AIBU to be absolutely livid with current state of Reception class?

[NotSoCheerySnail]

My 4yo started Reception in September and has already had several incidents involving other children: one child allegedly stabbed her in the upper lip with a pencil and repeatedly snatches and breaks things belonging to her. Another child bit her finger during her first week and her shoulder the following week. Today, a third child apparently threw a dice at her face, leaving her with a bruised lip. The same girl also keeps taking her water bottle & refuses to give it back (my DD has a bottle with spray function that apparently creates “the bottle envy”).

I spoke to the teacher, asking whether my daughter might be provoking the other children. She said my daughter is very well-behaved and isn’t provoking anyone. However, she also said there are simply too many children and their behaviour is difficult to manage.

its a small village school, their Reception class has 28 children. What is going on? Is it just normal behaviour for small kids? I have an older child but I never remember him being hurt like that. Do parents not teach their children how to behave around others anymore or is our school particularly bad at managing their behaviour? Do we just carry on hoping the kids will outgrow it or what do we do? My DD went to pre school with some of these kids but never has she been hurt like that in there.

The teacher sounds inexperienced.

28 is a normal size class.

Many teachers believe there has been an increase in challenging behaviour and SEND in recent years due to a whole host of factors. I don’t know what the solution is, sadly.

You can only do so much...

28 are many if 25-50% are SEN.
Teaches are leaving in droves these days.

My daughter's class was 28. 12 children were SEN. We had to move her. The teachers lasted few months.

I would teach her to fight back. When shes pulled up on it you can also claim her behaviour is because shes SEN. It seems to be the default for all poor behaviour these days.

Welcome to UK primary schools today. Why more parents aren’t up in arms is beyond me. I’ve worked in schools for decades and the violence is normalised to a level that would have other workplaces closed down.

There are no punishments, just ‘restorative conversations’, and definitely no exclusions. We all have to bow to the great god of SEN (especially most SEN children who just want a calm place to learn) and use it to excuse the most appalling behaviour.

And yet all we bloody talk about is ‘safeguarding’.

The teacher probably isn’t inexperienced. Just exhausted and planning her escape.