To think school have over reacted

[worriedmum2022]

So my girls are 7 and 9 and they were playing at home and got a bit rough, my husband separated them and one of them had hold of a game in a plastic box.

The girls were fighting over who had the box husband intervened the side of the box had split and youngest 7 year old daughter got a cut on her hand. Cleaned up, girls spoken too all sorted job done

Yesterday the headteacher of dd7 rang my husband at work to say she asked dd why she had a plaster on her hand and she said daddy snatched a box off me and it cut me

She has reported this as a safeguarding concern

I mean I get they have a duty of care but this just seems a total over-reaction

No previous issues or incidents with the school but my husband is worried sick as he works where he has to have a DBS and he's worried this will be on his record

Can anyone offer any advice on this type of thing?

You need to see it as a good thing. Your children's school is on the ball with safeguarding.

Teachers can't tell who is an abuser just by chatting to them and children who are being abused often feel a sense of shame so try to hide their abuse. Abusers are known to choose children who are unlikely to be believed. The way abusers are caught it through excellent communication across multiple agencies and rigorous record keeping which allows patterns of behaviour to be spotted.

If keeping notes on 1,000 harmless incidents is the price we pay for preventing one more Arthur, Star or Peter then I think as a society it's a price we should be willing to pay.

What @ohfook said.
It is an appropriate reaction

So a child can't go to school with a plaster on without being interrogated??

I think some parents are under the misconception that a school safeguarding report goes straight to the police or social services.

You see it quite often on here when someone asks whether they should tell school about something that worries them about a neighbour’s child. Many posters tell them to keep their nose out of it and it’s not fair to have them reported to social services

@starfishmummy

So a child can't go to school with a plaster on without being interrogated??

Er, yes - if a small child goes to school (or nursery/childminder) with an injury and no explanation then they will be asked about it.

A plaster could be covering a cigarette burn or anything. It is good they check but can feel OTT as you imagine all kinds of Social workers jumping in. As others have explained it’s not going go further if there is no pattern, accidents happen but everyone has to cover themselves.

Children may also be asked about dirty clothing, saying they are hungry.

It actually comforts me to know that things like this are reported. In your situation, it'll be fine - as it was an accident, and will be recognised as such.

In another situation, it could be the first visible sign of constant abuse and a miserable home life.. and someone taking the time to flag it could save a child's life.

You must understand why they've done it.

@starfishmummy

So a child can't go to school with a plaster on without being interrogated??

Of course they can. Speaking to children isn't interrogation. If my adult friend had a plaster on I'd ask her what happened too.

@starfishmummy

So a child can't go to school with a plaster on without being interrogated??

That's right. A child will be asked 'oh no! What happened?'

Not an overreaction.

When safeguarding failures happen, people are quick to ask why wasn't anything done. In your case, obviously there's no issue but in some cases it might be a sign of abuse at home.

You can be placed on the DBS Barred List without a conviction, it's untrue to say there has to be a conviction, thankfully.

However, unless there's a huge backstory OP this won't even make his record - you may get a phone call to discuss it.

I don't think the school were over reacting, but I also don't think you need to be concerned unless there is more to this than you have written.

Children will be asked in a careful way, not an interrogation and no leading questions

OP I also think it's important to acknowledge that the way she described it is how your daughter has remembered it. You might want to discuss that with her and reassure her. She might remember it as her dad being angry and 'snatching'.

@Akire

A plaster could be covering a cigarette burn or anything. It is good they check but can feel OTT as you imagine all kinds of Social workers jumping in. As others have explained it’s not going go further if there is no pattern, accidents happen but everyone has to cover themselves.

Absolutely. In passing I asked a child about a bruised leg which unleashed the retelling of a horrendous incident of an angry outburst from father. Added to a paperwork trail of other incidents (like a cut from snatching) it warranted SW involvement.

The school is right to record the incident. It won't affect your husband's DBS at all. The only thing wrong here is that the school told you what they have done. They should not have done so. It has left you unduly worried. Worse, if there was any genuine abuse, telling you that they were reporting the incident could have put your daughters at greater risk. Putting that aside, the school have not over-reacted.

@busyeatingbiscuits

They’ve probably just written it as a note to keep on their files rather than “reported” it anywhere but you can always ring and check.

As a general point though, if you’re sending your child in to school or nursery with an injury they got at home always inform the school about it.

That is an excellent idea. Op, do not worry, nothing will come of this and you can tell them what happened.

@NewcastleOrBust

It's got absolutely nothing to do with a DBS. That is for a conviction. He'd have to be convicted of a crime.

Safeguarding is sometimes like a jigsaw.

They don't have a coat.
They are hungry.
They don't know what pyjamas are or they don't own a toothbrush Etc.

If you don't record any of it, there are no pieces of the jigsaw.

You do not need to be convicted or even prosecuted for it to show up on a dbs

@starfishmummy

So a child can't go to school with a plaster on without being interrogated??

If I notice an injury on a child and the parent hadn't mentioned it to me at drop off, I'm going to be asking that child about it. Do you think I should ignore it??

Most conversations with parents are recorded on school systems unless they are totally innocuous

I disagree that they shouldn't have told you. It is clear in all Designated Safeguarding Lead training that you should inform parents that a report has been made unless,

'when informing parents puts the child (or others) at increased
risk'

This quote is taken directly from our Local Safeguarding Board's training documents.

@starfishmummy

So a child can't go to school with a plaster on without being interrogated??

I have to say it does sound over the top, unless the OP hasn't told us that it's the tenth such incident this year.

Don't worry too much OP. DD ran into the corner of the oven door and got a deep cut on her head which needed glued at A&E. Her preschool rang me to ask how it had happened and said that had to report it as it was a head injury. I got a call from social services a few weeks later and literally all that happened was they asked how it had happened and how I'd stop it happening again (it actually happened at a friend's house so I was able to reassure them I didn't have that kind of oven!).

If I notice an injury on a child and the parent hadn't mentioned it to me at drop off, I'm going to be asking that child about it. Do you think I should ignore it

a plaster isn't an "injury"! For goodness sake you can get a paper cut and need a plaster.

Totally different from a suspicious pattern of bruising.

Common sense needs to prevail here, otherwise teachers will be wasting time on stuff that takes them away from the important things.

Oh and what I took from it is that I should have made a point of showing preschool and explaining how it had happened proactively!