A question for teachers - how would you deal with this?

[andle]

A child in my dds school is smearing poo on the walls of the toilet. They dont' know who it is.

The girls in dds class are being lined up and the teacher is sniffing their fingers - then a couple of them sent to the head.

I feel uneasy about the way it's being handled. The culprit is somewhere between year 2 and 4 - has done it about 4 times as far as I know.

My feeling is that this is quite disturbed behaviour and the child could be the victim of some kind of abuse. But there have been lots of line ups in the heads office, and now the finger sniffing.

Is this how it would usually be dealt with?
Is this just naughty behaviour or am i right in thinking it needs to be dealt with a bit more carefully?

(have name changed)

I think I would start by writing down who went to the toilet and when and what time they got back. Then you need someone to check the toilets regularly - should narrow down the search a bit.

And yes it is definitley a concern re: safeguarding issues.

Not a teacher, sorry but lining the girls up and sniffing their fingers?

That's vile.

Yes i would have thought there'd be more subtle ways of dealing with it. They are made to go in twos and that's stopped it happening for a while.

I think sniffing their fingers is just so odd, and the fact that after the sniffing, two of the girls were sent to the heads office - so all the rest of the class know that those girls had smelly fingers!

What Otter said.

There has to be a better way to deal with this.

Thing is, it could be anyone going in there, not just the girls (if it is a mixed school). I am a TA and tbh it would hard to monitor toilets constantly.

who else would be using the toilets other than the pupils?!

Whenever I have had trouble with toilets writing down names and times often sorts it out ime. Or as already suggested making them go in pairs.

The going in pairs not working.

I suppose it could be a boy but more likely to be a girl because a boy coming out of the girls would cause suspicion - the toilets are off a very open area.

Sorry Cece didn't make my post clear, the op only mentioned girls and I was thinking if it was a mixed school, the boys may just go in there even if it is a girls only toilet, like we have at my school.

throws up I think that's how I'd handle it!

It is very disturbed behaviour and is likely to be indicative of some abuse or emotional difficulties.

I would be writing down the name and time of every child leaving the classroom and checking the toilets very frequently. It could be a girl or boy, and could be someone who has just "popped in" with a different reason for being out of class.

Smelling fingers, eewww!

Thinking about it I would also talk to my class about inappropriate things going on in the toilet and that the teachers would like to help that person. That they are not in trouble. That we want to help them. And does anyone know who it is? Please have a discrete word or leave a note for the teacher if you do.

Quite often the children know more than you think. Obviously done very sensitively.

If it is Y2-4 I would clamp down on going to the toilet in class time unless an emergency.

I would then insist on children being told they must go to the toilet during playtime and lunchtime. I would ensure one of the staff on duty was next to the toilets during break time, and would check the toilets both before and after the break time.

If a child did need to go to the toilet (or leave the class unsupervised for another reason) in class time then the time should be noted by the teacher of them going and coming back. This is not that time consuming really, as it is never the whole class who want to go in lesson time - esp when a clamp down is on - and it is only a 10 second job. It is also, hopefully, just a temporary, short run procedure.

If a problem was then detected on one of the pre or after ply checks it can be dealt with appropriately.

If found during a pre break check then they only need to check which pupils were out of class during that time.

If found after a break it is a bit harder and closer supervision of the toilets will be needed, such as a supervisor standing in the actual toilet block as children come in and out. This is fine in a girls toilet, but not sure how it would be dealt with in a boy's toilet.

Im not a teacher, but smelling fingers in nasty!!

Surely smellingfingers isn't even a good test? I'm sure some children in Yr 2 could be a bi slap dash about hand washing, so slightly smelly fingers could me more an indicator of that than actual poo smearing.

at this. The pupil obviously has some kind of issues, could be abuse, mental health, sensory etc. I totlally agree with Big Tilly MInt sounds like a more compassionate approach is required.

Also making it a BIG issue with the other kids isn't helping anyone.

Thank you. I'm glad that you agree that this is a very bad approach. I'm really quite angry about it. For my dd who is obviously embarrassed about being questioned closely and then beign told they 'KNOW' it was someone in her class - and being lined up and having her fingers sniffed. But also for the child responsible - as they could be really quite unhappy / disturbed /goign through horrible times and this approach will mean it is impossible to come forward. What's more the two children who failed the sniff test must be totally humiliated!

I think I would be having words with the head tbh. It really isn't on.

Cece and Hula's approaches seem far more sensible. WTF was the teacher thinking?