a child harming himself with scissors in reception

[soph252]

I am posting this on behalf of my friend. Apologies in advance as it is a long post, but just want to get some feedback/ opinions for her.

Her son started in reception this year. He is a lovely little boy, but she and the school feel he has autistic tendancies. He doesn't seem to understand risk/ danger etc.

Within the first two weeks he held scissors to two childrens noses, as if to attempt to use them. The teachers reported this to her, they said there was no mallace or harm intended, but almost curiosity and no awareness of the consequences. She was shocked, but knew that as the school were dealing with it left it with them. However yesterday she picked her son up and was told that he had used the scissors (unsupervised) and cut through his thumb nail on purpose and would have probably if they hadn't caught him carried on cutting!!- they however didn't call her despite the fact it was pouring with blood quite badly onto the floor. When she got him home and took the plaster off she saw how bad it was. She took him to the local emergency unit and they told her it was almost down to the bone (sorry bit graphic!) and put butterfly stitches etc on it.

This morning she went to speak to the teacher and asked if he could be kept away from scissors unless supervised and asked if they could call her if anything that serious happened again - they didn't really respond to the calling next time question and told her that scissors were always out, so they couldn't monitor him using them - What if anything should they be doing? I am quite shocked that upon knowing he is a danger to himself and possibly others with scissors that they are not doing something. Just wondering whether she should just accept this as how it is or if they should be dealing with this - I feel quite strongly that they should be doing something - I do understand with 30 children in all they can't watch him constantly, but surely to do nothing under these circumstances is not right??? sorry for the huge post - hopefully some of you especially any teachers can offer some advice/ opinions. Thank you!!!

I wouldn't have thought that there were any scissors in a reception classroom capable of cutting through a child's finger.

She needs to go to the head and explain her concerns. I would keep him off school until they outlined what they were going to do to keep him safe.

WHY are reception children allowed scissors sharp enough to "cut through almost to the bone"

Seems a bit....

I know sounds strange, but I think they are just paper scissors. You wouldn't think sharp enough, but I guess he was really trying iyswim. They did say that if they hadn't caught him they think he would've carried on Surely they should make sure for his safety and for the other childrens that they are not lying around for the children to use unsupervised!?

That sounds a really difficult situation. To be honest, a child that can do something like that will need extra supervision. I think the route your friend needs to go down is to get him assessed urgently so that his needs can be determined and appropriate support put in place for both him and the teachers.

Otherwise not only is he at risk of more accidents/incidents, but won't be learning what he is capable of learning.

It's surprising just what a determined child can cut with a pair of the crappest scissors in the world BTW.

Remember those plastic scissors that were so utterly shite they couldn't even cut paper 90%% of the time? My little brother's school got those when he was there - and him and his friend managed to get through their school sweatshirts with them - to this day we've no idea how. Mind you my brother also went through phases of jamming blue tack up his nose and getting his head stuck sticking it out of a bus window as a kid so thinking first and doing second was never one of his strong points as a kid!

Agree with Pythonesque. Get him assessed as soon as possible so he can get extra help.

I don't think you can necessarily expect that scissors would be removed from reception, the children know generally how to use them in a safe manner. He can equally do a lot of potential harm with a ball point or any other object for that matter if he does not realise the implications. He clearly needs help, and as soon as possible, both for his sake and that of the safety of the other children in the class.

Also would speak to the Head though.

I am surprised by the school's apparent laid back response to this. They have a duty of care to both this pupil and every other pupil in the school. What has been put in the accident book?

It is unrealistic to try and make any classroom a risk free environment, there will always something that this pupil or any other pupil can use to cause harm to themselves or others if they are so inclined.

If the incident was as bad as has been suggested there is an urgent need for the school to recognise that fact, carry out a risk assessment of what could happen with this child and get him assessed ASAP. That last bit is not going to be that quick, it never is, so from the school's perspective they need to try and ensure the safety of pupils. To me that must mean that in the short term this pupil is shadowed quite closely by a TA. Apart from anything else that will give more information about the issues that this pupil might have.

I think the parent needs to urgently establish with the headteacher of the school what they are going to do as a school. There is also a real need for the parents to consider what in hindsight may have been other attempts by this pupil to self harm etc.