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?

What a way to divert from the fact that your child pays no attention to you and still did something after you told them no.

The teacher shouldn’t have taken the item, but I think the fact your child actively ignores you and you think that’s ok is rather more telling.

Oh to be a lawyer.

The fact that you seem more disturbed by a parent having difficulty controlling their child than by this teacher's alleged behavior also tells me something.

They do not actively ignore me! The fact that I don’t have a leg to stand on when others are selling stuff at school including a child selling goods from Thailands black market! They are hardly committing a crime & I rather them have this entrepreneur mindset than sitting online playing Fortnite or wanting to get home and play online!

they’re 10 - doesn’t have a phone, doesn’t play online & doesn’t hang out with friends alone! I wasn’t to harsh on them taking the stuff to school to sell because at the end of the day it’s not all that bad in my opinion!

For sure! Someone that condemns people in certain positions can act how they feel is right (even when it’s wrong on so many levels)!

The teacher's a dick.

But I agree with the many others who are telling you to parent your child! You told her not to sell stuff in school but she did it anyway. What is the consequence for this?

Sorry for being so snappy! Appreciate that you didn't make my day hard; it was just a bit too familiar!

Also, from your reaction, I'm possibly having one of those times it's obvious to us on the inside but actually less obvious to parents who aren't in schools how much can go wrong.

That’s okay. And fair points all.

Police?!?! Over a £1 squishy bought from Temu/Ali Express for pennies?!

Your comment made me laugh. My thoughts exactly!
Would people really ring the police about this?
'Ok sergeant, I will just stop dealing wih this fatal road traffic collision and blue light to this school for a £1 toy that shouldn't have been in school anyway'

Email the head! What do you think a formal complaint involves? In most schools a complaint wouldn't reach the head unless it got escalated because it couldn't be resolved by a line manager. Emailing the head instead of following the school's complaint procedure puts more pressure on heads than doing it the way the school ask you to.

Maybe parent your child and tell them no? Fml

The teacher shouldn’t have taken it but your reaction is now making you look like you are in the wrong.

the argument that everyone else is doing it doesn’t really fly. If your child argued that no one else needed to wear a helmet or that everyone rode electric scooters would you roll over as quickly?

But the child is apparently a budding 'entrepreneur'. 😀
If OP had told him not to take the stuff into school, this wouldn't have happened.
I totally agree with you.

Can you imagine..

Teddy, you can't take a knife into school.
But Mama, the other kids do and have done since year 5!

Oh okay then crack on.

Like I said, what he was doing wasn’t the end of the world! Obviously he wouldn’t be allowed this & I wouldn’t just roll over and accept anything he says! But at the same time it’s not all so bad!

I know.
Are parents scared to parent today?
I'm glad it's not just me that thinks like this.

I think most people agree that the teacher's alleged actions are, at the very least, inappropriate. OP's intention is to report these actions. In what way is this reaction wrong?

Completely agree with you. This is the reason that the behaviour of children in schools and, indeed, of wider society is rapidly deteriorating.

People are acting like it's a proper toy, I interpreted it as the level of party bag tat, which is slightly different as it's almost worthless, like taking a sweetie or something I can imagine teachers doing.

I can't believe anyone is letting their kids take money on to buy crap from other kids at primary school. The school need to stamp down on this properly, so much could go wrong.

If the school is large enough to have a more complicated management structure, the head will forward the email to the appropriate person to deal with.

I thought this, but didn't know if i was right or not. 'Party bag tat'. 😀
Love it.

Surely you must know that schools don’t allow children to sell things in school, regardless of whether you don’t think it’s that bad or not.

I don’t agree that the teacher should have taken the item by the way, but if that had happened to me as a kid my mum would have said “you shouldn’t have been selling them in school and you know that, so it’s your own fault you’ve lost one toy”

It does feel like a bit of a deflection. Whether you feel that kids should be able to sell things or not, your child broke a rule, they also ignored you over it, and then this happened. I’d treat it as a natural consequence and use it to my advantage, personally.

If you have evidence that really happened, put it in writing to the head teacher that the member of staff stole from your child and you want something done about it. It is not usually considered ok for any banned items to be stolen from a child. Not sure the police would be interested in the theft of a squishy, but it is certainly proper illegal theft.

It is possible to be concerned about more than one thing! I would not tolerate a teacher stealing from my child, but I would also deal with my child's behaviour.