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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
World
Paige Freshwater & Joel Moore

Mum left 'in tears' after teacher likens son's name to a dog's

A mum said she burst into tears after a school teacher mocked her son's name, saying it should be for a dog. The woman, who 'would do anything for her child', is currently in two minds about reporting the teacher to the school's headmaster, as she no longer wants her around her son, reports the Mirror.

The mum's sister was collecting the four-year-old from school while she attended a long-awaited dentist appointment - and this is when the teacher made her thoughts on the boy's name known. She claims to have overheard the entire conversation and relayed it to her sister when she dropped her nephew off at home. Speaking on Reddit, the boy's auntie said: "My sister is extremely family orientated and spent the entire summer getting her son ready for school.

"He was excited about going to school. He really enjoyed nursery and made a lot of friends, who he always speaks about and wants to hang out with after school." Like most parents, the mother-son duo made a special effort to prepare for his first year by picking out a lunch box and buying a school uniform.

Read more: Concern over new homes in Nottinghamshire village 'at breaking point'

"He really enjoyed his first week and made some new friends. He said he really liked his new teacher," the auntie added. But it was when the auntie was standing outside the school gates waiting to collect her nephew and her own two children, in years 3 and 6, when she overheard two teachers laughing in a classroom.

She added: "I am always waiting around for my year 6 to stop talking to her friends. Almost everybody from the playground had already gone home. Everybody was now with their parents and the teachers had gone back inside the classroom but they left the door and windows open and I could just about hear their conversation.

"I overheard them talking about the children in their classrooms and whether any of them are 'bad', and I overheard my nephew's teacher says 'no but one of mine has a dog's name'. The other teacher asked what it was and she said Benji - speaking about my nephew. I was in shock and disgusted! Thankfully, I don't think he was paying any attention and didn't hear them."

As soon as she arrived at her sister's house, she told her everything she overheard and shared her "disgust" about the entire situation. "I told her straight away and she burst out into tears. She is now thinking about going in and speaking to the head about it. But she is not at all confrontational so she is still in two minds about this. She is distraught. I feel so bad for her," she said.

Shocked by the situation, one Reddit user said: "I was expecting it to be Bentley or Bear or something - names I've heard and thought hmm that's a dog's name. But Benji is an amazing name and definitely doesn't remind me of a dog's name! I would be bringing it up to the principal or the teachers themselves, and say you overheard it. Not good enough."

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