I'd really appreciate some advice as it all seems rather complicated at the moment.
My 2 children in year 6 have been accused by the school of being in a Skype group that was making phonecalls to a parent asking them why they are bulling children. This all happened after a parents number turned up on some child's imessenger chat and that child passed it on to other kids claiming he was being bullied (there is apparently no evidence of bullying). The other kids set up a Skype group and phoned this number from their mobiles with the others listening in via the Skype group.
When I received the phone call from the head I couldn't work out how this had happened as we keep a close eye on the girls Skype accounts and the evening this had happened they had only been on Skype briefly. Another parent who's child was in the group had checked it and told me my children were not in the group. My girls chat with these kids in another Skype group and were told about one of the phonecalls that had been made the night before the school found out (in person not on skype). My girls had told their dad about it, he had asked them not to get involved but to give him the phone number so he could sort it out (maybe not the best response in hindsight). She asked the kids for the number but they all denied having it. I wish my husband and had told me about it at the time so I could have alerted their parents.
It turns out I know the parent who was receiving these phonecalls. Until recently has been a close friend of mine. I had distanced myself from her recently as she seemed to become quite obsessive about her daughter being ignored by other children on Skype. I had tried to be supportive because I felt bad that her daughter was going through a bad time but in the end it felt like she was being unreasonable eg. Constantly asking why my daughters weren't on Skype, was there another group made to exclude her child (there wasnt).
A week ago she sent me a message saying that my children were not welcome round her house anymore unless things improve in their friendship with her daughter. Now it seems that she has given my children's names to the school as being part of this Skype group. It seems too much of a coincidence. I'm wondering if it's some kind of revenge thing or whether the school have just got it wrong.
I have sent the school a long letter explaining that my children were not part of this Skype group. But I feel quite cross that my girls were given the same punishment as the children who made the phonecalls. They were reduced to tears by the head, had phonecalls home and forced to write apology notes and made to sit in the dining room at school in silence so all the other staff knew they were in trouble. The child who started the rumour and gave out the phone number was not punished at all.
The school have not yet responded to my letter and I am planning on going in to speak to the head on Monday. I feel really angry about the whole situation as my girls did the right thing speaking to their dad and not getting involved in these phonecalls. I'm just no good in dealing with these situations and would be grateful for any words of advice.
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Disagreement with school
28 replies
dreamylea · 04/03/2017 15:15
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