To think the school shouldn’t allow this?

[littlemisssunshine81]

Twice last week my son came home from school (he’s in Reception) covered in felt tip pen. Once all over his jumper and the other time all over his arms and hands. Both times a nightmare to wash it off! He tells me that friends did it both times and that he told them not to but they did it anyway. Shouldn’t the teachers stop this kind of thing?

[donkeysandzebras]

If it's anything like the school my DC are at, they just can't monitor behaviour at that level. A class of 30 with a teacher and a TA. The teacher is probably doing some focus work with a small group of 6 or so leaving the TA to keep an eye on the remaining 24 who could be engaged in free flow activities both in & outside the classroom.
And then, as a PP has said, there is the ninja child on the carpet.

[explodingkitten]

Most pen inks dissolve if you leave the jumper in full fat milk for a few hours, then wash it to get rid of the milky smell. Has to be full fat milk, another kind won't work as well.

[canonlydoblue]

Please give the teacher a break - they will be dealing with the child in accordance to the school's behaviour policy. They are of course supervising the children, but this sort of misdemenour takes seconds and can go unseen. I'm sure the teacher has already warned the child in question that if they continue to draw on your son that they will not be allowed to use markers - bet its happening in phonics though - whole class sat close together on the carpet, whiteboards and pens in hand, oh so tempting as a four year old to lean forward and scribble on friend's back.

[EleanorShellstropper]

My ds just started reception and got punched in the face by another 4yo in his first week....I long for pen related drama.

But yes, YANBU. Pen can be really annoying to get out of clothes and after the first couple of incidences I'd be a bit miffed that it keeps on happening.

[OrigamiZoo]

YANBU. Give them felt tips when they can be responsible with them, what's wrong with pencils and crayons?

[Barbie222]

If it is black it could be happening in phonics where there is always a sneaky kid who draws on the person in front of him in a kind of ninja way that is near IMPOSSIBLE to see. Definitely have a word, if that happened in my class I'd be really annoyed.

[littlemisssunshine81]

Agreed - not a huge deal and obv they can’t be watching everyone individually all the time but I’d rather that it didn’t happen and that the teachers tried to prevent the situation occurring ie not having the kids run around with marker pens unsupervised. At that age it’s asking for trouble!
I’ve tried telling him to tell the teacher if anything happens (we’ve have a few other more serious issues tantamount to bullying) but he doesn’t always tell because he doesn’t want to get anyone into trouble...

[TeaForTiger]

It's impossible to have eyes on every single interaction that happens in a Reception classroom, unless they all have 1-1 supervision!

It should be quite easy for them to sort out though and 'not seeing it happen' isn't an excuse for not dealing with it.

It's annoying for you, but not a huge deal.

[Howhot]

This is my son 50% of the time. I know it's him that does it most of the time. How do you expect the school to stop it? It takes seconds to do

[LizzieSiddal]

On eor two people can’t supervise 20 odd children, every single second of the school day.

However the teacher should be having a good talk to the child who’s doing this, making it clear he is not to do it again. Also could you tell your son that if this not does it again, he needs to tell an adult straight away.

[tinytemper66]

How many pupils in the class?!

[littlemisssunshine81]

@Barbarianmum he said he told the teacher and she told the other boy ‘you shouldn’t have done that’. On both occasions I told the teacher and was told that they hadn’t seen it happen which is the bit that annoys me most. Surely they should be supervising them?!

[littlemisssunshine81]

@TheBigFatMermaid he didn’t do it himself. It was all over the back of his jumper and he’s not a contortionist. I believe him when he says who did it.

[TheBigFatMermaid]

I'm willing to bet, in reception, if nobody noticed, he did it himself.

They are watched pretty closely at that age and interactions between children is really kept an eye on.

[BarbarianMum]

Did he tell the teacher what happened? What did she say?