Advice needed: concerns over school

[AFewConcerns]

Name changed for this one. This may be long but don't want to drip feed, though also trying to keep things a little vague.

I have a few concerns over my DCs school, as I suppose any parent does but at the moment its like there's sirens blaring and I'm not sure how to handle this. The things I'm mentioning have all happened over lunch times and over the last 2 months.

DC (5) ended up in hospital after what was described as an accident though they only had DC and two other 5 yos words for what happened as there were no adults around. I had accepted that accidents happen and as it was really the first incident I didn't think too much of it at the time.

DC has also been recently complaining of being hit and sometimes kicked when there's no adult around which I have tried to take with a pinch of salt as I know DC isn't completely innocent, though its also seems verbal and excludary stuff going on. I had been planning on talking to his teacher about this though wasn't sure how the hell to word it as genuinely was just pinging on my radar.

This morning another parent told me of an incident involving one of my DC and theirs (not one of the children mentioned in the incidents above). I haven't had a chance to talk to my DC and as much as I hope none of it is true, I have nothing to say that it didn't happen and its completly feasible. My DC in this case being the perpetrator. The parents were nothing but polite with me, which was pretty amazing as I'd have been angry in their shoes and have warned me they've taken it to the head which I am completely behind. We share some similar concerns in that the incident was reported but not passed on which it totally should have been, and therefore appropriate staff and neither of us were told anything about it. There were no adults around to have witnessed anything, which also compounds the concerns.

If you've read this, I suppose I'm saying I have an issue with there being times when the kids aren't supervised by any or enough adults. Obviously they can't be omnipresent, but I suppose its the frequency and in some cases the severity that's concerning me.

I'm expecting to be asked to see the head over the last incident and I'd like to raise my concerns then (not to excuse DC I hasten to add). Does anyone have any advice on this?

Thanks tiggy

The incidents I've mentioned were all lunchtime ones. If stuff has happened at other times it seems DCs teacher deals with it and keeps parents involved (though none involvng DC yet), I don't have any real concerns over the teaching in general or what happens during class given how I've heard of her dealing with things. From what the other parent told me, teacher does not seem to have been made aware of the last incident at all, and I'm unsure if she knows about anything other than the injury to DC though DC has mentioned it to adults in the playground apparently.

I was worried about adding to the Head's work (as I assume the head needs to do some investigating having only been made aware of it overnight) by going in prior, but I think you're right and I probably should say I'm aware of the last incident but also have these other concerns/some of the same concerns as the other parents.

This isn't the first time there's been some problems within the school with a seeming lack of supervision during lunchtimes, but the first where its impacted us I suppose.

An incident bad enough to require hospital treatment needs proper investigation. You should ask to check it was reported in the Accident Book and whether there are safeguarding issues around lunchtime supervision which need reviewing.

Thanks LIZS. I was definitely naive around the injury, more shocked and wanting to make sure DC was ok rather than thinking about what the school were or weren't doing at the time. Will make sure to check about that too.

tiggy I suspect you're right, to be fair I'm only now connecting them myself. There are some issues surrounding some of the children within the class and I know the teacher is involved there, so it may be they don't realise its rolling out to lunchtimes and my DC/other children are being involved. Or there's a lack of communication between the teachers and lunch staff in general which of course needs to be looked at if so too.

A good starting point would be your schools behaviour policy which should be on their website. This should explain what processes the school has in place and you can see if you feel they were followed.

It seems naive of the school management to let the children out to play with Louise supervision knowing they have misbehaved in class. The Lunch supervisors should be fully briefed about behaviour and schools should ensure children are safe in the playground. They could separate the worst offenders for example or the Head could do
some playground supervision. I know many Heads who do this to ensure they have a calm pnsyground. Lastly it could be about training the Playground Supervisors. Too many stand around chatting without making much effort to direct play or look out for bad behaviour.

Any accidents, even minor ones, must be recorded. Check that this was done. Ask about their playground management and how they propose to keep the children separated or diffuse difficult situations between them.

Louise!!! little supervision...

DH managed to get a meeting with the school first thing tomorrow. We've also spoken with DC and it seems that the last incident did happen, though maybe not the way the parents thought but still nowhere near great. We have had some words with him about it and more appropriate behaviour in future. DC told us he also told an adult after it happened too, not sure if it was the same one or a different one, but there does seem to be seem to be an issue with that not being taken seriously.

I've checked the behaviour policy, and I'm not sure its been followed at all. Not from when the children reported things, and not from when the parents first reported it. DH is very peed off that it took him to request a meeting for them to even acknowledge anything to us. In the meantime his teacher was contacting me over an entirely different subject (not discipline related at least).

Will definitely check what happened wrt to DC injury. Last I heard they didn't know who caused it, but I've heard through the grapevine they found out I assume through their CCTV. I'm not sure whether to mention the CCTV with regard to this last incident so we can be more sure of what happened. If it happened as DC said then it was possibly easier to miss despite the not being taken seriously, but if it was more the other parent's interpretation then there's a bigger concern.

How did it go?

They CCTV the playground??? Do they have a whole host of badly behaved children in this school?

Usually there are witnesses to playground incidents. I would not expect his class teacher to investigate this. Usually the DH or Head.

Any news?

Thanks for asking grass and bubbles

We've had a bit of a day of it. It seemed sorted then not sorted etc etc.

School held their hands up to their being issues at lunchtime before we'd even really said anything including what they're doing to change things, which eased a few fears. There are still some outstanding problems, but the school are working with us on them.

We didn't mention the CCTV in the end, they seemed to have a good enough grip on what had happened with the last incident at least. They have cameras all over the place, I'd assumed it was for the kids safety. Maybe I'm being naive there too.

With the injury they have reported it all well, it seems that DC's injury and a few other parent's concerns since have lead to them acknowledging the issues though sadly not as quickly as they probably should have.

At this stage that's as much as I can ask for I think.

I'm glad they were reassuring. I hope it moves forwards and the issues go away.