apology ordered to dinner lady for grooming suggestion

[booyhoo]

dinner lady gave child a biscuit and was told she could be accused of grooming the child.

has anyone seen this?

Well, I've read the article you linked to, and it sounds like a piece of over sensationalized, ignorant crap, to be honest. No idea what the real story is, or who said what to whon - all alegations and he said she said.

Bit of a mistake to post it, to be honest- not enough information to judge.

judge what?

I work with groups of young children and we go through quite careful training on how to avoid leaving ourselves open to allegations of abuse. For example, if you are talking to a child one-on-one, choose a location in full sight of other people rather than in a place with a door shut. Some of the examples we were given in the training sounded slightly far-fetched but, once you are made aware, you can navigate around them with a bit of commonsense.

Giving a child a biscuit sounds like one of the more far-fetched examples of how it could put someone in a compromising position... but I can see why the school spoke to the dinner-lady in principle. She shouldn't have overreacted.

surely asking a dinner lady for a biscuit and then getting it is normal in schools? do children not ask dinner ladies for things/help with things everyday at lunch time?

I don t think it's sensationalised. The Ombudsman investigated and ordered the apology because the school was in the wrong.

I think this is definitely a case where 'you had to be there'. However, it wouldn't be too big a leap to imagine a situation where a biscuit is handed over with a conspiratorial 'don't tell anyone or they'll all want one'. That (and I know it sounds ridiculous) could put a dinner-lady in the way of accusations of favouritism.

Child Protection issues have changed a lot of what were once fairly normal activities. Because accusations are taken extremely seriously, staff have to be extremely vigilant if they are not to put themselves at risk.

i agree, everything has changed so much. i loved my dinner lady and TA at school, they used to give the best hugs and we could sit on teh TA knee for a story if we wanted. we could tell these people liked being there and they were very warm loving people, ideally for working with children. it is so sad that they are discouraged now from showing any warmth now.

No, the school was asked to apologize for the way it investigated the incident.

Sorry folks not going to say much and hate myself but...

there is more to this story than what has been published.

Inside knowledge?... Do tell.

now, botty, you know better than to drop a hint like that and run. you must tell all now!!

Sorry guys can't

But what I can say is that its even more ridiculous than is being reported

not much more if after an investigation the school was made to apologise, surely?

School wasn't made to apologise.

Education board was.

The school was made to apologize for the way it conducted it's investigation - not for conducting the investigation in the first place.

bbb - if you're somehow bound by confidentiality, then it's inappropriate to post on this thread at all.

sorry - its!

Not bound by confidentiality

But wouldn't betray a confidence

iyswim

Leaving now

oh yes, sorry, education board not school.

Sadly we live in times when a man can't walk in a park without some people making accusations and lots of people are too afraid of being accused of something to go help a child, so I can quite see something as stupid as a bloody biscuit being a problem.

I blame the daily mail.

what i can say as it has been reported elsewhere is that the dinner lady was related to the child in question

really? ha. so the mum / auntie / gran / cousin gave the child a biscuit and the education board warned them they could be accused of grooming?

hahahahaha how bloody stupid!

Well said hecate

We have absolutely no facts here. It looks insane - but we have about one half of one side of the story, and some childish hints - I'm sure there is more to this - there almost always is.

well, yes seeker, that's what botty is saying. there is more to it.

Didnt the husband say she wasnt told off, she was told she might be leaving herself open to accusations of grooming.

Which she was, however silly that is.

Sounds like someone was trying to be helpful.

Give a kid a biscuit! Blimey have you seen some of the threads about handing out sweets at going home time I am suprised the woman isnt in hiding.

There's a fuller account of events on line if you go to the local newspaper cited in the link.

The child was a relative (surely if the school's concern was family favoritism, it should have been dealt with in those terms?)

There was an interview the following day with a member of the school's management team about the potential for misinterpretation, which ended well. (Apparently no problems this far).

But then the head held two further interviews and requested more (what's all this about?)

And an unconnected third party was told she was absent from the school for "serous child protection issues" (bang out of order).

Yes, clearly potential for more to have been going on, but the bottom line is that the ombudsman found against the school/local educational authorities.