Our reception aged child has told us an older child is taking stuff off of them in the playground.
First it was a hat, I noticed 2 went missing over 2 days but they were returned on the third day. I asked DC where they went and DC shrugged both days. On the third day, DC told me that they'd been taken and that a child had done it with a few different hats but they were back now. I thought they'd been dropped and stolen and didn't think much more of it. It wasn't until yesterday that it has come out what has happened. At least one hat was actually taken from DC and stolen that way.
DC has a sensory aid which goes around the neck like a lanyard would, DC says the older child has approached and tried to take it away by pulling it away from the chest (it has a safety clip in case of accident but it would have pulled on DC's neck). Other older children were telling DC to run away from the child.
I've told DC what to do, to remind the child to stop, if they don't to go to a teacher/on duty adult. DC has said 1) they don't like getting anyone in trouble and, 2) that the child will follow if DC walks away. I've obviously reiterated what they need to do but when does this need to be escalated?
We wanted DC to try to navigate this on their own first so as not to make it into a big thing yet but at the same time think that the fact this is an older child, I don't want my child to stop liking school for fear of what could happen in the playground. It's a few weeks until the end of term, do we keep an eye on DC and see how it goes until the end of term and next year as long as there's no further incidents or talk to the school now?