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Hi Ascott I sympathise with you on this one as this happened to me last year. I'm glad your school is being supportive - mine was totally unsupportive, so I went to the police. Luckily there were several witnesses who saw the kids scratching my car - well, one kid was definitely seen, and the other was seen bent over the car. The first kid, a girl, said that the second kid had joined her in scratching the car, and one of the witnesses, an older child, said that the two children had boasted together about what they had done to my car. The boy's defence to the headteacher was that he had "pretended" to scratch the car so that he wouldn't look stupid in front of the girl... Anyway, the girl admitted to it straight away, and was horrified by what she had done. At first the boy's mother was so ashamed that she offered to pay for the full repair, but a little later she changed her tune when her delightful son cried a bucketload of tears and offered the above-mentioned excuse. The head offered no support, so I went to the police and lodged the incident. Once the girl's parents were told about this, they begged me to accept full payment for the repairs (I had obtained quotes by this time) so that their daughter would not have to be involved with the police. The girl was utterly contrite, and - this is important - had severe background issues which meant that "something had to give", which resulted in her attacking my car (ie me). I don't say this as an excuse for her behaviour, but in the utter understanding that she was troubled and misunderstood, for reasons I won't go into here. My dilemma was this - whether to accept the offer from the girl's parents so that a) I would be fully reimbursed and b) she would not be involved with the police, or to press ahead with getting both children charged by the police for criminal damage, possible court proceedings, and the risk of not getting any money at all in the end. This would have been due to a lack of evidence or because a magistrate or judge cannot force parents to pay for damage inflicted by their child (great justice system we have here - but I suppose you can look at it as the system recognising that CHILDREN ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS - hooray!). The police said that both children would have to be charged together - it would not have been possible to accept the girl's confession and then just to charge the boy. Ultimately I decided to get the police involved. One of the hardest things I've done in my life was telling the girl's parents that although I was grateful for their offer, and recognised that the girl was filled with remorse, I would still have to go to the police about both children because the boy was trying to evade justice. The police carried out restorative justice with the children and me. It was brilliant. I explained how the incident had made me feel (yes, children, teachers do have feelings) and the children said why they had done it. The girl didn't need the process, as she was so sorry and horrified already, but although he did not admit to it, and only "apologised" when pushed by his extremely embarrassed father, the boy ended up in tears - when he watched his father COUNTING OUT HALF THE COST OF THE REPAIRS IN TEN-POUND NOTES TAKEN STRAIGHT FROM THE KID'S SAVINGS ACCOUNT!! The girl's parents paid the other half of the repairs. Both kids had to sign a contract of behaviour, the terms of which I decided, and which was lodged with the police. So it was a happy ending. As a general point to note - everyone who commits a crime has one chance only at restorative justice - the police told me that it has a fairly high success rate as far as preventing reoffending goes. Although restorative justice is noted on the perpetrator's file, it does not form a criminal record, and in my opinion it can often be enough to wake a kid up and give him or her a second chance and move on without being tarred with the "criminal" brush. As it turns out, I was right about the girl - we now have a great relationship, and she has not been in any trouble (including general school trouble) since. As for the boy - oh so sweet and innocent - he was caught this year vandalising some school property and has since been excluded. Vindication! From my experience, I would say always go to the police. There is not reason why union insurance should pay out for the criminal damage of a student, and there is not reason why the victim of the crime should have to lose their no claims bonus on their car insurance. The child needs to pay for what they have done, and they need to realise the fact that they have committed a CRIME - just because they are a child does not mean that they can get away with criminal behaviour. Also, because in my case the story had flown round the school, the boy would have been insufferable and I would have looked very weak if I had not gone to the police and had let him get away with it.(And I know it sounds rather goody two-shoes, but I felt that I had a duty of care towards the children, and letting one take the flack for a joint effort on their parts would have sent out terrible messages). The day I walked down the school drive flanked by two police officers was the day the kids at the school learnt that this was one teacher you didn't mess with. I hope that the restorative justice process works in your case, and that you get the repair money from the kid's parents. And that the kid who did this takes this opportunity to learn that criminal behaviour has consequences. Good luck!
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