seen by Mothership.

Investigation

Lily first approached Nexus in early October 2025 to ask for more clarity about the bullying and for CCTV footage as evidence.

The staff, however, apparently described it as "fighting" between boys.

They also did not give her access to surveillance footage, she said.

She decided to withdraw Ben from the school and to exert more pressure on Nexus through her lawyer.

After a full internal investigation later on, Nexus shared that the two boys only admitted to the water bottle incidents.

In an email seen by Mothership, Nexus said the boys had kicked Ben in the leg and elbowed him on the back, but that Ben had pushed them first.

They also denied that there had been any kicking or hitting of his private parts, as Ben had claimed.

As to the extortion of lunch money, Nexus said that Ben did buy snacks for his classmates, but there was no evidence that they "forcefully demanded" that he do so.

The school further explained that they were unable to let Lily view CCTV footage and internal investigation notes "due to [their] obligations pursuant to the Personal Data Protection Act".

The school's action

Nexus subsequently explained to Lily that they had taken disciplinary action against the two boys.

An email seen by Mothership said that the school had given the boys a three-day external suspension and informed their parents about the seriousness of the bullying incident.

After the boys returned to school from the suspension, "strict protocols" were implemented to monitor their behaviour.

This included having them report daily to their cohort deputy head and attend weekly counselling.

"We have put in place deliberate plans to ensure the two boys understand the implications of their actions and how they need to change their behaviour in order to be reintegrated into the school," the school said.

In response to Mothership's queries, Nexus said the boys received disciplinary action appropriate to their age, and in line with the school’s policies and guidelines.

"We also offered a range of support options to facilitate the impacted students’ return to school," they added.

"However, these were declined by the family."

Nexus has refunded Ben's family fully for all unconsumed school fees following his withdrawal.

Questioned the sense of responsibility

But Lily was not satisfied with the school's response, believing that they could have acted with more initiative and sincerity.

She accused them of acting only because of "external pressure, not by any genuine sense of responsibility towards [Ben]".

She asserted that international schools in Singapore should be held to the same standards as other institutions, namely those regulated by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Making it public

In response to Mothership's queries, Nexus said it has cooperated with the police and is satisfied that it has "fully followed [its policies, procedures, and guidelines".

It also added that the police were satisfied that the school fully followed the policies, procedures and guidelines.

It added that it considers the matter closed.

Lily has since enrolled Ben in a local school instead.

While he has been adjusting well, and the bullying has not appeared to affect his daily life, she has continued to send him for psychological treatment.

But she believes there are still a number of unresolved matters.

For one, she wants Nexus to formally and publicly apologise to Ben, to acknowledge openly "what happened to him and the school's failure to protect him".

According to Lily, an apology only took place during a private meeting, where a teacher asked not only the two classmates to apologise to Ben, but also Ben to do so to them.

The other students in the class and school did not know about the bullying and the disciplinary actions, said Lily, who felt that this was not right.

She also wants Nexus to share with all the students how the perpetrators were disciplined, to reinforce to them that there are real consequences for bullying.

"The harm done to Ben is already a fact. We cannot undo it.

But we can try to ensure that no other child in this school — or in schools like it — is left without recourse when something like this happens."