School staff member took my child’s toy (for his own child) after confiscating items for sale

[Busyybee]

My DC has recently been selling squishy toys at school, he’s an entrepreneur in the making. However we told him it wasn’t a good idea and he carried on.

On Friday he got caught and his teacher gave me his school bag which contained ‘his stock’. They asked me to not allow him to bring them in as it’s not allowed. I told them I’m glad they’ve said it to him & he won’t be bringing them again. As the teacher handed me the bag, another staff member who works at the school asked to see what he was selling and went on to take 1 squishy & said ‘this will be nice for my daughter’. My DC asked him for the money & the staff member said ‘No, your lucky I didn’t take the lot’

My DC asked the staff member for the money or squishy back & he said ‘Na na your not getting it back, your lucky it wasn’t (deputy head) as she would of taken the lot’

This doesn’t sit right with me, value is only £1 but it’s the principle. What is this teaching the children?

What do I do about this?

I mean the dog is a whole other tangent?!
Whose dog?! Another parents at pickup?!

School sounds like its not managed very well tbh if all you claim are true....

Probs best place for your child tho as you haven't managed them very well either 🤷‍♀️🤭

I would be chasing up the head teacher today if you still haven’t had a response.
I commented earlier in the thread that obviously your child was wrong to ignore you but you know that. I wouldn’t let the theft go personally.

The toys that have been recalled due to the risk of containing asbestos include items sold by, among others, John Lewis, Tesco, Matalan and Hobbycraft - all reputable retailers, which would indicate that they had the CE mark.

Obviously the HT doesn't care about a one quid squishy

They might not care about a one quid toy - but they should certainly care about the behaviour of the male teacher.

Maybe the Op would be better speaking to the HT in person

An email is usually the first step. If the HT doesn't reply then I imagine she will.

I emailed last week Wednesday, I’ve had no reply back or even an acknowledgment.

So unsure if I should email her again or wait a few more days.

I would call now - a week is long enough to respond, even if it's just a holding email to say she's looking into it.

Nah that’s weird honestly. Confiscating stuff is one thing, pocketing a kid’s toy for your own child is another level of clown behavior lol. I’d probably send one calm email to the deputy head just so it’s on record because the whole “you’re lucky I didn’t take all of it” line sounds ridiculous from an adult.

Clearly not going to be bothered to reply, you need to esculate this to governors.
That head teacher, has a duty of care to st least reply to an email, that's just bad form and bad manners.
No wonder golden balls who stole the squishy strutts about like a peacock!!

This is a real concern, but I'm not sure why you're holding OP to a higher standard than John Lewis, Tesco, Matalan and Hobbycraft.

OP, I would give it a few more days in case the headteacher is extra busy due to the SATs, and then escalate it if you still haven't had a reply.

I felt this could be the case hence why I came here to get more advice on what I should do. I’ll give it until the end of the week.

If you wanted to take action more quickly, you could also phone the school office and ask one of the admin staff to take a message along the lines of 'I'm following up on the email I sent last week about Mr X taking my child toy'.

Why is a UK wholesaler still selling CE marked products? Presumably they are not made in the UK.

Teachers committing criminal offences is a natural consequence of children breaking the rules?

You can still use ce instead of / as well as ukca. It was going to be phased out but im not sure what's happening with that now.