Worried about DD's new teacher are teachers allowed to do this?

[Karen333]

Hi, my DD (age 9) has been having problems at school since September. Her previous teacher left and she has a new lovely teacher 3 days a week but a different teacher for the other two days.
She has been told off today for playing footsie under the table (fair enough) and later in the day he said to both my daughter and her friends you need to behave (fair enough) but then said especially you to my daughter (seems unfair).

The thing I'm worried about is that he asked another child in the class to move and she refused so he physically picked her up and plonked her onto another chair and slammed down the old chair. Is he allowed to do this? My DD also says he kicks pupils under the table to get their attention. He isn't very positive and has said if you get in my bad book you never come out of it which isn't giving pupils chance to improve their behaviour and is totally against the school behaviour code (this wasnt said to my DD but to the whole class). He also doesn't follow the behaviour code in terms of warnings etc before punishments are given so the kids don't know whether they are coming or going.

My DD is having counselling because of the problems with her last teacher because she didn't want to go to school after being really shouted at and I'm worried its going to start all over again.
She has never been in trouble with any other teachers and for the other three days a week now she isn't being told off by her other new teacher and her behaviour is the same with both so she isn't being really naughty. She is in a really difficult class with some really, really naughty kids.

What do people think of the teacher picking a child up and moving them!!

Thanks.

I think it is likely that your daughter has been far more disruptive that she's admitting to you. The teacher should not have done that but I'd bet your daughter is not telling you the whole truth.

He definitely should NOT be picking students up. He is putting himself at risk of all sorts of allegations.

her behaviour is the same with both

Realistically, she is unlikely to behave in exactly the same way with two different teachers and it is possible that her behaviour is worse than you realise with this teacher.

However... It sounds as though there are some serious issues with his behaviour management, particularly in terms of following the school policies. If you have concrete examples, I would put them in an e-mail to the HT or head of year and ask for their reassurance that the behaviour policy will be followed. They are almost certainly aware of the situation but possibly not the full extent of what has been said.

Why did the girl refused to move when asked?

Hi, sorry I'm not sure. I think she just said no and wouldn't move (there are some very naughty children in her class, it's a nightmare).

If the teacher has actually done what is alleged, then he has in reality carried out a restraint of child. That is allowed under certain conditions, such as the child liable to hurt themselves, but this does not sound like such an occasion.
It is a safeguarding issue and needs to be reported. That should be to the designated safeguarding officer who is probably in a primary school, the head teacher.I do wonder whether this is a situation where the pupils have made a decision which teacher they prefer and therefore everything about the one teacher is being blown out of all proportion. However you need to report it in case they are not, as other incidents will occur and they could have significantly worse consequences.

Thanks for the reply. I will have a chat with DD again in the morning in case it is being exaggerated, I don't want to go to the school about it unless I am 100% sure. I didn't think it was allowed either.

Any other views please everyone??

Ferriswheel - I suppose that is possible but it wasn't her that the teacher moved it was another child.

Cherrycrumblecustard - that's what I thought too

MrsKCastle - Hi,

She said that if people were being told off he would go straight to a punishment card instead of giving warnings first so people were missing their golden time etc, she is usually pretty truthful with me, she has admitted she was chatting last week but she had no warnings just a card.

I'm more concerned about him picking a child up to move them.

I'm quite happy for her to be told off if she does something wrong.

The issue is here,they are not allowed to move physically,that's serious issue,if it's true.

At our school, children are only ever picked up by staff if this is something that has been fully discussed and agreed to in advance by the parents and staff. It's only used as a last resort and the staff will have been trained how to do it safely.

If the incident happened as your DD describes, it should be reported to someone at the school. It may be that the teacher needs extra support in dealing with the behaviour of a difficult class.

Thanks everyone, I have spoken to DD again this morning and explained how serious it could be and she said he definitely picked the girl up and moved her to a chair on a different table. She and my DD did tell someone at school yesterday and she said she would pass it on to pastoral support and head of year.
I will have to say something to someone at the school, I can't just leave it,

Thanks for the replies

I think the main thing you need to do is familiarise yourself with the behaviour policy and agreed sanctions that the school has issued to parents. Then you can have a discussion with the school knowing what they should do and what they cannot do. You do seem to know this so you are correct to ask why it is not being applied. No teacher can make up his own sanctions.

Also, if the Head is good, classroom monitoring will be going on, and your intervention may speed this up. Only a very complacent Head would let this go andnot investigate further. However, do not forget that teachers can be hard to come by and maybe the school is struggling to find better teachers. If he is part-time - this is quite unusual for a man. Ask what familiarisation the school has given him with their behaviour policy?

However, do make it very clear to your DD that she cannot mess about in any class. No teacher is going to tolerate constant low level interruption. Clearly the child who was physically moved should not have been, but refusing to do what a teacher asks does normally result in punishment - being sent to the Head is quite usual, for example. Warnings may be bypassed in very obstinate cases. I think it is important that your DD disassociates herself quickly from disruptive children.

Yes, thanks, I have said the same thing to DD about keeping away from the pupil in question but I'm afraid to say that this kind of behaviour has been quite normal in her classroom since September. I don't want her to pick up bad behaviour but I think she is. When she has been away from school eg xmas she is like a different child.

He is a male supply teacher and he has told the class if he doesn't like them he can go back and ask to be moved if he wants to. I really hope he hasn't been given a permenant job but it doesn't sound like it. I thought it was weird that he only works part time too.

The pupil who was moved came in from another school in Sept and there seems to have been a number of new pupils coming in who are very disruptive, it wasn't this bad last year. One pupil was excluded in November time because she kept on crawling around under the desks and wouldn't sit still. The pupil who was moved yesterday when she started used to make animal noises all the time. The pupil who has been moved to another class was having stand up rows with teachers in the classroom and called another child a "f*g bh and flat out refusing to do anything she was asked to do at all. She bullied my daughter on and offf for two years and other children too, I have no idea how she is still at the school. So really nothing would surprise me anymore.

I'm assuming because they are in needs improvement and lots of kids have left they have space so have to take on the naughty kids that no one else wants. Aside from all of this my daughters learning has really suffered since Sept, homework isn't marked, spellings aren't corrected etc