Glasses broken on purpose at school

[Elysi]

DS just started in year 7 and came home today with broken glasses. He uses them during lessons to see the board as is short sighted.
They dropped out of his bag without him realising and another boy jumped on them until they were broken. Apparently a teacher was involved there didn’t seem to be any consequences.
I don’t know what I’m asking. Do we just suck it up and hope a replacement pair won’t take too long. Is this likely to be pretty standard through senior school?
Through primary, anything like this would be reported back to me.

I’d be contacting the school, finding out from the teacher what happened and if that’s an accurate account of what happened, insisting the parents pay.

If a child deliberately stamped on your DC's glasses, I would expect him to have pretty severe consequences. And I would contact the school to make sure they were taking it seriously. However, if a year 7 kid did this on day 2 of secondary school, this suggests that they may have some pretty serious issues.

I would be furious if I were you.

I would email the head of year and asking for a proper investigation into what happened. At best its wanton destruction at worst its bullying and quite frankly I'd say it was both.

And yes I would be wanting the other boy's parents to contribute.

I'm sorry your DS has had such a horrid start to senior school

Thanks all, the glasses were in his case and stamped on hard enough to break the arm. The case is completely destroyed and dents on both sides. Doesn’t appear to be an accident.

How awful.
If the school / other parents won't pay then ask your Home & Contents insurers.
I had a seizure & broke my glasses, my contents insurance paid for a new pair!

But I would definitely investigate whether the school has a discipline and bullying problem.

The other boy is an arsehole.

I’d also be furious. Email the school definitely and ask for full details. The other boy’s parents need to be informed ASAP.

Your poor son. My DS wears glasses and I’d be so angry.

I'm so sorry - I hope your son is OK. I'd definitely take it further with the school - start 'softly' so you can escalate (with legal threats, stronger language etc) if needs be.

I'd also keep an eye out to see whether this turns into a bullying situation (and if it does, I'm a strong advocate of an eye for an eye).

Hello!

Under 16s are entitled to another NHS voucher of glasses are broken or lost.

Most opticians do glasses which are covered completely by the voucher, so no cost to yourself. Obviously if you paid more for kids designer frames, I would be demanding the other parent pay up.

Some opticians can do same day glasses if the prescription isn't too complex- I know a lot of Vision Expresses used to do same day, not sure if they still do?

DS is fine in himself. The other child was goading him for a fight but DS rose above it.
He was just upset as he realises it wasn’t an accident and there were no consequences. The other child denied it but sounds like there were witnesses.

Yes, he should be entitled to a free replacement pair so I’ll look into it.

Thanks all

This is not ok op.
I would definitely contact the school about this. Your child’s property was deliberately broken. There needs to be consequences and I would be demanding to know what they are doing to ensure it doesn’t happen again, either to your DS or other children.
We are screwed if this is the way some of the younger generation behave and are just allowed to get away with it.

The school should be taking extra care to settle their new Year 7, therefore if a member of staff was aware and involved with the incident, you should very much have got a call from the year head or someone on the pastoral team. I would be following this up.

At my school we go the extra mile to iron out these kinds of problems / worries early on as it can make the difference between a happy start to secondary school life and an unhappy one.

I'd insist there were consequences . Contact his form tutor and insist they get the teacher who was present's side of the story.
The little bugger's parents need to be involved.

Contact the school (Head of Year), give as many details as you have and ask them to investigate. If DS can say where on the campus and roughly what time (between which lessons) it happened, there may be cctv of the incident. No need to go in raging, you will just look unreasonable when you actually have a valid complaint, and you need to give the school a chance to investigate and to rectify the situation.

Think about what you want the outcome to be, e.g. you might want an acknowledgement and apology or to request replacement glasses if there is no other way of funding them, or to have strategies put in place to support DS if you feel he is at risk of bullying.

You can not expect to be given information about the other child, including what sanctions he may be given, or about any discussion with his parents, e.g. about paying for replacement glasses, so there is no point in asking for them.

If you do not receive a satisfactory outcome, then get a copy of the school complaints procedure (on their website or from the school office) and follow the steps within it. If you don't, you'll just waste your time as you'll be referred back to it.

I would have thought the school would have acted on this, not least because if your son is so shortsighted he cannot see the board without his glasses, his education is going to suffer. Definitely find out what happened from the school ( you say a teacher was "involved") and insist (nicely) that something is done to make sure it dowsn't happen again.

That other kid is a serial killer in the making

I would be making a major fuss over this.

Please don't let this go OP. An email to tutor and HoY first thing tomorrow. So there's a paper trail. As pp said start off gentle, ask for an investigation. Later if they aren't taking it seriously, make it more threatening.

Call or email the teacher to find out what happened. It seems unlikely that he was challenged to a fight and had his glasses broken with no other context. You need to find out what happened and what steps have been put in place to stop it happening again.

That other kid is a serial killer in the making
Seriously what is going on with this place tonight? It seems full of drama queens that have never spent any time in schools or with DCs. Of course, he's not a serial killer ffs.

Ah @AnneOfTeenFables, champion of school bullies, do you take everything so literally?

Definitely not OK. It wouldn’t be acceptable in a workplace so why school? A complaint is definitely required and the other parent should really pay out anything that the voucher doesn’t cover. I say ‘should’ as unfortunately you can’t force them and they know it. This is how they get away with it 😭

@AnneOfTeenFables

That other kid is a serial killer in the making Seriously what is going on with this place tonight? It seems full of drama queens that have never spent any time in schools or with DCs. Of course, he's not a serial killer ffs.

Why are you downplaying this as if it's a perfectly normal consequence of spending time in a school? Most of us have "spent time with DCs" and have never encountered such delinquent behaviour. I'd hate to meet your kids if this is such a non event to you.

I'm not here for the nonsense hyperbole. I gave a serious response. All the drama isn't necessary or helpful.

Agree with everyone that says email to head of year/tutor - email rather than call so there's a paper trail.

I would also be considering whether he would be better moving to another tutor group (if that's an option). Very early in the year and quite doable.