DS' Class Mate Being Hit By His DGM

[pupsiecola]

DS (year 6) spent some time at the park with a classmate last week. He's just told me that this friend told him that his grandma hits him hard across the bum with the handle of a knife?!

Should I speak to the school about this? My gut feeling is yes, I need to do something. But I also feel very nervous about taking this further. The fact that he struck up a conversation with DS about it - maybe he's really struggling with it, if it is happening. Maybe it's not true. Maybe if I said sth it would all blow up and social services would get involved and it would end up far worse for the kid involved.

We are new to the area and don't know this family. I do know that the boy goes to his DGMs house after school sometimes but I do not know if he actually lives with her and if she's his sole carer. DS doesn't know either. DS says this child is a bit rough physically but really kind inside. Poor kid. I've smacked mine on the bum occasionally but not for years and would never pick something up and whack them with it. So this is genuine concern and not judgement. (And I would appreciate no judgement cos I've smacked mine on the bum either - obviously it's an emotive subject).

Any advice/guidance on what to do, if anything would be appreciated. Thank you.

Tell the school. I would go straight to the person in charge of Safeguarding - this is often the Head/Deputy.

It may be nothing; it may go nowhere, but it could be part of a picture. There is no harm in doing this. In fact you should

NearThe

I disagree. You don't need any more info. It's not up to any of us to investigate.

Even if you mention it in a self deprecating way - sort of " I know I'm being silly, but it just stuck in my mind, and I keep thinking about it, I know it's daft but...." and mention it to the teacher or school welfare officer/nurse if they have one.
You never know, it might be nothing at all, or other people might have already mentioned other things/the same thing and you could be adding to their information.
I once mentioned some small fairly insignificant incident to the teacher of my child's reception class, regarding an older pupil, and found out a while later that the family had been "under observation" or whatever the official term is and SS did intervene and help the mother cope better with her DCs. The family wasn't split up or anything, but they got the help they desperately needed, and the one little incident I'd witnessed was just one small piece of the puzzle so to speak. If nobody had ever said anything, who knows how far their family breakdown/struggle would have gone and what would have happened before anyone stepped in to help them.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback. I gently talked to DS about it some more before bed. He said this kid told him it happens when he's naughty :-(

I have recently started working in a school. One of the first things I was told was that as I was new a child may disclose something they hadn't said about before. Apparently it's very common.

Another thing to bear in mind OP, school may already know or suspect about this child. They may have seen interactions between the child and his GM. This is not all your responsibility. But you have been told something so it is your duty to act on that. I also work in a school

Hmmm. He also wanted my DS to go to the park with him today and I could be being paranoid but I did wonder if it was to put off going to his DG's house. Of course it could easily have just been disappointment at not being able to go the park full stop.