Dinner lady is sacked for telling parents their DD was tied up and beaten with a skipping rope, but no-one else is sacked for not having told the truth to the parents about the incident

[HerBeatitude]

farkin ada

The school underplayed the incident to such an extent that what they actually said was a lie. Isn't it nice to be reassured that if your child gets attacked at school, the school will lie about it to you and sack anyone who tells you?

I'm so gobsmacked by this. I really hope she wins her appeal.

[FlamingoDuBeke]

[HerBeatitude]

Anyway I'm off to bed, had to post that as was so gobsmacked by it but am overcome by fearful torpor. Back tomorrow.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

She did breach confidence, but I don't think she should have been sacked in these circumstances. Not sure I'd call it a "cover up" given it was written in the accident book, though.

[TigerDrivesAgain]

The school's attitude is bizarre. If there's really another side to this story they should be getting it over, but what their excuse can be beats me

[Mybox]

It's truly shocking.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Hijack: Ditanny, you're wanted here.

[bigstripeytiger]

This is shocking. If the story is as presented then it is outrageous that the school tried to cover up what had happened. If this happened at my DDs school I would be looking for a new school.

[tryingherbest]

Was it really a breach of confidence- wasn't she whistleblowing because as a witness she knew the school had not been entirely honest with the girl's family?

If it's a breach of confidence - I think we need more breaches.

[TigerDrivesAgain]

Whistleblowing is normally a disclosure you make within an organisation. But "breach of confidence" sounds like a whitewash.

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

confidentality is about discussing a child with someone else, not their own bloodly parents!! idiots!

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

Is a dinnerlady likely to have a lot of training on student confidentiality though? Really?

[TigerDrivesAgain]

Presumably a "breach of confidence" re the little thugs who perpetrated this? Really. The head, governors and whoever was advising them need to have a dose of common sense.

[AnyFucker]

she used common sense

you don't need any training for that

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Perhaps she was maintaining the confidentiality of the other children involved? If I'd been told my DD had been tied up and beaten I'd

a)want to know how playground supervision had gone so horribly wrong and

b) want the names of the other children so I could beat the crap out of them have a word with their parents.

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

but from what i read, in the book was written who the dinner lady said anyways!

[Servalan]

It's not clear in the article whether she told the parents the names of the 4 boys involved.

If she did, I could see how that would be a breach of confidentiality and possibly irresponsible

That said, bloody outrageous that the school didn't properly inform the parents of the full facts.

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

No, I meant that the dinnerlady wouldn't know necessarily that confidentiality had to be maintained. So she shouldn't have been sacked.

Sorry, too much wine making me a bit incoherent.

[JustCutAndPaste]

good god that is disgusting.

Let us have more dinner ladies like her, and fewer headteachers like that one, I say.

[KiwiKat]

The story in the Times today said that she'd bumped into the girl's mother, and said something along the lines of "I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your daughter, will she be alright?" and then it was clear that the mother didn't know what she was talking about, so she then told her the truth. They are protecting the school as a commercial enterprise, certainly not this wee girl, and they probably don't give a fig about the four little thugs that whipped her. Poor kid. I was squeaking with indignation when I read about it. As a parent, I would be very concerned about the judgement (and ability to tell the truth!) of the Head from now on.

[WickedWench]

Tis a fine example the school have set regarding honesty and truthfulness is it not?

A child has been assualted, could even be actual bodily harm, and the school lied to cover it up. Isn't that perverting the course of justice or something?

Absolutely outrageous!

[choosyfloosy]

God almighty.

[nooka]

She wasn't whistle blowing - it says she thought the parents had been told (which is what you'd expect really isn't it?). I think for the school to sack her she must have told the parents the names of the boys involved, which would indeed have been a breach of confidentiality. I think the school is being very foolish though. They behaved badly in not telling the parents (esp if the child really was traumatised, they must have wondered what on earth was going on) and sacking the dinner lady has guaranteed that this would be publicised. It's going to seriously worry other parents.

On the other hand my siblings once tied up my middle sister in a game of cowboys and indians, and although she did get very upset when they couldn't untie her (too many knots) they weren't bulling her, it was just a game that got a bit out of hand. So it might be a bit storm in a tea cup.

[EldonAve]

more today "A governor at the school where a dinner lady was sacked for telling parents about alleged bullies is the mother of one of the four boys involved"