I'm being deliberately vague over where in school this happened, the lesson and other details in order to avoid outing.
DD is 9 and is recognised as being an intelligent, well behaved pupil. As far as I am aware, she has a good relationship with all members of staff.
When DD came home from school the other day, she told me that a member of staff (call her Ms X) had pushed her twice, very deliberately. That was pretty much it. She wanted me to send an email in to school. I had to drag the rest of the details out of her over the course of the rest of the afternoon/evening because she wasn't that forthcoming. I asked her why she thought Ms X had pushed her, and she said she thought Ms X had thought it was a bit of fun. I told her that she might need to speak to a senior teacher at school about what happened, and she said she would be happy to do so.
I decided to report what she had said to the school's safeguarding lead, who took it very seriously, undertook an investigation and has now come back to me with Ms X's account of events, which is well-contexted. School says that my child can sometimes become quite emotional at times of difficulty, and I agree that's true. The explanation given seems very possible, in that essentially Ms X had put their hands on my daughter to comfort her because she was already upset about an aspect of the lesson that was going on. However, Ms X also says that they can see why they thought DD was being pushed. I suppose if DD was highly emotionally charged then it may have come across as a push, although it does seem a bit strange.
I thanked the safe guarding lead for investigating this and said I was happy with the action she had taken. However from her pauses on the phone, I think she wanted more from me than this and for me to say that I fully accepted the school's account.
It makes no sense that a well-established member of staff would have pushed my child. And yet, as nobody else saw what happened, I don't want to doubt my child's account of events to the school either. I will talk to my child later to see if she can concur with the account now given, but if she doesn't then I don't want to break her by But I do appreciate how devastating it is for anyone working with children to have a false allegation made against them.
Are there any Mumsnetters out there who have any helpful insights into such a situation?
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Should I tell school that I accept their account of events?
11 replies
Aegeus · 25/11/2021 12:24
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