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Original poster

Should the school pay some sort of compensation?

54 replies

Ramona76 · 03/12/2011 11:37

My 4 year old DD and 2 of her friends came home from Reception class last week with gloss paint over their coats,and in their hair,from a recently painted fence in the playground.The coats,needless to say were ruined,and although the teacher apologised,there was no further communication about it.A parent went in to see the Head,who had been off that day,to discuss what had happened and possible compensation for the coats and was told to write to the governors.When asked if they had been supervised,she was told of course,but 2 girls had managed to move the (half full)grit bin and wet paint signs,so basically it was their fault,I just wonder if anyone can shed any light regarding the Health and Safety of glossing a fence in school time,and ultimately who is responsible?

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Feenie · 03/12/2011 17:47

Errr...think you've posted on the wrong thread, Angelswings - am guessing you want the 'Does coke really dissolve a tooth overnight?

Feenie · 03/12/2011 17:55
Grin
2BoysTooLoud · 03/12/2011 18:23

They are only 4 and the apology really should be for them not being supervised properly. As for the coats - the governors may be sympathetic and look into the supervision of 4 year old angle too.

cory · 03/12/2011 18:50

I think I would have used this as a learning opportunity to point out to my dd what happens if she disobeys the adults in charge- that her punishment will be to wear a coat with paint on until she grows out of it as I am not going to replace it.

mrz · 03/12/2011 19:03

I guess none of you have ever had to supervise 100 - 200 - plus children in a playground

admission · 03/12/2011 19:06

The fact that the coats have paint on is not to me the issue here. The issue is what were the school doing to stop children from getting to the wet paint and was this adequate.
For instance was the area, taped off with the nice yellow stripey warning tape?
If it was then I would say that the school had tried to do what was required and the girls have just done what is possibly to be expected and ignored the warning tape. I do not think for one minute that a couple of signs saying wet paint will mean anything to 4 year old girls.
Before this work was carried out there should have been a risk assessment carried out. I am guessing here that the painting was probably done by the caretaker rather than outside contractors but even so a risk assessment should have been carried out. That must have as a basic need have said keep the pupils away from the fence until it is dry. If it can't then the painting should not have been done in school time.
I would question the school's risk assessment and therefore by default their safeguarding policies.

livinonaprayer · 03/12/2011 21:10

As others have said everyone wants their work done in the holidays, and not everyone can! My husband is a contractor and gets booked for the holidays months in advance! At my dc school they are currently having an extension which they wanted doing during the summer but it wasn't possible.
I would be crosser with my child than with the school tbh though having said that mine wear second hand eBay jobbies or hand me downs anyway!!

MigratingChestnutsOnAnOpenFire · 03/12/2011 21:28

Xmas Grin at mrz and spot on posting by livinonaprayer...mine got to school in cheap ebay secondhand jobbies too....for exactly this reason.

my sil sent her eldest to school in a Boden coat for exactly one term in reception, until it got stolen and she realised school wear is cheapest wear.

2littlecherubs · 03/12/2011 22:33

It's a bit of paint on a coat - in a few months they will have grown and be in a new coat anyway.

bebanjo · 04/12/2011 01:02

White spirit wont get out dried gloss paint but paint brush restorer will.
3 days on the washing line will get ride of the smell, the windier the days the better. if the coats are to delicate for this then they are not much good as winter coats anyway.

scaevola · 04/12/2011 07:35

Has OP confirmed one way or another if the children were given a clear oral warning and instruction to keep away?

We know there were physical barriers (the moved grit bucket, and the placement of signs - not just for what they said, but as they would also form part I'd an actual barrier).

Assuming an instruction was given, I would say that the damaged coat is a good example of natural consequences - the children aren't hurt and the coats ar still wearable. And perhaps the disobedient urge to go behind barriers you have been told not to pass will diminish. This has to be a good thing - next time there might be a real danger (seen the standard of fencing by roadworks recently?)

sunnyday123 · 04/12/2011 08:03

i would feel the same OP- i'd be furious! I wouldn't care about taking the money away from the school as such - i see my school waste a lot more money than the £100 or so for coats!

i probably wouldn't over pursue because it was partly the childs fault. If it was a total accident i would be adamant i'd want a refund.

I would have hoped the kids had a verbal warning as dd wouldn't have read the signs at this stage in reception and even if she did may not have been aware of the consequences.

I agree though the coats are ruined - heres no way i'd send my kid to school in a messy coat, i'd just go get them a cheap supermarket coat!

I would try all the 'old wives tips' though - i got petrol on a suede coat once at the garage - nightmare! It took 7 cans of coke in the washing machine to get the smell off but it did work eventually and the material was fine in the end :)

fedup10 · 04/12/2011 08:27

I would be furious to OP!
They are only 4 years old Gordon Bennett, first term at new big school and all that, the children can't be blamed, the flaming supervision was to blame. Give them a garden to tend, not a fence to gloss paint, if you do then be pro-active, send a letter home to parents saying what you are planning to do and can they wear OLD TATTY clothes, comment sense is needed on the teachers parts, really.
I am shocked by a lot of threads on here lately by schools not using a bit of loaf!

mrz · 04/12/2011 08:31

So if your 4 year old went somewhere you had told him/her not to go and touched something you had told them not to touch you would say well he/she is only four they can't be expected to do as they are told [chmm] ... no wonder children arrive in school and ignore rules.

lljkk · 04/12/2011 08:56

100 quid? Shock How many coats are we talking? If it's like 30 coats, then maybe the school is remiss for not noticing.
(What do I know, my kids wear 3 quid coats out of charity shops)

Actually 3 quid is a lot for some people, I'd have more sympathy for OP if she'd find that 3 quid very hard to find than if she spent 35 quid on a coat her child wears regularly away from her own supervision. And after all, if you can afford 35 for a new child's coat, you can easily cough up 5 quid for a Jumble sale/charity shop replacement.

livinonaprayer · 04/12/2011 09:01

Fedup10 I would imagine the schools feel the same about the parents not using their loaf! £100 for school coats is ludicrous, well for any coat for a child for that matter.

fedup10 · 04/12/2011 10:33

£100 for a coat is shocking, my DD is wearing one from a car boot sale, £4, but that is not the point, to expect 4 year olds to gloss paint in the school stuff is bad, I would not be able to afford to replace ruined clothes, if was ruined you should not be expected to go out to buy again when you have already brought once, a coat anyway. Yes, I expect dirt etc but no not gloss paint!! Yes I completely agree that they must do as they are told, learning new bounderies, rules etc but to move a grit bin without someone noticing and wet paint signs? Being 4 perhaps they can't read!!!
Waits to be flamed

AICM · 04/12/2011 11:29

To supervise a playround to the extent that NOTHING goes unnoticed (which is what some of you want) would require more adults to be out on the playground than any school has.

edam · 04/12/2011 11:43

How many 4yos can read and understand a sign saying wet paint?
I would be cross with the child but also with school - they should have planned the work better and taken steps.to ensure small children could not get to the fence.
Mind you, the building I work in is being repainted atm and I managed to put my hand on wet paint and I am a lot older than 4!

Feenie · 04/12/2011 11:44

Most 4 year olds understand the word no.

fedup10 · 04/12/2011 11:51

Hehe, I thought the 4 year olds wear painting the fence, sorry!!!! Yes I was wrong, serves me right for not reading properly!!!!!! going to hide behind my sofa now

nailak · 04/12/2011 12:08

they understand the word no, but there was obviously noone there saying no, which is kind of the point.

they cant read, so a wet paint sign is not much good. tbh i cant see why the fence couldnt be painted after last break on fri, so it had weekend to dry? unless it was in a place parents and kids would have topass at home time.

startail · 04/12/2011 12:19

Personally I'd be absolutely furious.
I was brought up in a house with not much money and was brought up that you had a duty of care to your own and others possessions.
The casual attitude schools have to ensuring children look after their things really annoys me.

mrz · 04/12/2011 13:35

nailak the OP hasn't returned to confirm whether the children had been told not to touch/cross/move the barrier (I would be very surprised if they had not) all the other children in the playground (I imagine some four year olds among them) managed to stay away.

rabbitstew · 04/12/2011 13:54

I don't care that the girls were only 4 years old, I really don't see how they could possibly have thought they were being anything other than naughty to move a large grit bin and large signs in order to get to somewhere absolutely no-one else was playing. And I do NOT believe no-one told them not to go there. What do some people want? A human shield?