What would happen in your school?

[Corneliawildthing]

All our infants get free school lunch. After lunch they play in the playground. One parent, who claims other kids are hitting her child (they are not - in fact it's the other way round), now comes and stands in the playground, watching her daughter every lunchtime. There are always 2 playground supervisors in the area who "don't like to say anything to her" and the HT avoids confronting parents.

@Whattheother "deal with looked after children" ? with difficulty, the school setup, pretty much open playground, means we (staff) have to be very vigilant.

education.gov.scot/Documents/ESsafeguardingandchildprotectionpolicyApr18.pdf

A link to safeguarding and child protection in Scotland. There is an email address that you can report any concerns to.

@Corneliawildthing your HT sounds as useless as our last one. When I made a formal complaint (not the first time I'd been in school about it but this was the first officially noted bullying complaint meeting with the HT) I told her how I was sick of DS coming out of school and the first words were telling me how "Billy" had spat in his dinner that day. Or scribbled on his work, or told the boys not to let him play football that day.

The HT instead of addressing the issues, told me I needed to "stop making it an issue and getting DS worked up about it" by talking about it after school. I told her it was him not me who spoke about it and she told me to stop DS straight away then and "shut the conversation down".

I wasn't complaining about hearing what that bloody Billy had done every day, I was complaining that it was happening at all! I left the meeting with my jaw on the floor.

Are you friends with any of the parents? Do they know that woman is there on school grounds? Could you let it slip? It'll only take the right person to find out and kick off and the parents themselves can demand the HT acts.

deal with looked after children" ? with difficulty, the school setup, pretty much open playground, means we (staff) have to be very vigilant. That must be so stressful, with the best will in the world you can't have eyes everywhere. So if someone is watching the custody battle child and someone else is has eyes on the escape artist who is watching little Johnny who's inclined to be a bit physical and who deals with the "Miss, Miss Timmy pushed meeee" issues? Sounds like a safe guarding nightmare even without the (remote) threat of a ramson adult determined to harm a child/ren.

Random not ransom!

I agree with Whattheother. Radom perverts are not as common as we worry about.
Far more common to have parents with restricted access, in hiding from a parent etc. And then you’ve got runners, small children that just wander off or children who decide that they want to go home and stroll out of the gate.

There are all manner of issues going on in our school with staff (particularly playground supervisors) being verbally abused on s daily basis and on occasions, physically. It's a town where everybody gossips about everything and most of us can't understand why parents haven't complained. I would have if my child was hearing and seeing this every day.

Are you a teacher at this school?

Yes I am a teacher

Could you bring it up under AOCB at a staff meeting then? At least your concerns are minuted. If other staff are concerned they could back you up or ask the HT questions.

After that I would get advice from the EIS.

Surely as a teacher you have a responsibility to report this and if the Head won’t listen tell her you will go above her. Are other staff on board?

Hang on - a non-staff, non-dbs checked person is allowed on school property during the school day?

Anyone is allowed in or out!! School ground not secure.

I've worked in a school where something very similar happened. The playground was open and often used by locals as a shortcut which I found really worrying. Again, the head didn't like to mess with the parents and chose to ignore the concerns of her staff instead. Eventually the parent involved got bored and moved on. But it was very poorly dealt with. In my new, lovely school I'd expect a depute or head to organise a meeting with the mum, talk through her concerns, gently explain why this isn't appropriate and work on an action plan together. Also the gate would be locked, as it should.

Lol staff meetings- what are they? I couldn't tell you the last time wd had one. I don't think the head wants to have any as she's scared of all the complaints she'll get from staff.

This can’t be real.

Why are you still working there? You’re guilty by association surely?

lilgreen guilty of what exactly by association?

I'm still working there because there are no jobs anywhere else to apply for .

I’m not sure but if the shit hits the fan won’t you be embarrassed that you did nothing? If a child gets out and goes missing for example?

I couldn’t sleep at night.

Kids are running away on a daily basis. Some idiot SLT goes after them, brings them back and takes them to the Nurture Base. I'm telling you it's like a madhouse. You honestly couldn't make up what goes on, on a daily basis, as nobody would believe it!

No staff meetings???!!!😯

When were you last inspected?

Anyway I would contact my local EIS officer (their numbers are all at the front of the diary) and ask for advice for what you should do next.

Last inspection was about 5 years ago I think/

Well the EIS will either help you or point you in the right direction. I hope you're a member?

I've no idea how the Scottish system works but the head must be accountable to someone (who appoints them if you don't have governors?). I would be reporting her to whoever it is ASAP.