Teacher assaulted my son - what to do?

jinky67

blue_monkey wrote: »

The boy did not have something thrown AT him, it was thrown near a group of children that he was sitting in and then hit a desk and bounced off in a different direction and hit him. That is an accident. Accidents happen. The teacher did not intentionally throw something to injure someone he threw something to get their attention that then bouched off in a different direction.

I think that those of you saying 'he had a broom head thrown at him' need to get a grip and realise that it was not thrown AT him - and the OP realises that but also needs to get a grip and move on. The boy would probably have forgotten all about it now had the mother not been harping on about it day and night about geting him some 'justice'. Not sure what sort of justice she wants though? To have the teacher flogged in the playground at lunchtime maybe?

If my kids are continually ignoring me I have, in the past, thrown something to get their attention, I've also shouted and slammed something down loud - should I be extecting Social Services and the Police any time soon?

Of course, I see the OP mentioned that he was asked several times to stop talking but refused to..... Says it all I guess. Just what swear words did he use out of interest, have you not taught him to use innapropriate language? There are other words he could use to express himself whatever the situation.

The OP doesnt wanna hear that kinda thing though, she will probably ignore you:rolleyes::D

daily_2

DPA is an often used excuse, if you want to see what data they have, use the DPA against them, get your son to file a dpa subject access request (£10). If the data (his name being mentioned in an email is data) is held in any of these formats, they have to supply it.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “data” means information which—
  (a)
  is being processed by means of equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose,
  
  (b)
  is recorded with the intention that it should be processed by means of such equipment,
  
  (c)
  is recorded as part of a relevant filing system or with the intention that it should form part of a relevant filing system, or
  
  (d)
  does not fall within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) but forms part of an accessible record as defined by section 68;

Snuggles

bestpud wrote: »

We all have a responsibility to avoid harming other people - no matter where they are, or what the situation.

There are better ways of dealing with difficult people than lobbing a broom head [STRIKE]at them[/STRIKE] across the room.

It wouldn't be ok anywhere else so it is not ok in a classroom. Since when did schools/teachers rise above the law?

I can see how it happened and I'd hate to think this guy lost his career over this, but the fact remains he acted inappropriately and, in many other scenarios, that course of action may have seen him arrested.

He is responsible for his own actions, just as the pupil is for his own actions. Nobody else can ever make us lose our temper - we choose whether or not to do that - subconsciously often, but it is our choice!

It is double standards to suggest the pupil was 100% in the wrong and rendered the teacher unable to control himself, and yet somehow the pupil is also in the wrong, and should have controlled himself, for impulsively swearing when he had been hit on the head by a object thrown by the teacher!

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander...

Well said :T:T:T:T:T:T

I notice that none of the people who are blaming the child responded to my earlier comment - if the scenario was a care worker losing their temper with an elderly person with dementia, would they blame the elderly person for being challenging? I doubt it, and this is NO different.

KellyWelly

daily wrote: »

DPA is an often used excuse, if you want to see what data they have, use the DPA against them, get your son to file a dpa subject access request (£10). If the data (his name being mentioned in an email is data) is held in any of these formats, they have to supply it.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “data” means information which—
  (a)
  is being processed by means of equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose,
  
  (b)
  is recorded with the intention that it should be processed by means of such equipment,
  
  (c)
  is recorded as part of a relevant filing system or with the intention that it should form part of a relevant filing system, or
  
  (d)
  does not fall within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) but forms part of an accessible record as defined by section 68;

The data that the OP wants to see do not concern her child, they are documents relating to the internal investigation and discipline of a member of staff so her son isn't entitled to see them either.

Mely

skintchick wrote: »

This isn;t helpful, but when I was at school teachers used to chuck stuff around all the time and no-one ever complained. It's hardly assault. (and I'm only 34 so not exactly ancient!)

The same happened to myself and my oh. It certainly never did us any harm, and we definately concentrated more in class as we knew what would happen if we didnt;)

Mely

Sparky09 wrote: »

What to do?...buy the teacher a small thank you gift for showing your son he should not get away with being disruptive and ruining everyone else's education.

Lets not beat around the bush...this is about compensation! If your honest, maybe someone will sympathise and help you out, but you don't mention it once above! Why else would you get solictors and lawyers involved!

Clearly it was an accident, by making such a fuss over it you're showing your son he can get away with what he likes.

Yes exactly!:T
I wouldnt like to be a teacher these days,no matter what the salary:(:rolleyes:

Money_maker

Methinks nothing is going to change the OPs mind.

Can't understand why she thinks she would have to give permission for mediation in a 15 year old?

Sounds like the school are attempting to sort this out themselves. However, the boy being put into isolation would lead me to question his behaviour in the classroom on a normal day. What do your school reports say, OP?

I rather hope all avenues stop at a dead end for this poster. I would, however, suggest she seek some advice for her own problems - the ones she hasn't mentioned which are driving her forward.

daily_2

KellyWelly wrote: »

The data that the OP wants to see do not concern her child, they are documents relating to the internal investigation and discipline of a member of staff so her son isn't entitled to see them either.

Read post 1, they were asking for an incident report, and witness statements, about an incident concerning her son. If held in the format defined by the act, they have to supply it, along with any other electronic record mentioning the subject.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/technical_guidance_note_access_to_pupils_information_held_by_schools_in_england.pdf

milliebear00001

daily wrote: »

Read post 1, they were asking for an incident report, and witness statements, about an incident concerning her son. If held in the format defined by the act, they have to supply it, along with any other electronic record mentioning the subject.

This is misleading. Section 7 of the DPA has subsections exempting the data controller from providing copies of material concerning an individual (in this case, the OP's son) where the confidentiality of the source of that material may be compromised. In effect, this means, that unless all the witnesses who made statements, give their consent to their written statements being given over to the OP, and nothing in those statements could identify another third party, the Data Controller (Headteacher) is under no legal obligation to do so. S/he has a duty of care to protect the confidentiality of the witnesses who gave statements.

daily_2

The incident report has already been shown to the son, and now the headteacher is hiding behind dpa and refusing to supply a copy.

Section 7(4) of the Act provides that if you cannot comply with the request without disclosing information relating to another individual who can be identified from that information, then you do not have to comply with the request unless:

• the third party has consented to the disclosure;

or

• it is reasonable in all the circumstances to comply with the request without the consent of the third party individual.

As your obligation is to provide information rather than documents, you may delete names or edit documents if the third party information does not form part of the requested information.

You are obliged to communicate as much of the information requested as you can without disclosing the identity of the third party individual. So, disclosing the information with any third party information edited or deleted may be the best way to meet this request if you cannot disclose all the information.

---

I would have dropped the whole thing long ago, but I do believe the pupil/parent has a right to have a copy of the incident report at the very least, especially if the teacher has omitted the crucial information relating to the broom.