Heavy Handed Teacher of Seven Year Olds.

Mmm I sense some resentment for being moved down from Year 6 and a lack of proper training and skills for coping with year 3. If I were your DD I would be asking about that as well as about that teacher in particular. If your DGS was looking forward to him he must have a good reputation in the school. It's very difficult to adjust downwards in expectations sometimes.

Oh! This teacher really needs to ‘go’
Please talk to Head - this could be happening to others too!

I agree with craftyone. Your granddaughter is protected in the future because he is scared of your daughter....but what about the others?

Shaming a child is not good practice.
I would certainly be having a word.The teacher is a bully.

That was uncalled for. Poor teaching by the sound of it. Children don't forget injustice. I was humiliated at the age of 5 by a teacher who held up my needlework to ridicule in front of the class.

Was it done aggressively or more like, “now that’s not the way we do it, so let’s start again with a new page shall we.”

When my DD was in Primary school she did tell me her teacher was picking on her, I knew her teacher and asked him about it. He told me she knew what he expected of the children, which is what she did. He knew she could do better. When I told my DD, a crafty smile appeared on her face - caught!!

In his second day of secondary school, literally the second day my very conscientious son forgot his homework. Mum and dad were going through a divorce at the time. The school tried to keep him for detention. I immediately went to see the headteacher with a governor of the school and told him in no uncertain terms this was completely out of order. I felt a lot better.

If I'd been your daughter I would have queried this incident with the teacher to get the other side of the story as it had distressed the child. Children do have their own take on things. If it then appears the teacher was being unnecessarily aggressive he would have realised you are aware. But it's best to work together for the welfare of the child.

Not writing but spelling! Having been bombed out again during the war I attended a different, much larger, school. During a vocal spelling test I was asked to spell 'sure'or 'shore'. It was not made clear which word I had to spell but I obviously chose the wrong one - even though I was correct. I received 6 strikes of a ruler across the back of my hand!! Bullying!!

I always found it worked better to keep the offending work to display to the parent, with comments; if it is such a heinous offence, (may well be) the teacher may be in a school where only positive comments are allowed, and certainly no comments in red ink: threatening.

My friend still blames the Reception teacher for her grandson's dyslexia because she wrote comments in his work book in red ink, twenty years ago.

Without being there when this happened it's difficult to say if the page was ripped aggressively or was part of this teachers behaviour strategy. Was your DGD upset because she realised she had made a mistake? The teacher might have said ( as I would have done ) ' Would you like to start again? and if she said yes I would have given her the option of me tearing out the page or just putting a line through it and starting a new page. If the teacher had 'ripped' out the page then she might have gone home and the 'ripping' word may have been misinterpreted. HOWEVER you mention that your DD is a governor at the school so might know the teacher and their approach to children. It is very early on in the term and I would expect all teachers to be very sympathetic to creating a positive learning environment I know that is what my DGS's school is doing. Just getting some in through the door I know has been tricky and my DGS had an extremely emotional first week. They also know that these little year3s aren't really year 3s apart from in age. They are actually still year2s both academically and probably emotionally. I have always said that children will not learn until they are happy, feel settled and their needs met. ( Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) I do hope that your DGD settles into her new class.

Maybe he could apologise?
It would mean a lot, and pupils can realise that teachers are human too.
It is not acceptable to tear out pages.

I’m with my husband (who lives in France) for a few weeks so in less regular contact with DD at present. It is very humbling to read so many thoughtful and insightful responses, for which I thank you. My daughter has been a governor at the school for a while and has a good relationship with the HT, so I expect she will have a confidential conversation with her about this at an appropriate time. Interestingly, the male teacher concerned had taught Y6 for many years and has just been moved to Y3. My DGS has just begun Y6 and was initially disappointed to be having a different teacher and envied his sister; now he’s quite relieved!

My DD came home from senior school on her first week saying she couldn't understand the maths homework. I wrote a note explaining this. Next lesson anyone without a note was shouted at and made to stand against a wall at the back of the class for the lesson. About half the class were stood there.
DD was terrified so I put in a long letter of complaint stating that public humiliation ceremonies had no place in today's classrooms. It never happened again and teacher left after 1 term.
But the damage was done and she struggled with maths after and needed private tutors to keep up.
This was in 2004 so not the 50s.
Put in a formal complaint as school phobia can be triggered by bullying teachers

Absolutely speak to the head teacher. This is so unacceptable. Could certainly affect the confidence etc in your grandchild. It’s bad on so many levels...

Ellianne

What children tell their parents about what goes on at school is nothing compared with what (little) children tell teachers goes on at home!!

I remember the talk a Head Teacher gave us parents at the beginning of a school term. She said, "Don't believe everything your daughter tells you as having happened to her at school, and we won't believe everything she tells us as having happened to her at home."

I think that Ashcombe should take a page of out this HT's book.

I think it depends how the teacher did it . Did he do it in an angry way? Or did he explain why he was removing the page in a kind way? There’s a big difference.

The teacher sounds horrible. I would mention it to the head of the school as this behaviour is not conducive to learning and just instills unnecessary fear.

See the Head. If you see the teacher it will all be justified and you are no further forward and he/she will do it again to another unsuspecting child. See the Head immediately or the mother or father maybe. Disgraceful. This sort of treatment one out 50 years ago when I was at school. We try to teach our children kindness . What kind of role model is this for them ?

Lucca We were still doing cartwheels in the playground at the age of 11 - times have changed and not always for the better! Children aren't allowed to be innocent children any more. Age 5-6 they shouldn't be aware of that yet. Very sad.

I've never forgotten my last year at primary school aged 10 having to stand by our desks and watch a row of children being caned in turn for some small misdemeaner in the playground earlier. Some were only 5 years old, and I remember hating him. I vowed I would say something to him if I ever met him when I grew up. Years later I was stood at a bus stop and he was there. He looked a sad old man and I decided not to be unkind to him as he had been to the children. These things you never forget.

Sadly your daughter will remember this for the rest of her life. Something similar happened to me and I have never forgotten. In English we had to write a letter and draw and write the envelope. I drew a pig on my stamp and the teacher thought I was being rude. She scribbled all over my hard work with a red pen. I had to do the complete letter and enVelope again. My new letter was writing to the headmaster complaining how teachers disregarded your hard work and scribbled all over it with red comments. Needless to say. She never did it a second time.

This behaviour is unacceptable, I hope by now you’ve gone and had a word with the head teacher .

Astonished to learn that Heads check teachers' pupils books, but whatever the reason, go to the Head. Whether it was motivated by fear of the Head or otherwise, it's still wrong.