not sure how to approach.....

[KaicosMummy]

.....This in the morning. It has been bugging me all evening.
I will try and keep it short and sweet. Went to collect a mindee from school today, aged seven. Teacher asked if she could have a word, took me to one side and said very sternly 'could you please tell child A's mum I would like to have a word with her about marks on childs face', I replied with something along the lines of the fact I hadnt seen the child in over a week but I would pass the message on, gave her a smile and then.......child walks out :-0 he had a large red circular scab on his cheek and what looked like the remains of several older scabs on his forehead and in his hairline. He did look pretty horrific, I asked the teacher (out of his earshot) if she had asked what happened, she said she had and he had replied 'dunno'. She then threw me a 'knowing' look :-/ walking home I asked if he knew what had happened and he said nothing, I bent down closer and we stopped so I could tale a proper look and could see straight away this was no flipping suspicious injury, the teacher had missed he was riddled in impetigo. Now I know that not everybody knows particularly what to look out for but being that he had been in school today a number of teachers must have noticed. I called mum as soon as I got him home and asked if she had taken him doctors, she said she had been chemist and he was given cream for ringworm. I said I wasnt happy to have him and she came to collect, took him docs and its impetigo, she called me later and was upset as child A has said his teacher repeatedly said things today like 'how did you do that', 'did your brother do it', 'did it hurt', 'you know its important you tell me how this happened'. So basically his teacher just assumed it was injury related, felt the need to impress on me how very gravely important it was that she wants to speak to mum, but never actually just flipping called mum to ask what it was?!
So the thing thats bugging me now is why did this teacher release the child into my care if she thought he had come to some harm at home and was hiding the whereabouts of how he got this injury from her? Why did she just jump to the conclusion it was an injury and not a skin condition, as once I looked at it properly was clear to see? Why did she not call mum to ask what happened (please dont say because sometimes they leave the parents out of the loop if they are suspicious of wrongdoing, because if thats the case why was he released into my care?), and why the hell did she question him so much?
In the morning I just want to let the teacher know, gently and reasonably, that after him being at school all day it should not have been down to me to sort out, also she has risked myself and four other children now catching it. We were all very careful with hand washing etc so doubtful we will, but she is not to know that.
And.........did not keep that short at all! Am I being unreasonable or overreacting?
Should I keep my nose out or not?!

[KaicosMummy]

Reading that back I think I need to impress that the thing that is annoying me most is the assumption that because this child and siblings are from a slightly deprived background that this was something other than a skin condition. Thats the main thing I think.....

[FloraDora]

Normal school proceedure would be that the school first aider would look at the child and hopefully have the knowledge that it was some sort of skin infection, phone mum to clarify and take it from there

Or

Teacher has a suspicion that child has been hurt under suspicious circumstances because he wont talk about it, passes it over to school child protection officer .....who makes a decision on what to do ... Not teacher ask childminder !

Personally, I would talk to mum and leave it up to her to question the school on their proceedures.

If you feel you need to talk to the school, a quiet word with the HT or deputy - they may not know anything about this child and the teacher has taken it upon herself to question the child ( not good practice!) and ask you to pass on information, implying that the family are somehow neglectful - the leadership team need to know that she is not following school proceedure. If you talk to her then she will probably not pass on to leadership your concerns, because they are about her!

[KaicosMummy]

Thank you for your reply, you have made a good point about the fact it is a good idea for me to speak to somebody above the teacher. Now you have mentioned it the mind does boggle as to why she didnt send him to a first aider/school nurse, as I know they have a very good one as two of my children attend the school and are always in her office, clumsy boys! I think it has hit a slight nerve as my own children also attend and I would like to think that they had more robust procedures in place. I think I will speak to mum in the morning and see how she wants to do it, she doesnt really like confronting situations like this as she panics that the school are always questioning her on things and that the look down on her. But I think its important for her that she lets them know she is disappointed in how it was dealt with, and that if they really need to speak to mum they just call her, not pass messages through me, which they happen to do nearly on a daily basis. Thank you for reassuring me I hadnt gone a little over the top, I seethed for the poor boy all evening, he must have felt quite pressurised to give an answer to questions when he genuinely couldnt.

[dawn100]

I would go speak to the head, if that's how she handles a case where she suspicious imagine what could happen in the future if a child really is being abused and she miss handles it. I wouldn't necessarily expect a teacher to recognis impetigo, my son had it a few years ago but my mum who has worked in a school for over 20 years didn't know what it looked like. Not sure I would really involve mum much in it but more in questioning what their procedure is when they suspect abuse and how unprofessional it is to expect you to pass on a message questioning how the marks happened.
I don't mean hide it from mum that you are talking to school but put more of the empasise on it being your professional relationship with the school rather than it being about her child.
In the past as a parent I've not said things or raised concerns because I don't like to make a fuss, but looking back I wished I had.

[sing-low]

As you are also a parent at the school, I think it's entirely appropriate for you to question whether the teacher was following school safeguarding procedures or not. And if not, why not? In terms of safeguarding, it's a serious issue that needs addressing before a child is put at risk.

[KaicosMummy]

Thank you for your advice, I went in this morning and expressed my concerns and it will be dealt with by the school now. So glad we have somewhere to come to get sound advice!!!