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?

No they aren't!! @Busyybee you must take it further!!!!

Certainly they should not take what belongs to him. Disgraceful comments too.
I would complain about that.
As to not being allowed to sell something presumably innocent I do find it a bit miserable. Why not ?

It happened in front of her and she asked for it to be returned. What's the next step if not a formal complaint?

Squishies will be banned from school next week.

It’s not a question of “a higher standard”. It’s theft

I've already said that the next step is to email the head with chapter and verse. No wonder schools have difficulty retaining staff and recruiting head teachers. The head will need to hear the teacher's story. We don't know whether there's a complaint to answer yet.

Why not? Because teachers are in schools to teach, not to deal with the inevitable issues that would result from primary schools using the school yard as a market place.

It wasn’t appropriate of the teacher to have done this, and I am sure breaks various code of conducts and policies. However, I would let it go as one of those things. Senior leaders and Governors have enough to deal with in schools without squishy theft allegations, esp when the said squishy probably should not have been in school anyway. The monetary value is tiny and life is too short. Emotional resilience we call it in schools.

In that case, I’d definitely speak to the head teacher. It’s theft, regardless of your son breaking rules.

Why behind the scenes? Shouldn't children be taught that those in positions of authority should also be held to account? Or do you want all children to learn the morals of politicians?

I think you need to tell him it wouldn't and couldn't have happened if he was making the right choices. The main focus should be on your son who deliberately continued to do something against the rules, despite you telling him no. My child would not have been taking them if they'd been told no, because I would have stopped it. The rest is irrelevant.

Also, hopefully none of the children your son sold them to has an allergic reaction to the contents, or chokes on them. You could find yourself in quite a serious situation if anything does happen.

One of what "things"? If OP's description of the situation is accurate, someone who willfully and openly flouts their workplace codes of conduct and policies and, indeed, the law isn't fit to be a teacher.

We’re not actually bothered about the £1 item, it’s the principle. Yes I’ve stressed to my child, had they not taken them to school this wouldn’t have happened. However what example is the staff member teaching the children?

my child came home on Friday & said to they’re dad ‘well if the teacher can take what’s not there’s, then does that mean I can take what’s not mine?’
of course I told my child NO, that’s not how it works and I’m sure the teacher will give it back to you on Tuesday (today) however they have made it clear it’s not going to be returned.

100% accurate

Complain about his appalling grammar! 'would of', indeed.

Angry email or letter to Head of Year. Quote their comments.

😕

Of course it's theft. I'm sure there are lawyers on MN, was it theft in English criminal law? What would the prosecutor and barrister or solicitor say if it went to court? I feel invested in this.

OP YANBU, what a bully teacher.

And just because OP's son was breaking the rules doesn't mean he has to accept being a victim of crime. It's victim blaming.

I think it is important though. I also do not think he is the victim because of a squishy that could well be unsafe in the first place.

What the teacher did was weird and wrong. You should take this further.

I would def speak to the Head. Not necessarily with the goal of getting it back but they need to know what has happened. It is theft. The might back their member of staff, they might not but I bet they will speak to the staff member and tell them they were out of order. He/she is a bully and took advantage of your child. As you were there, and he has refused to give it back in your conversation with him I would have been straight to the office to book an appt with the head.

Because it's a school and not a small business.

Because primary aged children don't have a strong sense of value for money and can and will exploit each other.

Because selling items in school exacerbates already existing social challenges.

Because parents will come in and complain.

Because it's incredibly unfair to give school staff yet another thing to sort out when it inevitably goes wrong.

I was irritated by the OP's passive attitude to this, but your post tipped me over. Can you tell that I've been dealing with this exact issue today?

I suspect this is just a misunderstanding of what "formal complaint" means within a school.

The next step here is to ask the head/other senior person to sort it out.

Beg your pardon !

I can see the points you make. I do think it all a bit OTT.
He isn’t running a small business. You cannot assume children will not have a strong sense of money. Nor that it would all go wrong. Many children fund raise very well indeed. Nor would it or should it interfere with teachers doing teaching.

Adults complaining and messing it up I can believe.

But I take your points. Even if I think it is rather sad.