Teacher threw a book - would appreciate your thoughts

[Beenherebefore]

Before we start, all my geese are not swans. My daughter is not perfect. However, she is not a disruptive little shit either!

She attends a private / prep school and is 10 years old.

Every day the girls have to write the date at the top of the page.

My daughter did this and then wrote out some corrections from the day before.

Later on the class all did a piece of work. She was first to finish and handed her book tot he teacher as usual.
Teacher opened book, slammed it shut straight away and said "go and check this".

My daughter returned to her seat, checked work and handed it back in.

Teacher took another look said "are you telling me this work is faultless? Where is the date?"

My daughter was nervous answering but politely pointed out where the date was.

The teacher then shouted "you're so frustrating" and threw the book to the other side of the classroom (width, not length), away from my daughter.

She then retrieved it and returned silently to her desk where she quietly cried. (she VERY rarely cries and didn't make a thing of it).

However, she was obviously worried and upset as it was the first thing she told me when she got in the car.

She is still unsure of what she did wrong.

I've emailed the teacher and am waiting to hear back but I'm not very good with these things and would like to hear your thoughts on this.

I'm not sure what justification there could be for this to be honest.

This is a prep school that she has attended since she was 4. She's 11 this year. The kids there are just so the opposite of unruly and disrespectful. She would never answer a teacher back.

Once she was told off for something that she didn't do. She actually stepped in to a situation between 2 other girls but she got blamed / caught up in the telling off. When I asked her shy she didn't explain or stick up for herself she said "Mummy, that would be answering back, it doesn't matter, I was just telling you about it".

So what are your views on a teacher throwing a book. Whatever the reason, but in this case it would appear for a misunderstanding of where the date was written.

Milk, my state primary teacher used to throw wooden blackboard rubbers at our heads and beat us with a cane, back in the 1960’s, but I really think societal norms have moved on a bit in the interim!
Throwing books across the room is a terrible example to set to young kids, and totally unprofessional.
The head definitely needs to get involved.

What did the teacher say?

Not acceptable in any way. I'd let them know, in the politest but most direct way possible, that if I ever hear of them frightening my child again, this and any other incidents would be written up as a formal complaint. Adults need to keep control of their emotions better than that.

Well I don’t think i’ve Been remotely impacted in any way by having my book chucked about. I remember kids winding the teacher up in order to elicit book throwing when bored. But more seriously if it’s unusual to have your book thrown then it would be more upsetting to the child, it was everyday for us. Still the OP’s child sounds refreshingly chilled and sensible from the OP’s further posts so will no doubt be fine and realise with a little discussion at home that the problem lies with the teacher and the teacher’s anger & not her or her behaviour in any shape or form. The fact that the OP’s daughter is so open with her mum is great, they seem to have a good relationship.

Of course it’s unusual and not acceptable for any teacher to throw a book these days! We were terrified of teachers who threw things! Back in the 60s, it was different. It’s hugely unprofessional to lose it in front of a child.

I think there are several problems here that I have witnessed in prep schools. The classes are not 35, as suggested above, more like 15. On this basis, it’s normal to expect more teacher attention, not less. Writing the date and arguing with a child about it is not teaching. It’s exerting your will and hardly inspiring teaching.

Whoever appointed this teacher is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Are they actually qualified to teach here (in a state school)? Possibly not which is why she’s in the prep sector. I have seen several teachers who cannot inspire children and whose lessons are out of the dark ages. The school should be requiring the teacher to teach in accordance with their policies not her culture from elsewhere. A personal style does not trump the qualities the school exists.

Prep school heads do not seem to monitor quality first teaching as they do in state schools. How often does the Head go into a classroom? How do they know what is taught and how classes are managed? If children know the teacher shouts, so should the head. What is the school doing to improve the quality of the teaching and how the class is managed? I would be asking this. Why would you pay for inferior classroom practice? I would see the Head and ask questions.

You pay for this treatment!

Are you sure these teachers at your daughter's school are up to scrutiny? I'm as middle class as they come and in no way suggesting private schools are not great (went to one myself) but as a primary school teacher myself, there's no way I'd ever do this. Would be severely disciplined if I did, and rightly so.

We trust our most prized possessions to other adults for most of the day. They deserve to be happy and treated well. Sometimes (rarely) we have a child we don't warm to, but that's when we have to try extra hard to be nice because we're dealing with little people. They need to feel safe.

My ds was once told off by class teacher, that he was walking on wrong side of corridor. He was on the right side, others were on the wrong side, but since he was the only one, the teacher has mistaken he was the one in the wrong. I told him to say that to the teacher instead of telling me after school, or don't complain to me.
But if the teacher threw book at him, I would take action. It's not something you should tolerate, and if your child is too shocked to say something, I would.

The what she did wrong is clear to see, the date should have been assigned to the new work of the day, not corrections.

Not saying the way she handled it is correct - I am a Deputy in a prep school and would take an incident like this seriously. However, your daughter should have spoken to another adult during the day before she went home, there must be other teachers she gets on well with. Incidents are best investigated in the day before parents can intervene.

@Beenherebefore Hi there. I know this is old but I'm idling the afternoon with a bad cold away reading through posts. Was this ever resolved?