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Primary education

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Original poster

What to do about an irresponsible teacher

144 replies

sammyjayneex · 13/05/2015 16:58

So my child's teacher came to me after school and told me my child got hit with a ball during a game of dodge ball which made her fall over and bang her chin on the floor. The teacher said to me my daughter is fine and didn't cry. So we get home and my daughter told me that it was actually the class teacher who threw the ball at my daughter to 'try and get her out of the game' and she said that she did cry coz she got grass and stuff in her mouth. I'm so fuming that a teacher could do this as to be honest a teachers strength is bigger than a child and must have hit hard enough to make her fall. Apparently as the ball hit her side it bounced off her leg and she tripped up and banged her chin and then she went onto tell me the teacher locked her in the power cabin the outer day ( school classrooms are having work done so they are in porter cabins outside locked with a code) my daughter couldn't get out coz there is no way of her opening it herself the teacher has to do it and apparently my daughter was getting her coat and teacher didn't know she was in there but surely she should know how many kids have come out of the Cabin for play time and noticed my daughter hadn't?? Just seems my daughter is always the one who's caught up in this teachers irresponsibility. After she spoke to me about the incident she looked at the PE teacher as I was walking off and said something to him and started laughing. Do you think I should report her?

OP posts:

DuncanQuagmire · 18/05/2015 11:50

" I have 3 mum friends who are school secretaries.... They all know and discuss families in the local area who are 'known' for kicking up a fuss at anything and everything and who frequently request school moves, and don't get them.....just sayin'....."

gosh how unprofessional are they?!
Btw if you want to move schools it is not a 'request' and 'permission' scenario.. Just sayin'.

prh47bridge · 18/05/2015 12:30

If the school 5 minutes away is full you won't get a place there. You can appeal but there is no guarantee of success.

BitOutOfPractice · 18/05/2015 12:35

So now we have three different reasons you want to move them

you don't like this teacher
It's a failing school
It's a long way away

OP you are not helping yourself here tbh

proudmama2772 · 18/05/2015 12:56

It is so unprofessional and happens all the time - school secretaries and TAs who are also local mums. gossip about the other mums and the children as well. It's disgusting.

sugarhoops · 18/05/2015 13:58

duncanquagmire and proudmama - they don't sodding tell us the specific names of said families, they just know between them which families are looking to move schools yet again.... they do have professional standards you know!

They'd all be given the blinkin' sack if they gossiped like that in the playground!

DuncanQuagmire · 18/05/2015 14:00

gosh that is good of them sugar!
how vile and smug they sound, as well as unprofessional.

sugarhoops · 18/05/2015 14:04

Having said that, I do know a mum who is a TA, and has a rather loose tongue about kids in her class....she needs reporting to be honest, or at least reminded of the confidentiality clause she should abide by

DuncanQuagmire · 18/05/2015 14:07

I would report her tbh sugarhoops, gossip can be so damaging anyway, and in this case even more so than normal, don't you think?
Just how dare she!?

sugarhoops · 18/05/2015 14:08

They're neither smug nor vile nor unprofessional duncan - they never disclose names, just the fact that there is a core of parents in our county who are never happy with whichever school they're at, so quite frequently are looking to move their kids from one school to the next to the next. Completely disruptive for the kids, completely futile for the parents as they always find problem with the next school.

DuncanQuagmire · 18/05/2015 14:10

but you said 'they all know AND DISCUSS families' blah blah!
that is nice.

sugarhoops · 18/05/2015 14:16

Yes, have you never discussed a work situation without disclosing actual names / clients etc? I've done it many times..."client x recently had blah blah blah happen to them". Its called making conversation and, unless you actually disclose names, I don't see the harm in it. My doctor has discussed other patients with ailments similar to me, without actually naming who they are. Is no-one allowed to discuss anything anymore for fear of being called a gossip?!!!

DuncanQuagmire · 18/05/2015 14:18

" Is no-one allowed to discuss anything anymore for fear of being called a gossip?!!! "
in the case of working in a school, essentially NO!

00100001 · 18/05/2015 14:22

Of course they can discuss things!

A member of staff saying "Mrs Jane Smith, parent of John Smith in Y3, has complained to Head Teacher and says that Teacher Jones said something offensive to her child." That's not right, but if they say something like "Oh we had a parent complain about one of our teachers being rude - oooh it's stirred up a storm in a tea cup!" that's different.

FATEdestiny · 18/05/2015 14:34

It is not uncommon for local Head teachers to work together to discourage unnecessary movement between schools.

In my locality, gone are the days of schools being rivals and the five primaries often work as a team.

As an example one primary received Notice to Improve last year. But to the trained eye, the ofsted actually read well - new Head, improvements being made, future looks good but not there yet, etc. The untrained eye just read the headline as "failing school" though, sadly.

The Head at our school dealt with lots of enquiries to transfer from the NtoI school, as did the other local schools. But they were all basically batted back to their own school with an some patient "why leave a school with such a great future?" conversations, to avoid an unnecessary exodus from the school.

prh47bridge · 18/05/2015 15:07

But they were all basically batted back to their own school with an some patient "why leave a school with such a great future?" conversations, to avoid an unnecessary exodus from the school

Heads behaving in this way need to be very careful to make sure they aren't breaking the law. If someone applies for a place and they have a place available they MUST offer that place. They MUST NOT interview parents as part of the process.

FATEdestiny · 18/05/2015 21:33

I am certain our Head (indeed all the Heads in our family of schools) are not out to break the law.

It is not unusual to get a rush of phone calls following a non-favourable OFSTED at another school asking about places and the possibility of moving schools. This is not about denying a place or interviewing, just taking the time to properly talk to local parents, discuss their needs and worries and putting the needs of the child above everything else (including petty school rivalry).

MarvellousMarbles · 19/05/2015 14:59

Yes, have you never discussed a work situation without disclosing actual names / clients etc? I've done it many times..."client x recently had blah blah blah happen to them".

Of course, but not within that client community. Only at home, or in a completely separate group that would have no idea who the clients were, nor any ability to deduce it.

The school secretaries mentioned are discussing it amongst other parents at the same school, and within that local school community. That's a completely different situation, and utterly unprofessional.

CalmStork · 29/04/2025 21:19

Unfortunately from reading the post, I am a little concerned that this child is being bullied by the teacher. First, the ball hit her hard enough to make her fall (which is definitely not the aim of the game)! Second this was not the only incident in which the child was singled out. Third, she was laughing after she spoke to the parent, so she had no empathy or remorse for the hurt child...regardless if she had blood on her lip or not! I am puzzled as to why so many people are trying to justify this...clearly all or most seem to be teachers or from a school environment and do not want to open the flood gates for themselves.....but this does happen. I myself was concerned for my own 2 year old who got hit in the face today with a toy that sprung out of a box...it was aimed at him by the teacher with the idea that he would catch it and place back in the box, but I have been going to the class for more than 3 years with my elder child and never was a child hit so hard in the face...it was clearly aimed at his face to hurt him. Also, in a previous lesson, she did something similar to my other child, singling him out and not letting him take a toy from her hand than giving that same toy to another child whom she let take all the toy's in her hand. Sometimes teachers can be bullies too...unfortunately.

weefella · 29/04/2025 21:31

"Unfortunately from reading the post, I am a little concerned that this child is being bullied by the teacher."

This thread is 10 years old. The child in the OP is probably almost old enough to be a teacher now...

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