broken window and school insurance

born2bamug

After abit of advice/info please.

Boy has broken a window at school caused by throwing stones at a wall and one missed breaking the window. After a meeting with the head of year the head agreed that it was an accident albeit caused by stupidity. The boy was punished by seclusion for the afternoon which entailed him being alone in a classroom with one teacher and doing his lessons alone away from other members of the class, he was also told that an invoice would be sent home for a £150 for the replacement window.:eek:

I thought that the school would have had insurance for accidents.

I agree that if this had been done on purpose or in retaliation for anything then yes we should accept the bill but has the head has agreed it was an accident and the child already punished this does seem abit extreme.

74jax

Is the £150 the excess?

pug_in_a_bed

almost certainly the excess, we do the same in work with any incidents of this kind of nature

McKneff

The insurance excess will probably be a lot more than £150 to be honest.

£150 though, how big was the chuffing window. Seems an awful lot of money to replace one window.

WestonDave

The school would have insurance but that would have an excess which would leave the school out of pocket, and the insurer would look to recover its costs if there was a party who was either deliberately or negligently responsible for causing the damage. You have effectively stated that the boy was negligently responsible so should expect to be held responsible for the costs arising. How the £150 fits into that is only something the school can answer, but a decent sized window in toughened glass won't come cheap (and also suggests the stone was thrown pretty hard!). How appropriate this is in a school context is also open to some question but someone has had to waste time arranging a replacement so punishment and recompense might not be so harsh!

LondonDiva

Is the alternative that the school (and other children) do without because of budget cuts?

I would cough up sharpish and start deducting from your son's pocket money - actions have consequences and thrwning stones 'at a wall' where there was a remote chance of 'the stone slipping and accidentally hitting a window', smacks of a child who needs to have the lesson underlined.

Bottom line is that the school and tax payer should not be out of pocket because of your son's 'stupidity' and that you should take responsibility, no matter how unpleasant for the consequences of his behaviour.

If the child is aware that his family / child are not able to do some activities over the summer because of this you are less likely to have a repeat, or escalation, of this type of behaviour.

sassyblue

You want to get out of paying for a problem your son caused? Paying the £150 is your way of apologising for your sons behaviour, I'd be mortified if it were my child. He wasn't just throwing stones at a wall he was throwing stones near a window, big difference.

Pay it and make sure in the 6 week school hols he does his bit to 'repay' you! Then he won't forget to be stupid again, im not expecting your son to be hung, drawn and quarted but one afternoons seclusion is not punishment. :rotfl:

JodyBPM

Who do you think is responsible for the window being broken, and therefore should foot the cost of the repair?

If your neighbours' son had "accidentally" thrown a stone through your window, would you be happy to claim on your insurance and pay a £150+ excess and raised premiums in the future? Or would you expect your neighbours to pay?

Why should the school be out of pocket in any way whatsoever for your sons' misbehaviour/carelessness/stupidity/poor aim?

born2bamug

74jax wrote: »

Is the £150 the excess?

No this is not the excess this is the total cost for the replacement window.

pug_in_a_bed

If its anything like our excess for building damage which is around £250 then I would say pay the £150 otherwise they may claim through their insurance who may look to recover the full cost plus excess through you.

Caroline_a

Whatever the reason for the cost, I would strongly suggest that you stop your child from throwing stones. A boy died in my primary school after being hit by a (small) stone that was thrown by another child. Not a nice thing to have hanging over a child's conscience - for life..

Edit - it might be an accident that the stone hit the window, but it certainly wasn't an accident that your son threw the stone.