My son has just broke school computer!

[Gatesy007]

Hi everyone.
My son is in his second week of reception and today I’ve been informed that he ‘might’ have been responsible for smashing the screen on an expensive iMac monitor. The teacher was very kind about it and explained she did not witness it but a couple of the other children said it was my son. To say I’m mortified is an understatement!
I have asked my son who is still protesting his innocence but I think he probably is guilty.
So what do I do? I offered to buy a replacement and was told by the teacher not to worry. But I know it’s a new one. I really can’t afford to buy a new one but feel like I should. What would you do??
Help!
Thanks in advance

[mathanxiety]

I doubt any risk assessment was carried out for this classroom. If it was, then whoever did it wins the boiled sweet prize for dropping the ball. The same goes for whatever genius did the H&S inspection.

Clearly the school with the three inch bolts and the iMac and the teacher's back turned while 30 small children buzzed about illustrates that there is no substitute for basic common sense.

[Norestformrz]

Sorry Math but don't you think schools use risk assessments? Are you aware that schools have Health and Safety inspections carried out?

[mathanxiety]

I don't think you can say that without adding 'imo' after it, Hobblesma.

Irvineoneohone, indeed there may well be lots of things that can cause expensive damage or injury in some classrooms, and I agree and so would insurance companies that small children are unpredictable.

That is why the combination of three inch metal bolts, small children, expensive iMacs, and only one teacher to supervise 30 four year olds is a situation that would cause a risk manager to suggest that alternatives to the bolts be considered (and there are plenty of alternatives with equal or even greater utility in a reception classroom).

A lot of what insurance companies and risk management professionals advise is basic common sense (for example, the advice in the Guy Fawkes pdf link).

You would think that wouldn't be necessary 90% of the time, but then along comes a thread like this.

[hobblesma]

math

insurance companies concern themselves with risk.

Indeed they do. My point was, they don't concern themselves with opinion, yours in particular.

[Mistoffelees]

A 3 inch bolt isn't actually that heavy, unless it's particularly girthy one, I'm not sure what people are imagining? The wooden blocks we use in nursery are much heavier and prone to cause damage/injury, as are a variety of other standard resources.

[BiggerBoat1]

I hope you're feeling better about this now OP. When my DS was in reception I was called in by the teacher because he'd ripped a whiteboard in half. She was worried about whether he had anger issues and I was mortified.
He was never in trouble at school again and when he was in Year 6 he out of the blue told me that he'd be trying to be helpful and share it because there weren't enough and then when he was in trouble he didn't know how to explain it. It had obviously stuck in his mind all that time!

Children do funny things that don't always make sense to adults. Doesn't mean there's any reason to worry.

[user789653241]

And yes, my ds suffered a cut on his face right above his eyes, caused by a child who had thrown a toy car in anger. And it wasn't intentional, it wasn't aimed at him, just an accident. But if it had hit his eyes, it must have had same effect as 3 inch bolts.

[user789653241]

mathanxiety, what you say doesn't really make any sense.
There are a lot of things that can easily break computer screen in the class room. Small children are unpredictable. Surely insurance company are aware of that.

[mathanxiety]

You mean like Hayes Parsons Risk Management? (Brokers)
www.hayesparsons.co.uk/schools-and-colleges
What's your attitude to risk?

Everyone's attitude to risk is different. However, it is our belief that managing risk in order to help reduce insurance claims is imperative to allow you to achieve the most competitive insurance premiums.

Sensible risk management will help you to comply with legal obligations, such as health and safety legislation, avoid financial losses from those risks that you have chosen (or are not possible) to insure against, and can give you a competitive advantage.

Our specialist broker teams will begin with an assessment of your risk to ensure that you will receive a completely bespoke approach designed solely for you and your needs...

...Our clients make over 500 claims a year so we have knowledge of claims statistics that support our work in reducing risk, allowing us to alert you to claims themes, which are relevant to you. We will notify you of changes in legislation, working practices and other regulations that affect you as and when they occur.
Well that's nice to know.

www.marsh.com/content/dam/marsh/Documents/PDF/UK-en/Education%20Adviser%20Bonfires.pdf
(Marsh - education insurance specialists).
Presumably they have had the odd Guy Fawkes-related claim and thus they feel the need to state the bleeding obvious, i.e. that a little common sense goes a long, long way.

[Norestformrz]

Presumably a company specialising in school insurance will be better informed

[mathanxiety]

Hobblesma, insurance companies concern themselves with risk. I am pretty sure some actuary somewhere has sat down and figured out that easily accessible three inch metal bolts and classrooms of 30 children aged four, supervised by a single adult, do not mix, let alone the same scenario with an iMac thrown in. If you as a taxpayer are happy to pay the premiums needed to cover the risk involved in the scenario described then I suspect you are in a minority.

How would the school deal with an injury to a student caused by a three inch metal bolt thrown by another child? How would the culprit feel if another child suffered lasting damage to an eye? Children do things impulsively - this shouldn't come as news to an adult. The potential damage classroom items could cause should be weighed against the importance of their function and safer alternatives should be considered, when deciding what should be in the room.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Do we know if the bolt was thrown? The OP says ‘hit with’. It could have been thrown, or deliberately hit with or just a genuine accident because he caught the screen when he was waving his hands about.

I’d also agree with the poster who says the word of a group of reception children who say X did it isn’t proof of anything. Which is presumably why the teacher has said may. It might not have been him at all.

[GrimSqueaker]

However i have heard of several older dc putting beads up their nose etc at school so im not convinced they are much safer.

Brother shoved a bit of blu tack that had been left on the back of a returned painting up his nose... it came back down... so he shoved it back up a bit harder... one trip to A+E later.

He also managed to use those plastic scissors that often don't even cut bloody paper to cut his school sweatshirt into ribbons... managed to get his head stuck out of a window on the top deck of a bus....

If you've got a child prone to attacks of muppetry - they'll find a way to be a muppet regardless!

Hell an overly sharpened nice pointy pencil usually has at least one child who'll be tempted to see how sharp and pointy it really is.

(and yes my brother was, and still is, a flipping eejit)

[Naty1]

Maybe not but if the bolt had hit another child rather than an object i would think that the sense in having the heavy bolt in a class with 4 yo might be queried (at least by parents etc).
However i have heard of several older dc putting beads up their nose etc at school so im not convinced they are much safer.
I think that tiredness in yr r and suddenly a lot of extra freedom/responsibility cannot be underestimated so even children who had been fine at nursery may not be in the new environment.

[hobblesma]

If I were an insurance company rep handling any claim the school makes, and they told me that the screen was cracked by a three inch metal bolt that was kept in the classroom for four year olds to count with, I would raise an eyebrow and ask them if they were having a laugh with their claim.

But you are not. And that's just your opinion. And it is nothing close to how insurance works.

[mathanxiety]

You can and should avoid accidents as much as humanly possible.

[mathanxiety]

Three inches of solid metal is a dangerous thing to let 4 year olds loose with. While about the same size as your average Matchbox car, it is a good deal heavier and is guaranteed to do quite a lot of damage if flung in a confined space containing many other people and expensive items. It is far more of a risk than objects that are lighter and/or less pointy.

I am not advocating empty rooms. Don't be silly. There are far safer options for counting, matching bolt/nut practice or similar/and small motor skills - small plastic containers/lids, coloured pipe cleaners/colouredbeads, large coloured buttons/coloured plastic lids with slots cut, small tongs or clothes pegs/pom poms/coloured containers, 1-hole punch/coloured construction paper. There is always an alternative to the heavy, dangerous object.

[Norestformrz]

You're right Math I missed it when I looked. Regardless it's really common to have such things in Reception classes (actually 3inch isn't that big) and no more a risk than any other object. So unless you're advocating empty rooms you can't avoid accidents.

[mathanxiety]

If I were an insurance company rep handling any claim the school makes, and they told me that the screen was cracked by a three inch metal bolt that was kept in the classroom for four year olds to count with, I would raise an eyebrow and ask them if they were having a laugh with their claim.

[mathanxiety]

@Norestformrz

Gatesy007 Sat 15-Sep-18 09:17:39
Thanks everyone for your comments. I feel a bit better about it now. It was apparently hit with a large metal bolt ( about 3 inches long) which they use for counting.

You don't read too well, do you?

[Norestformrz]

The OP never mentioned a three inch bolt (that's Mathanxiety's number) so perhaps we shouldn't guess or assume P they were near the screen.

[SnuggyBuggy]

Yes an only a fucking idiot would let the kids near it whilst they were using a 3 inch metal bolt

[Norestformrz]

There's normally a fragile screen as a permanent fixture attached to the wall called an Interactive White Board attached to another fragile screen called a computer/laptop.

[SnuggyBuggy]

Or just collect in the heavy objects before getting out the fragile screens

[Norestformrz]

Lots of heavy objects in a typical early years classroom. Wooden blocks, metal cars, chairs (yes I've had a chair thrown by a four year old in reception) small world toys, role play toys, water toys, construction toys ...perhaps we should just have empty rooms or only sift toys