DC was 'stabbed'/ poked with a pencil today at school

[hollyw]

in her chest. She is only 4. She has a 'baddie' that is maybe 1/2cm by 1/4cm . She was wearing a polo shirt at the time and her skin was broken and bled(a little) As far as we can establish my dc did nothing to provoke the attack

What would you expect from the school?

The other child has been pushing/shoving etc prior to this since he started at school.

I'm really upset(mainly due to the location of the injury - I could sort of justify a stab in the hand a little more if the other child thought my dc was taking his pencils or something) and would like some other perspectives on the situation

xx
H

I would be really upset about this too. My dn was stabbed in the face (twice) with a pencil by a girl in the class some years ago. She claimed they were all at it and although other children said it was unprovoked very little was done about it. He needed plastic surgery, which could only be done at a hospital 300 miles from where they live and required 3 visits so they were really inconvenienced as well.

I would speak to the class teacher in the first instance. It's a really horrible thing to happen and I would want something done especially as the other child has form.

I would expect school not to be able to tell you exactly what was being done. Many, many things may be being done from time out to an assessment by the emotional behaviour support team.

He could be just a child who is taking a while to settle in at school, or he could have SN, or he could be starting the long process of trying to diagnose SN, or he could be being neglected or abused at hone.....

So obviously school can't tell you the full story.

I wouldn't focus on how he's being punished - but it is totally reasonable to ask what school are doing to stop it from happening again.

My dsis knew, from the other parents, (who were v. Embarrassed and apologetic) that the school treated it as children having a little disagreement amongst themselves.

I took my DS out of reception and moved schools 15 years ago because of a similar "stabbing". My little boy just couldn't comprehend why anyone would be so nasty ... and the school dismissed it so off we went.

My DD has done this to another child. I would want them to be dealing with this as much as you do in this situation, to ensure it doesn't happen again, rather than to punish the other child... at this age they need to be taught it is wrong the first time, rather than simply punished.

Thanks for your comments everyone.

Jubilee10 I'm horrified that the school treated it as a little disagreement in your dn's case.
I just want my child and other children to be protected.

If it were to carry on I would move all three of my children out of the school.

What do you all think school should do to stop the other child hurting other children?

The school has a statutory responsibility to protect the children. You can't stab an adult with a pencil. That's assault, possibly even actual bodily harm. Since children can't be held criminally responsible it's the present adult's responsibility to keep the children safe and to prevent them from harming each other. (This clearly isn't happening if the children are stabbing each other.) It's your job as parents to hold the school and its teachers to account if they are failing in their statutory duties. Do so. There are established procedures for doing so.

Thank you Learnandsay.

The school are taking this seriously (I don't have any issues with them at the moment) I'm going in to speak to the head tomorrow. The teacher has indicated that certain actions are going to be taken and I guess I'm just on here to collect any other ideas on how to improve /deal with the situation and to learn from other people's experiences

x

I'm not sure what I would expect them to do tbh but I would want to be sure the boy has been told about hurting people and consequences, maybe not a punishment as such, and that he understands what was wrong with his actions. I would expect him to apologise (although at 4 not sure if he could apologise and truly mean it iyswim?).

I was stabbed in the foot with a pencil by a boy in First School because I told him off for pushing in the queue to show teacher something or other, it went through my shoe. This boy did have SN as it turned out later on. I still remember it and remember being taken with him to the Heads office for an apology but I was fine about it the next day tbh. My mum went ballistic because there was a little grey dot in my big toe where the "lead" (luckily not and just graphite!!) left a mark but we were assured it wasn't dangerous and I've had no ill effects, the mark is still there though! Like you say the position of the injury is a bit hard to come to terms with it seems worse being in the chest.

What I'm trying to say in a roundabout way is that I would have to trust the teachers as to whether this was intentional or not, whether they think he is likely to do it again and whether he has learnt his lesson. If he doesn't understand why it was wrong I would be more concerned but I don't know how you'd gauge that without trusting the teachers.

Good luck with the Head tomorrow.