Should a teacher leave the students in class unattended?

[youarenotkiddingme]

Just that really!

I get the practicalities are probably quite different to expectations but I wondered if there is any guidelines or policies about this?

TIA

In dd's school they have a rapid response team so a member of the team is paged and then they take sick child to nurse/ take disruptive child out of class or whatever so that teacher doesn't need to leave the class. I imagine if a teacher needed the loo then rapid response would remain with class until teacher returned.

If the teacher can leave the classroom unattended for reasonable motives AND he was completely unaware of the issues between DS and the other child,your meetings with the school,your requests etc then even if they try to put the blame on him,they would have a really hard time to actually make him responsible for it. The same if it's an incident that could've happened at any time the children would be unsupervised on school grounds. I assume they have not insisted that your ds and the other child should ALWAYS be supervised no matter what?

Thankyou those posts are reassuring.

I don't believe (but obviously actually don't know!) that teacher would have been asked to a) keep pupils seperate or b) told of meeting because during meeting the solution was to suggest a MM because I don't trust school (the irony!) because I asked them to ensure the 2 pupils weren't unattended together.

Previous incidents between 2 (logged and evidenced) of this pupil being physical with DS (pinning him up against a wall) and my actually punching him in retaliation

We have that in my school - response team.

I truely believe the teacher acted correctly and in good faith. I obviously don't know why he left originally but I'm absolutely convinced (but sadly can't evidence) that he wouldn't have done it unnecessarily. He's a good bloke. Truely and genuinely cares and 'gets' DS. He spent a long time at parents evening discussing ways he could get my autistic crack handed DS to access the practical side of his lessons.

I don't want a good teacher to suffer.

cack handed!

The link on a previous page is an american one, the same philosophy does not always apply in the UK

Thanks.

I just want some links to ensure I can protect teacher from blame deflection if needs be.

Find out what happens in other subjects in the school, for example in music it is common for pupils to work in small groups in practice rooms with some in the main classroom with teacher moving between the groups. PE, it is unlikely for a teacher to remain in the changing room the entire time either.

I'm not sure I can find this stuff out. I have no way of knowing or asking. I guess I could question some students I know but they are older years and it may differ for them?

But it didn't dawn on me that it would be unusual to pop outside iyswim? These are 11-12 yo.
But I don't believe the students involved should have been left - but the teacher can't know that if not informed.

How unusual it is totally depends on the school. I don't leave my classes because I work in a lab, but other teachers in the school will nip out for a second. And occasionally it is necessary to talk to a student or another member of staff in the corridor outside the room, but all rooms have windows in the doors so the teacher can talk and keep an eye on the class too.

However, in my previous school behaviour was a major problem, so classes weren't left for even a second, and there was supervision in corridors between lessons as all teachers had to stand in their doorways so we could do both.

In both cases though, going out for the length of a wee is totally unacceptable - the time taken to walk to the bathroom, wee, wash hands and get back could easily be 5 mins. I'd never leave them that long, and would think pretty harshly of a teacher who did unless it was an emergency. For PE the staff are pretty much constantly in and out of the changing rooms. At break teachers supervise the dining hall and playgrounds, at lunch there are lunchtime supervisors.

This doesn't apply to 6th form tho - lots of schools have a common room and / or study hall for them with is unsupervised.

I would never leave a class below year 10 even for a second, and I would only leave a year 10 or 11 class for a minute or two if something was urgent. Sixth form, slightly different. A teacher at my school got into quite serious trouble because one pupil injured another when she should have been in the room, but wasn't. Whether the SMT has behaved appropriately or not, I would have thought this teacher won't escape some of the blame. (And did you actually say that you punched an 11/12 year old child?? Or did you mean your son did?)

No I'd didn't punch a child

The child pinned Ds up against a wall and would t get off so Ds hit him to push him back. This wasn't the first incident where the hold was physical with Ds and Ds retaliated physically.

The final incident Ds did nothing and the other child didn't physically hurt Ds but threatened him with a weapon bought onto premises. He tried to hurt Ds but Ds was able to back away and stop him.

Tbh OP, if that happened while my class were left unattended I would absolutely blame myself. SLT should definitely have warned all teachers at the school that there was an ongoing issue.

Sorry, that sounded like I was minimising - I meant staff should have been aware that you DS shouldn't be with this bully without adult supervision. Schools seem to not like taking the victims side in bullying so the standard email would be "there is an ongoing issue between x and y, they are not to be left unsupervised".

And please tell me the bully has been excluded. Bringing a weapon on site is grounds for permanent exclusion in every school I have worked at.

Sorry your DS and you are going through this.

absolutely no way it will be possible for you to protect the teacher one single iota. If the teacher was absent, the teacher is fully responsible, full stop.

I did draw attention to it.

O was invited to a meeting.

I attended - I said inward taking Ds to tell them. They suggested we speak alone first.

I walked into a room to be faced by 5 school staff (all slt) in closing HT who's opening line was to suggest a MM as I clearly didn't trust them in bases of my email.

So yes, I do hold her responsible for not listening and responding.

Then refusing to meet with me when a week a later this happened.

The child was sent home that day and had a 2 day exclusion.
Ds is unable to attend the school anymore.

I find it extremely inappropriate to leave a classroom full of 5th Graders unattended. My 9 year old Son reported to me on Friday October 7 2021 his Teacher left the classroom unattended and another Student pulled out a Lighter and began to burn his own hand. This is unacceptable and negligent PERIOD. District 23 Brooklyn NY is out of Control!

Correction it was Friday October 8, 2021, FACTS remain the Children were left unattended and this is unacceptable. Parents must start paying close attention to what's going on in their children School because Noone is doing their Jobs Correctly but Everyone knows how to Cash a Check.

@Shahaze

I find it extremely inappropriate to leave a classroom full of 5th Graders unattended. My 9 year old Son reported to me on Friday October 7 2021 his Teacher left the classroom unattended and another Student pulled out a Lighter and began to burn his own hand. This is unacceptable and negligent PERIOD. District 23 Brooklyn NY is out of Control!

What has this got to do with a 5 year old thread about a British teenager?