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Primary education

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Original poster

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

253 replies

HedgesNotFences · 05/08/2023 14:31

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.

OP posts:
JustaChristian · 05/08/2023 17:23

Modern day crucades allowed at no fault

Holidayvibes · 05/08/2023 17:26

BounceyB · 05/08/2023 14:46

That's awful. I'm surprised SLT didn't try to nip it in the bud sooner.

I agree. From experience though it’s often the case that the HT doesn’t have the back of staff. Out of five HTs I’ve had two that I trust would have backed me fully should I have required it. Obviously if I made a mistake they would have been honest but they would have strongly supported my professionalism and character. I really worry for the future when this is what children are being taught by parents.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 05/08/2023 17:28

Poor boy. He looks completely pissed off at having to show his tiny pathetic burn, I bet he does worse to himself when he falls of his bike. His mate probably called him all sorts for making a fuss about.

His mother seems to have shoved him aside to get herself in the picture. Probably the story of his life.

MsLore · 05/08/2023 17:37

It seems like the parent was out for a witch hunt. To go down all those different avenues immediately, before even talking to the school and the teacher herself.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 05/08/2023 17:37

he really ought to have been given burn cream and the teacher was absolutely wrong to put ice on it, which I'm sure was done in good faith but is not what you're supposed to do to burns.

Did she? It said on the report she told him to go to the medical room and he refused, so she told him to put it under the cold tap.

starrynight19 · 05/08/2023 17:38

Disgusting but likely to happen anywhere now.
How is it even acceptable that one person is responsible for watching three different groups in three different places , be a DSL and be on duty at the end of the day.
Then to be witch hunted by the parent and thrown under the bus by her own headteacher.
Not enough staff to keep his pupils or staff safe and people wonder why no one is going into teaching.
Get used to this becoming the norm.

modgepodge · 05/08/2023 17:38

Thing is, supervision may not have prevented the burn anyway. I was watching a child 1:1 using a glue gun last year and I watched her accidentally burn herself. I couldn’t prevent it.

also, don’t schools have general risk assessments in place for things like using glue guns? My school does. So each teacher doesn’t have to write a new one every time they get them out. I think the lack of risk assessment is on the school rather than the teacher.

the whole thing is farcical. I’ve also never seen a burn to the back of a hand from normal glue gun use, it’s usually fingers where people touch it to see if it’s set and it’s not. That, and the fact he was unwilling to show the teacher, have first aid or even run it under a tap, suggests to me he was probably messing around while using it. If only schools had adequate funding to supervise such activities more closely - really, a 1:1 demo by the teacher should be enough for an 11 year old but clearly not in this case.

PS the parent is not anonymous. Not only is their face and their sons face in the sun, she set up a twitter profile specifically to set up a witch hunt against the teacher it would seem. It has backfired slightly as her feed is now full of people saying exactly what most people on here are saying.

Oohmissus · 05/08/2023 17:39

This is beyond ridiculous. One of my DC had a glue gun episode at a similar age, and I just said she should have been more careful. Confused

Tippexy · 05/08/2023 17:40

The parent isn’t anonymous. Her Sun article from the day after it happened is online!

MisschiefMaker · 05/08/2023 17:44

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 05/08/2023 17:37

he really ought to have been given burn cream and the teacher was absolutely wrong to put ice on it, which I'm sure was done in good faith but is not what you're supposed to do to burns.

Did she? It said on the report she told him to go to the medical room and he refused, so she told him to put it under the cold tap.

Ok my bad, I was basing this off the mums account in the Sun article.

Another poster said that the kid hid the burn so she couldn't see how bad it is.

All a bit confusing anyway.

twelly · 05/08/2023 17:49

This sort of approach is what is driving teachers out of the profession.

There have been previous cases where children have made allegations about teachers and the teacher found to be blameless but having gone to court the teacher is named - child is not. This has led to many more leaving the professions. Parents can talk freely about teachers but teachers rightly can't talk about children.

I know of one parent who was a persistent complaining at primary, secondary and then again when the child went to College - the hours this bus have soaked up just unbelievble

Ionacat · 05/08/2023 17:57

Schools have procedures for when you have a complaint. Instead of using them, this parent conducted a witch hunt against the teacher - going to the Sun, going to Twitter, reporting to TRA and HSE and even going so far as to get up a petition.

There is no way this should have come to this. No it shouldn’t have happened, but school procedures are perfectly adequate for dealing with something like this and not dragging the teacher through the mud and certainly not a TRA referral which was done by the parent. She made a mistake and if she hadn’t have been juggling so many hats this probably wouldn’t have happened.

No newspaper should be publishing stories like this one without first saying have you contacted the school and made a formal complaint under the complaints policy and if so what was the response. If they haven’t done the proper route then it shouldn’t be published.

commonground · 05/08/2023 18:00

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).

Where was the Chair of Governors? Where was the HT? This is ridiculous it go this far. Really poor management.

commonground · 05/08/2023 18:00

*got

Duckskitbank · 05/08/2023 18:02

The mother sounds like the worst kind of person and a terrible parent to boot.
I actually hope she reads these comments and sees how many sane people are siding with the teacher.

BravoMyDear · 05/08/2023 18:03

Araminta1003 · 05/08/2023 15:28

In law, there is a term for vexatious litigants. Their cases don’t even get accepted once they have a reputation, thrown out.

The same concept should apply to vexatious nightmare parents in a school setting. Schools and teachers need protection from them and they need consequences.

God, if only!

DisquietintheRanks · 05/08/2023 18:04

Aylestone · 05/08/2023 17:20

Hopefully the teacher at a secondary school will follow the correct protocols. Seek immediate medical attention, report the incident to staff and parents/caregivers, and correctly record the incident/injury under the schools policy. Not tell the child to rinse their hands and leave them to it and hope for the best. The injury overall is insignificant, but anyone’s who’s had similar knows it’s bloody painful. The child is 10 years old ffs, the mums actions are disgusting, but no way would anyone on here be happy with their 10yo coming home from school with glue gun burns with no phone call or explanation.

Show quote history

Yes me - I didn't require a note home or a phone call for minor injuries and it was a glue gun, something most kids use from the age of 8, no an arc welding set.

The teacher should have filled in the accident book because record keeping aids health and safety practice and a record should always be kept in case there are legal ramifications. But they were distracted by another reporting requirement I don't require people to be publicly castigated formally errors of record keeping.

BlastedIce · 05/08/2023 18:14

This is disgraceful!!

cansu · 05/08/2023 18:15

There is a lesson here for teachers and that is that covering your own back should always be the priority. How sad is that? Over the years I have become more and more aware that the best thing for me to do is to avoid any situations where I expose myself to risk. This means also avoiding any 1.1 time with troubled kids, avoiding any restraint of a child, heading up any school trips etc. The teacher seems to have been hung out to dry by the school.

AliceMcK · 05/08/2023 18:21

Wtf have I just read! My yr6 dd had quite nasty burns from using a glue gun this year. She came out of school with the teacher who said she had run it under cold water and didn’t think it was bad. I rolled my eyes and said only my dd could do this. Thanked the teacher. I sent dd to the car while awaiting my other DCs. By the time I got back to the car dd was screaming in pain, her hand blistering ( I hadn’t realised the incident had happened just before pick up) I got dd home while screaming, and smothered her hand in burn gel. When it had settled I made sure it was cleaned and treated correctly. The next day I went into DDs class, said to the teacher, actually it’s come up quite bad, she’s in pain and not going to be able to write. I’ve given her paracetamol and will call up at x time to see if I need to come back to give her more. Right now she’s happy to come back to school but if she wants to come home please let me know. Her hand was dressed and clean. The teacher was very apologetic.

Moral of the story, my dd no longer day dreams and make sure she’s paying attention when using the glue gun!

Sherrystrull · 05/08/2023 18:22

cansu · 05/08/2023 18:15

There is a lesson here for teachers and that is that covering your own back should always be the priority. How sad is that? Over the years I have become more and more aware that the best thing for me to do is to avoid any situations where I expose myself to risk. This means also avoiding any 1.1 time with troubled kids, avoiding any restraint of a child, heading up any school trips etc. The teacher seems to have been hung out to dry by the school.

I agree. I'm no longer teaching knife skills to my class. I'm no longer allowing them to play in the woodlands. I will no longer lead residentials or theatre trips

It's the kids that will miss out.

quietnightmare · 05/08/2023 18:25

Wait to the child goes to year 7 in September and gets to use a soldering iron. That mother will be back again complaining.

I hope that teacher keeps their head up.

SleepingStandingUp · 05/08/2023 18:25

Obv the parent is a dick, but the school is surely also at fault here for not having her back. Poor woman.

EpicChaos · 05/08/2023 18:26

Heh, lol, i remember the days when kids would be sent unsupervised, to use the guillotine. Something so trivial as in this incident, would have been shrugged off, without a second thought and the parents probably shunned for causing trouble.

quietnightmare · 05/08/2023 18:27

AliceMcK · 05/08/2023 18:21

Wtf have I just read! My yr6 dd had quite nasty burns from using a glue gun this year. She came out of school with the teacher who said she had run it under cold water and didn’t think it was bad. I rolled my eyes and said only my dd could do this. Thanked the teacher. I sent dd to the car while awaiting my other DCs. By the time I got back to the car dd was screaming in pain, her hand blistering ( I hadn’t realised the incident had happened just before pick up) I got dd home while screaming, and smothered her hand in burn gel. When it had settled I made sure it was cleaned and treated correctly. The next day I went into DDs class, said to the teacher, actually it’s come up quite bad, she’s in pain and not going to be able to write. I’ve given her paracetamol and will call up at x time to see if I need to come back to give her more. Right now she’s happy to come back to school but if she wants to come home please let me know. Her hand was dressed and clean. The teacher was very apologetic.

Moral of the story, my dd no longer day dreams and make sure she’s paying attention when using the glue gun!

Exactly. Thank you for being a normal decent member of society