Teacher ignoring crying student.

[Bobblesxmas20]

Lunch time, Dd crying. Friend asked her if she wanted the teacher to know.

My DD said yes. This friend goes over and tells the teacher who in my DD words, "looked and watched her crying" across the playground and didn't bother going over to see her.

What would you make of this, mention to DD teacher or not?

It would depend on the age of the children. Reception up to year two then I probably would but older I probably wouldn’t. A lot would depend on context too.

I would leave the teachers to get on with their job. They were there and know the whole situation. You weren’t and are relying on second hand info from a child.
Poor teachers, no wonder they are all leaving the job.

Why was she crying? The teacher might have been busy eg with another child so just clocked that your dd wasn't injured and thought it wasn't serious. Why didn't dd go over to the teacher herself?

I'd probably ask, but not accusingly. "Dd mentioned she was upset in the playground and that the staff member on duty didn't get involved. I understand that the children will be encouraged to solve their own problems/squabbles when appropriate but she didn't tell me any more than that. I was hoping you might be able to add some context so that I can talk to her about it and help her come to a conclusion about what she could have done differently"

At lunchtime? I doubt it was a teacher.

Why was she crying? If it was a minor thing then the teacher (if it was a teacher in the playground at lunchtime) probably didn’t think she needed to get involved, but would watch from afar and let things settle naturally. Depends on the context.

Teacher or lunch assistant. She was crying over being pushed and missing home. School are aware of anxiety issues with her and she remained in the same area of the playground for the remainder of lunch.

She is a nervous child and not one to run and get a teacher.

Whoever is supervising has to watch over several different classes which is a large amount of children if there's over 30 per class. They are there to watch out for accidents or bullying (or escape). If your child hadn't hurt herself then she wasn't a priority.

Why was she crying, and why didn't she go over to the supervisor herself?

Adults in the playground (TA perhaps?) don’t intervene in every little thing. It would be exhausting, unnecessary, and possibly hinder children from learning how to solve their own problems. I wouldn’t mention it, unless you’re concerned that DD was extremely upset or physically hurt and was in some way at risk.

Only KS1 were out at this time.

So is that her year group?

Just seen your update. That is worth mentioning to her class teacher so that lunch time playground staff can keep en eye out for your DD.

School may be aware. But I doubt they pass on confidential information like that to every lunchtime supervisor. Maybe this person was watching a huge group of students or keeping a special eye on one situation. They aren’t there to deal with pastoral issues. Maybe they saw DD was with a friend and thought she would be ok.

Crying over missing home?

That's for you to manage and help her. She needs reassurances from you.

Was she crying because she misses home?
Did she go to nursery? Sorry am in Scotland so assuming ks1 is p1?

If its lunchtime the classroom teacher is getting a break.

Did she cope OK in the end? The teacher may have judged that leaving her and see if she coped was the best course of action.

OP can't help if she isn't there!

I can't believe anyone is defending school ignoring a child who clearly needed intervention.

OP i would absolutely raise it with school

Yes probably not a teacher if it's lunch but I would expect any staff around to check on a crying child. I certainly would and can't imagine slt being too happy if I just ignored crying children whilst I'm supervising them.

Quite typical for staff not to get involved with other children coming to tell them that so-and-so is crying/feels sick/pushed someone but wait to see if the child in question actually asks for help themselves. Otherwise they'd spend the whole break trying to work out who said what to who and who actually needs something. There's often one or two kids who love going to the teacher and involving themselves in the action.

If a child is actually upset or needs something, they usually go and find an adult themselves.

And when I say mention to class teacher, I don’t think you should say that she was ‘ignored’. Don’t accuse anyone of that - you’ll sound crazy.
But a quick conversation about your concerns about DD crying and staying the corner of the playground all lunchtime is worth having. If I was your DD’s teacher I’d like to know that.

It's hard when they're little and you can't sort it out for them isn't it?

My ds aged 5 told me he fell in the playground and hurt his knee, he wanted somebody to kiss it better but there was nobody so he had to kiss his own knee better. My heart broke a little but he lived to tell the tale and now finds that story quite funny!

The reality of school is that it helps them gain independence and toughens them up a bit. You may not want your baby to "toughen up" but to get the best out of life she probably will need to a little bit.

You could mention to them that she's been upset at lunchtime and ask them to keep an eye on her but I wouldn't go in all guns blazing!

Teaching staff are having their lunchbreak during 45 minutes lunch. Leadership staff outside and seriously, unless you actually have a modicum of understanding about schools and how they operate its best not to spread stories. Out of the mouths of babes isn't always that accurate, you'd know that if you listened to 'news' every Monday and heard about all the special fun juice Mummy likes and Daddy's phone friends.

If you raise it with the school, then some poor sod has to waste time trying to work out if X was crying last week at lunch time, who did/didn't see, who did/ didn't know and if anyone knows why.

But you already know what was wrong anyway because she told you?

Just tell your DD she needs to ask for help if she needs it.

Ks1 is age 5-7 and ks2 is 7 to 11.

So basically p1 to p3.

Ah thanks @HolidaysPleaseNow op was she doing big obviously distressed crying or in a corner silent tears?