did the teachers handle this situation correctly?

[belcantavinissima]

ds1 came home from school today saying that another boy in his class today had his maths set(calculator, compass etc etc) 'stolen' from his locker(lockers which dont actually lock i might add!±!!). its a v small independent school with only about 35 children in the primary school part.

ds1 said the teachers had them all go out of the classroom one by one while the teachers searched everybody's lockers, bags and class drawers. i was a bit and thougt this was a bit over-kill. i mean i dont know how else they would find out who, if anybody, had taken it but i just felt this was a bit wrong but unsure as to whether i should say something to teacher tomorrow or not.


and, i'm not sure if this is relevant or if this will come out right but... ds says a few things like this have happened recently inc a broken window (broken from the inside- teacher has suspicions but is waiting for said person to own up). the thing is we have had quite a few children starting there in the past couple of months- a couple of whom i know have been moved from their previous schools as they didnt 'get on' and were 'having problems' . it seems a coincidence that these things have started since some of these children have started .

sorry about that last bit- it didnt come out well, trying not to be judgeybut wanted to put in all the 'facts'

[belcantavinissima]

also i might add onto that last bit that ds1 was not without his fair share of issues when he started

[nell12]

It sounds as if the teachers are trying to nip any poor behaviour in the bud by coming down like a tonne of bricks.

If it is the new children, then they are quickly getting the message that bad behaviour is not acceptable.

[coppertop]

Tbh it seems like a waste of a teacher's time to search everyone's lockers, bags etc for a maths set. I'd be more annoyed with that than the actual searching, particularly if I was presumably paying fees for the school.

[cornsilk]

I don't like the sound of searching lockers like that. It has disrupted the chn's day for a start and affected lots of chn unnecessarily. Would have been better to do an assembly about stealing in a PHSE kind of way.

[belcantavinissima]

yes thats true nell.

coppertop, i was thinking that as well esp as they all have exams this week- mornings and afternoons

[belcantavinissima]

do you think i should say something then on the offchance it ever happens again?

[wheresthehamster]

Did they find the culprit?

[cornsilk]

I would not say anything but would if your child was made to go out while his locker was searched again. Maybe they'll fix the lockers.

[nell12]

What you have to remember is that the teachers were probably doing what they thought was best for the whole group... any disruption should be countered with the fact that their reaction to the bad behaviour should put a stop to it immediately. Without that reaction, stealing may have continued and become more of an issue.

As it was, it sounded as if the staff took the children out one by one and looked through their lockers with each child (did I read that right?) In other words they were making a stand without accusing anyone directly. I suspect that they will hold an assembly or circle time about stealing in the near future.

Yes it was disruptive today, but hopefully it will lead to alot less disruption in the future.

[belcantavinissima]

yes i think they searched the locker with them present . not sure actually will check with ds1.
agree hopefully it should put a stop to it.
i think the lockers deliberately dont lock so they cant lose the key and not be able to get their books out

[Anushka]

A similar thing happened recently with dd1 - and in the end it was discovered that the child had forgotten to bring said article that day! Everyone ended up feeling bad and lots of parents felt anoyed, and there was no apology after!
Hopefully it will be all forgotten soon.

[forevercleaning]

how old are the children concerned?

[critterjitter]

I think what you have to keep in mind is that the teachers were trying to do the right thing - locate the stolen items to allow them to be returned, without the culprit being made public.

Children move schools for a variety of reasons, including a house move, being bullied etc.

[minorityrules]

Having had stuff 'stolen' (why the "" btw?) from my kids on a regular basis at school, I think this is marvelous. Why is it a problem?? If it wasn't your son that took it, what does it matter??

We've had whole PE kits and school bags gone missing, it isn't cheap to keep replacing equipment

Shown the kids they can't get away with taking/misbehaving

I really don't see what the problem is?? Or do you think only the new kids should be searched as the originals wouldn't do something bad