Teacher throwing a chair

[Brilliance6]

My son is at secondary school in year 9. On Monday this week his teacher lost his temper in the classroom and threw a chair towards the class. It didn't hit or harm anyone. It is a nice school with generally high standards of behaviour, although my son said lots of the class were very chatty. My son is quite an anxious boy and was shaken up.
He is back at work today and taught my child. I feel really unhappy about this and would like to know what you would do/ contact you might make with the school.

I mean I'm making an assumption that he's been off for two days related to the chair, but I obviously don't actually know that.

I would write and ask what is being done to safeguard your child following a violent, frightening outburst from a teacher. I am sure they are dealing with it robustly, its very serious.

Yes I agree it is serious. It didn't harm a child of course and wasn't aimed at a child in particular. I don't want to look like I'm making a fuss that's not my business.

It doesn't matter if it was aimed at/hit any of the class, this is crazy behavior! Aren't more of the parents up in arms? If a child came into school and said their dad had thrown furniture at home it would conceivably treated as a safeguarding concern! What on earth have the school said about it?

It is your business! Your child witnessed a violent outburst from a teacher. You have every right to raise it as a safeguarding matter. That is unhinged behaviour! What would happen in your workplace if you or one of your colleagues did that?

I think a few parents perhaps think the children have made it up, apart from the parents in the class at the time. A friend of mine rang to speak to the Head, who didn't take the call but she has been told by the office a member of SLT will ring her back.
I feel like there are enough angry men in the world and I don't feel confident in my child being in a room with one of them.

Well I should think I would lose my job!

Gosh. I feel very sorry for the teacher but of course they cannot be doing that. I would speak to the school.

I know that this is not funny in the slightest, and my youngest would be unsettled by this...
But, Mr Simter losing his shit and pelting an art stool across the studio circa 1992 was probably the best day of my school career 😬🤷

Yeah you can’t be throwing chairs around classrooms no matter how frustrated you are. I frequently have to take a few deep breaths to compose myself but have never been close to launching furniture. They won’t be able to tell you the outcome of any investigation but you can outline your concerns again. To me, that teacher isn’t in control of their classroom.

I’m surprised he’s not been suspended following a full investigation and mental health intervention from occy health. This is really serious and if the school aren’t seen to be dealing with it I would be escalating this to the chair of governors.

Why were there parents in the class at the time?

Chatty or boisterous and threw or pushed his chair out loudly? I don’t know that I’d jump to believe the story if the teacher is back in so quickly but if it is true then yes I’d probably ask why he was back so quickly

My woodwork teacher threw a chisel at someone! It's still the stuff of legend. That was also the nineties though, when another teacher asked an overweight girl in my class if she was the ball when she said she enjoyed bowling. I didn't think teachers still got away with that kind of thing

Pushed it over or actually threw it. 2 completely different scenarios. Why were there parents in the room at the time?

Teachers used to throw blackboard rubbers at pupils back in the day. I think that the focus should be on the appalling behaviour of some pupils.

Good ol' The 90's 🤦‍♀️

I remember a teacher at my school throwing a board rubber at some boys, but only because they had dared him to. He was a bit mad

I was at school in tbe 70's and 80's, blackboard rubbers were regularly thrown at us if we were talking in class.
I don't think our parents would have cared if we told them.

Teachers used to throw blackboard rubbers at pupils back in the day.

We had some who threw board rubbers, but they were aimed at the wall behind the boy (it was usually a boy) or to land on the desk in front of him. It made more noise that way and had the added benefit of waking up anyone else who wasn't paying attention. No-one would have dreamed of complaining to a parent - it was considered good fun.

The parents plural in the class at the time? What was the occasion?

Well it isntbthe old days now. It’s inappropriate and I hope the head is aware.

I am also curious about parents in the class. Or were they TAs? If so they should not be sharing what happens in class with other parents.

Our teacher used to regularly throw chairs right AT us in the mid 80s, at primary school. Then even at secondary which was a very posh one, one of the teachers would throw her (very hard) blackboard rubber at us on a daily basis when she got annoyed (which was very easily). Secondary was all-girls, and honestly no one was really naughty at all.

However, it's no longer the 80s and I'm really surprised someone has done this, in this day and age of safeguarding.

Ok if he actually picked up the chair and hurled it then obviously he should be suspended and investigated but how sure are you that things haven’t got a bit exaggerated in the telling of this tale?
Could he have shoved a chair out of his way crossly and it fell and made them jump for example?
or
picking up and moving the chair and it slipped.

I hope SLT do get in touch and are able to calm your worries by explaining what’s going to happen next, but I’d be wary of vilifying this teacher and whipping one another up in a WhatsApp frenzy unless you’re completely sure of all the facts.