Please listen to both sides of the story before believing just one…

“Are you sure? That’s not what he said to me. He would never do that. I have never seen him do that before…. Hmmm…”

getting the full story as told from the perspective of the teacher AND student is important. don't assume that the teacher, who is usually very busy, knows the entirety of what happened.

Some adults are too. I am an educator and mother and I will listen to both sides. Children have their perspectives too. I’ll take a meeting with my child and teacher if I need to do we can all talk together. The agony is NOT always right. We are humans. I’ve had to apologize to students before for getting frustrated or raising my voice.

Ok but teachers should not call home til you have video, witness statements or a confession. Period. If FBI level interrogation skills are not in your toolbox, you better find some.

Some context to event: Y6 child in middle of lesson: I left my coat outside, can I go get it now? Teacher: No, you'll have to wait until home time now, as there's no adult to make sure you're safe. Y6: 5 mins later, disappears from class. Returns 10 mins later with said coat. Teacher: school policy - that's a yellow card for leaving class without permission. Phone call home: recount of events. Y6 to parent: Teacher said I could. Parent calls to complain: Y6 said he had permission.

I don’t believe in lies per se but I will entertain perspectives and misunderstandings appropriately

There are definitly plenty of cases where you should indeed believe the child over the teacher, so it is good you provided context, and it was clearly something very small and not serious at all. Children lie about the small stuff all the time, but in the serious cases I would be more inclined to listen closely to the childs perspective.

This is true. I know from personal experience with some relatives. They thought they were slick lol