Biting at school

[Stanley90]

Looking for some advise my son is in reception started in September he was really badly bitten in March (drew blood) on his chest and a week after the same child bit his finger. Spoke to the head teacher at the time and they said they would keep an eye on it and then nothing happened further. Until today I got a phone call from his teacher to say he’s been bitten on the finger by the same child.
What do I do??
Would you move schools?
I have sent an email to the head asking for a meeting and about what is being put in place for year one but I’m livid that it’s happened for a third time.

Have you had a face to face meeting with the head and the teacher present too? Because thats the way to make them feel uncomfortable, and I do think they need to be uncomfortable because thisis ridiculous in a class so small. You can ask them ( calmly and politely) some very pointed questions ..along with some meaningful silences..
Something along the lines of..
Tell me exactly why the ‘keeping them apart” approach failed?
So what do you plan to do differently?
When did you speak to the other boys parents? ( you cant have details of what was said but its reasonable to ask when they were contacted)
What’s the escalation process if Plan B fails etc..
So that each time you are tying them down to actions , not opinions. And I’d make sure they see you making a note of their responses too.Then id agree with them a review point ( even if there are no further instances).

@Sidebeforeself not a face to face, I sent an email and followed up with a conversation with her on the phone as a starting point.
I told her on the phone they have failed in communication and making us feel supported and that my child was number one priority which is when she suggested this review thing on them both when they are back in September. have asked why its happening to the teacher when she rang me and she flat out said “they are drawn to each other” “I’ve tried to keep them apart by what else can I do-her exact words” 🙄not good enough. I asked what’s the tigger, is it my child etc but they can’t seem to answer any of these questions they don’t know because they clearly aren’t watching them.
My plan I think is to start Y1 and have a chat with the new teachers early and see what they say.

@Sidebeforeself also I did tell her I wanted a face to face with her and possibly the parents when she asked me what did I want to happen and she said it would have to be in the new term. I think it’s definitely something I’m going to have to keep pushing otherwise they won’t do anything.

@Stanley90 The teacher cannot think of anything else she can do? Really? Try and analyse why the child is biting? Whst triggers are there? With 2 TAs of course they could be in different supervised groups. What a poor response and I think the teacher is out of her depth.

I’d want assurance that they are making every effort to separate them but obviously in the school they are together forever. There’s no other class.

Yes I can see why it needs to be in the new term but I do think you need to insist on a face to face ( its such a small class theres no reason they couldnt accommodate that). Face to face always makes people feel more accountable. It doesnt need to be a confrontation but it does need to be a direct discussion.Good luck!

You won’t get a face to face with the parents of the child. With the end result of what? This is solely down to the school to ensure dc are safe. They have sanctions, TA intervention and classroom management at their disposal.

I wasn’t suggesting F2F with the parents. But F2F with the head and teacher is perfectly reasonable

@Sidebeforeself Yes. It certainly is. The op mentioned the parents.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner yes I know,I said all of these exact things. No sorry I mentioned the head meeting the other child’s parents. She told me the other boys mum had been crying on the phone when she was told of what had happened. Not sure why she felt the need to tell me that.
@Sidebeforeself thank you 👍

@Stanley90 She should not have told you that! Ok, the head has seen the parents - fair enough. They should now be implementing a home school behaviour management policy. The reaction from the mum suggests great concern and just maybe there will be an improvement IF the school can find the triggers and avoid dc being together but we don’t know how biting dc behaves with other dc. Working with his parents on an agreed strategy would be good thing for the school to do.