A MOTHER says she feels “intimidated” by a school after a teacher became the butt of her daughter’s humour.
Five-year-old reception pupil Annalise Terumalai, told her mother, Priscilla, she giggled upon hearing her teacher was called Miss Butt.
Mrs Terumalai later met Miss Butt at a parents’ council meeting at Mayville School, Leytonstone.
She told the teacher the story and said she dismissed it and did not seem bothered.
But within days the mother-of-two was summoned to a meeting with the head of year, the school manager, a teacher assistant and another reception teacher.
She said: “When I received a call from the school, I was appalled at how pathetic and petty it was.
“I wasn’t making fun of her name at all. I wasn’t happy about being reported.”
Mrs Terumalai, who is also mother to Destiny, 11, was so nervous about the meeting she had to bring her boyfriend along for moral support.
She now wants Annalise to be moved to a different class as a result of the tension – but requests have fallen on deaf ears.
She said: “I felt intimidated in the meeting and they made me feel like I was in the wrong.
“The school over reacted and it made me feel really angry and it is not good enough.
“I felt I was treated unfairly because I am putting my trust in the teacher and I am not comfortable with my daughter being in her class now.
“Annalise is too young to notice if she is being treated differently and I am disappointed about the disruption to her learning.”
The drama means she is now considering moving her daughter to a different school.
She says to add insult to injury, at the parents’ council meeting Miss Butt asked her if she was Indian – but says she was not offended by the remark.
Mrs Teruamalai, whose parents are from Mauritius, added: “I wasn’t offended by her comment at all and I didn’t blow it out of proportion like she did with what I said to her.
“How can she say to me she’s used to it and then go and complain behind my back?”
A spokesman for Mayville Primary School said: “We’re talking to the mum on a regular basis.
“Generally speaking we would only transfer a child from one class to another as a last resort as it can be incredibly unsettling and disruptive for the pupil, and their wellbeing is always our priority.”
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