The saddest thing is that l’m not surprised to hear how badly this poor teacher has been treated.

[HedgesNotFences]

The teacher taught a Yr 6 boy how to use a glue gun. He didn’t follow the instructions and gave himself 2 “tiny” blisters from a glue gun burn.
The teacher was unable to tell the parent straight after school as she had to deal with a serious safeguarding issue.
The Yr6 parent took to social media then the newspapers. She then went to A&E (for 2 “tiny” blisters - recorded as such by A&E). She then went to the police. She then went to the Health and Safety executive. Then she contacted the school.
In the week after the incident she was outside the school gates setting up a petition to get the teacher sacked (the teacher had already been asked to resign by then and had left her position).
The teacher had to face a government tribunal where it was found she brought the profession into disrepute and wasn’t safe (because she didn’t have a TA to constantly watch over every single Yr6 who was using a glue gun).
Because of the shortage of teachers and the fact that she was actually pretty good, the tribe kindly allowed her to continue being a teacher. Though God knows why she would want to.

The parent gets to remain anonymous.

I hope the teacher has been supported through her ordeal - her mental health must have suffered terribly.

That report makes for such grim reading.

My 13-yr-old was recently burnt at school as the result of an older student using a piece of equipment without permission and accidentally leaving it on. When the Y9 class were in the room, there was no expectation this piece of equipment should have been on or should have been hot. My DC was injured by brushing past it.

Although first aid treatment was given, it wasn't as immediate as it should have been but the teacher involved did try to call DH and me to let us know what happened... not that either of us was able to answer the phone as we are both teachers and our phones were off/locked away. I received an email from the head of the DT department describing what had happened but before I had seen that, DH had been able to return the call and spoke to the teacher. He was told what happened and how the school had responded,. Including the sanctions for the older student. DH thanked the teacher, said something along the lines of 'accidents happen' and that he'd let the teacher know if the burn needed further treatment. When I replied to the HoD's email it was with a similar response and because I'd seen DC and the burn by then, also asked for the older student to be reassured that DC wasn't badly hurt.

That happened three months ago and there is still an obvious burn mark on DC's arm. I'm sorry my child was injured but I'd hate to see the creative curriculum further reduced, or a teacher asked to leave because of an accident caused by the actions of another student.

It’s the professional standards judgement that has said she didn’t act appropriately and was lacking in multiple areas rather than the mum or the sun newspaper so presumably she was actually in the wrong? I’m finding it difficult to understand why she allowed them to use a hot glue gun as it’s quite obviously quite a risky activity. I’m surprised that the school suggested resignation and she accepted it though. Shouldn’t they have suspended her whilst investigation took place.

The mother’s agenda is blatant. She weaponised a minor incident to gain publicity, and with a view no doubt to getting some monetary compensation. Probably a NEET, with time on her hands and a political agenda. I expect that she relished the idea of destroying a professional’s career. Parents like this are depressingly common and one of the reasons I quit classroom teaching.

Completely agree with this

There’s no need for the parent or child to remain anonymous - indeed. The mother contacted The Sun before she contacted the school. Her face and that of her child are easy to find online - I imagine she was also paid for that article!

Just google The Sun teacher glue gun and the names of the mother and kid are there along with the inevitable sad face posed photos

What makes parents act like this much more frequently now ?

Why do things seem to be escalated so quickly. It seems much more common for minor incidents to be blown all out of proportion.

using a hot glue gun is an entirely normal thing for y6 children to do 🤦‍♀️

the teacher has admitted she made mistakes - not filling in paperwork and not calling the parent (because she was pulled in to a safeguarding meeting - we don’t know what it was about but it would potentially have been preventing harm more serious than a small blister to other children). She simply forgot, as I’m sure we have all done at some point. There is no question the teacher made some mistakes, due to too many pressures on her time. The shock and outrage comes from the fact these minor mistakes led to a misconduct hearing and to disgraceful behaviour by the parent, going to the papers and setting up a petition trying to get the teacher out.

Ok have just seem the burn, it’s quite deep. From the report (pasted below) it sounds like the teacher should have done more. I don’t think 10yos should be allowed unsupervised use of glue guns.

1. In relation to the injury sustained by Pupil A, she did not:

a) arrange for Pupil A to be taken to the medical room and/or receive treatment for his injury;

b) notify Pupil A’s parent of the accident/injury;

c) notify the Headteacher of the accident/Pupil A’s injury; and/or

d) complete an accident report in a timely manner and/or until requested to do so by the Headteacher.

Ms Mead admitted the factual allegations and that they amounted to unacceptable professional behaviour and conduct that might bring the profession into disrepute.

We can and do leave the office if something more important comes up, and a child in the medical room could be deemed more important depending on what's happened. We're the first line first aiders so all injuries come to us.

Of course schools all operate differently. And I absolutely support the teacher in this. But we all know who those parents are and unfortunately we have to cover our backs. A child should have been sent to the office with a message and the office could have taken it over and dealt with the child and parent.

Not saying it would have ended much differently, we know how this sort of parent reacts but it might have helped a little.

Some people here are getting bogged down in well she should have filled in the paperwork, they shouldn’t be using glue guns etc. No it shouldn’t have happened (I have no issue with glue guns in year 6 personally they’ll be using Bunsen burners in a month with much less supervision) but school procedures are more than adequate to deal with something like this. There was no reason to drag this poor teacher through the TRA referral or any other referrals and certainly not the press.

There was no need to make a referral to the TRA and that was pretty evident in the judgement which was very sympathetic. (They’re not usually.) So this poor teacher has had this hanging over her for over a year when the school procedures (including disciplinary if necessary) would have had this done and dealt with in a month or so. That’s why I’m horrified, a parent has been allowed to get away with going to the press, setting up petitions online to get rid of this teacher, making referrals to all and sundry whilst ignoring the schools procedures. It is very clear from the newspaper article and timelines that this parent made no attempt to contact the school first and acted as judge, jury and executioner. We then wonder why teachers are leaving the profession or don’t want to be teachers when procedures that are designed to protect everyone can simply be ignored and our names dragged through the mud online and then pressured to resign without due process if we make a mistake.

When people on MN write threads about stuff like this you'll get people saying "complain to Ofsted!" And the response will be that Ofsted don't investigate individual complaints and that the parent needs to follow the school complaints procedure which will be on the school website.

That the parent complained to the TRA and not Ofsted is unusual, but the TRA should have responded in the same way - have you followed the school complaints procedure?

This could have and should have absolutely been dealt with by the school. That procedures were not followed is not good, but being called to an urgent safeguarding meeting makes it understandable, rather than deliberate negligence. Those saying that the teacher should have sent children to the office to get help rather than the pupil to the toilets to run their hand under water - hindsight always gives one perfect judgement, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, kids brains began to realize the danger only they turn ~16 years old. All years before it they may behave risky.

That's insane! Who didn't burn themselves with a glue gun in year 6/7/8? It's a rite of passage!
Why are people so bloody precious these days?!

I didn't.
You don't have to use hot guns to make something. There are lots of different materials and different types of glue.

@noblegiraffe many of our local rural primaries don’t have an office to run to (or only a few hours per week). Much of the admin work is done centrally.

Ok have just seem the burn, it’s quite deep.

@CherryMaDeara even the hospital report describes it as a SUPERFICIAL burn!

Appropriate first aid for that would be holding it under cool water for at least 20 mins. This child REFUSED appropriate treatment. As a first aider at school I CANNOT force a child to accept first aid and I have had children refuse appropriate treatment which is also recorded in the incident note.

YES this teacher should have completed paperwork but sometimes things get forgotten or “I’ll do that in a minute” when something more important comes up.

The child was disobedient, the mother an idiot out for money and/or 20 minutes of fame, the teacher hard pressed in our under resourced education system. The whole thing was blown out of proportion and it’s disgusting it went as far as it did. I’m sure the child will get more serious injuries whilst in the care of his mother - who will she run to then?

Who should I have run complaining to when my son tripped and hit his face on a planter resulting in a broken nose and black eye?

This is true for us. In a real emergency, we would have to combine our classes to free up an adult, which would take both classes off timetable until the issue was resolved so is obviously done very rarely.

The child was disobedient, the mother an idiot out for money and/or 20 minutes of fame, the teacher hard pressed in our under resourced education system. The whole thing was blown out of proportion and it’s disgusting it went as far as it did.
I’m sure the child will get more serious injuries whilst in the care of his mother - who will she run to then?
You can see it now.

Science teacher gives clear instructions about Bunsen burner safety. Student has been taught they don't have to follow instructions and mum will get her sad face on so ignores the instructions and burns themselves. Teacher deals with the situation, sends the child for first aid, child refuses, a behaviour incident is completed for the student's original dangerous and stupid behaviour.
Within 24 hours the mother is all over Facebook and in the local press with a sad face that her child was given a detention for having a burn.

There are many issues in this case.

1. The teacher didn’t follow procedure. Granted, there were extenuating circumstances but she did make an error in judgement that ultimately led to the injury of a child. This does need to be addressed.

2. The school, still, I believe should have supported this teacher. It is quite frankly appalling they didn’t. A conversation with the head teacher, at the most, a verbal warning and reminder of safeguarding practises.

3. The parent was right to be annoyed that she wasn’t informed. I would be, but her behaviour was embarrassing, attention seeking and disgusting. A conversation with the head teacher should have been her first step. Obviously she wanted financial gain or attention to bring this minor issue to the national press.

Are you against Year 7s using bunsen burners too? This boy was at the end of year 6. I was using bunsen burners at the beginning of year 7 for chemistry lessons.

And trying to get rid of a teacher who made a mistake is just brilliant isn’t it ? I mean anyone would think we had too many teachers in this country!

As I said before, I bet the mother wouldn’t be happy if there was such a national shortage of teachers that school days were reduced and kids went back to home learning!

No wonder teachers are leaving mainstream schools in droves when they have to deal with this shitty behaviour form parents.

I bet the mother was one of theirs those types to slag teachers off on social media during covid, when she couldn’t send her child to school.

Doesn’t she realise it’s because of parent like her that’s making teachers quit and re -role into other professions?

A meeting with the school and an apology would have been fine. FFS she put her child into the national press to get ridiculed, for her own agenda.