Have I overstepped the mark?

[PeterGriffinsChin]

I've started working 1:1 with a child who has been earmarked as low ability but i disagree - I think her ability is marred by an acute lack of confidence.

It came to my attention last week that her family were involved in a high-profile court case which could link to her severe lack of confidence. I know her class teacher is not aware of the child's background. Should I alert the class teacher or SENCO, or keep the information to myself?

I think you should advocate for the best treatment for the child, and that means everyone involved needs to know the entirety of the situation. You may be right, you may be wrong, but an issue as big as this needs to be considered.

Definitely pass on this info - to either class teacher or Senco

I'd discuss it with the safeguarding lead in the first instance. Find out if they were aware and if there is any reason for not sharing the information, then decide whether to tell teacher and/or SENCO.

Absolutely don't keep it to yourself. You must speak to the safeguarding lead, in person, as a matter of urgency. They may be aware, but you need to check.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to put the wheels in motion today

Hold on. How did you come by this info? Is it public? Would the child know about it?

I’ve just reread your op and it’s actually a bit worrying. When you say ‘started working with’, do you have any TA qualifications? Have you done safeguarding training at your current school or college?

You don’t need to ‘set the wheels in motion’ today, you are legally obliged to report your concerns to the designated safeguarding officer and not to discuss it with other people.

Separately to the current situation, if you’ve not had safeguarding training yet, please so your school for it as a matter of urgency.

*ask

How did you find this info out?

Of course you should inform the senco/class teacher and most definitely the DSL.

If you've just started working with them, I'm not sure how you can comment that quickly on their ability, diagnose their lack of confidence and then link confidence to a court case. That to me would be overstepping because it seems like a lot of speculation.

You should absolutely pass the information on to the safeguarding leader about the court case.

Your thread title makes no sense either? You haven’t done anything!!

fedup
I think they're either asking if they would be overstepping the mark to report a fairly obvious safeguarding piece of information, and/or if they'd be overstepping the mark to pass on that they think the child they've started working with isn't low ability at all but clearly lacks confidence which is probably to do with a court case that nobody else at school seems to know about.

It was a very public court case, so the information about it is out there for everyone to see, including the child's name, which is outrageous.

We don't know that her family being involved in the court case is a safeguarding issue for the child. It depends on what the court case was, what her family's involvement was etc. So we can't jump to the conclusion that OP is legally obliged to disclose this.

If it's so public then maybe just show the link to the dp and see what they want to do with it. They may well already be aware but not have disclosed it to you.

Yes the child does know about it - that's how I found out.

Ok so the child disclosed it to you? That sheds a lot of light on your original post. In that case you need to do a logging concern form or whatever your school call it, make sure to only note what the child directly said and not what you thought, and take it to your dp.

It sounds highly unlikely that the teacher and SENCO don't know about the court case if it was that high profile. Even if they missed it, the parents would have let the school know.

What are your qualifications to assess the child? Does she have an EHCP? And are you sure she is assessed as having low ability as opposed to special educational needs? Plenty of children who are very able academically need support in school.

If it's very high profile and the child knows it's hard to believe that the school wouldn't already know.

Are the other local parents aware of it, they must be.

It may not be a safeguarding issue and the child may be fine but the OP has a legal and professional duty to speak to the safeguarding lead to ensure that they know about the courtcase. After that, the OK needs to leave it to the safeguarding lead as to what, if anything, needs doing.

While they may already know about the court case, they may not link the events surrounding it to the child's current ability. Working 1:1 you have now seen close up how the event may have affected her and she may need more assistance to overcome her confidence issues. Definitely mention it to the relevant people in school and maybe together you can all work to boost this girls confidence alongside the help she's already receiving .

I’m confused as to why you wouldn’t?? If the child told you this information and it’s relevant to their wellbeing it’s you’re job to pass that on.

As you are sitting on this information and haven’t actually told anyone, how can you be worried that you, ‘have overstepped the mark’?!