A Teaching Assistant has been suspended for mocking crying four-year-old pupil on Facebook.
A teaching assistant has been suspended after posting a message on Facebook mocking a four-year-old girl for crying in class.
Faye McDonnell became very upset and burst into tears when she was given the standard punishment for misbehaviour by Yasmine Judge, 20, of having to sit under the 'thinking' tree in the classroom.
The little girl suffers from a medical condition that means she goes red and breathes heavily when upset or flustered.
Parents were horrified when they later saw a message on Miss Judge's social networking site, which allegedly read: 'How funny it was that Faye was crying under the thinking tree, it was nuff funny lol lol lol.'
Complaints were made to the headteacher at Lowerhouses Church of England Junior and Infant School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and Miss Judge was suspended pending disciplinary action.
But mother Louise McDonnell has collected 60 signatures on a petition to demand the teaching assistant is not allowed back.
Miss McDonnell, 24, said headteacher Paul Scrimshaw apologised to her and said he didn't approve of the assistant's behaviour.
She said: 'I couldn't believe what I was hearing when I was told about it, how could a teaching assistant and someone Faye looks up to mock her like that?
'Faye absolutely loves school and she didn't want to go in the next day because of what had happened. I was disappointed that the school didn't come to me first.
'Instead I was handed a slip of paper saying that the school apologised about the comments and they didn't approve of what had been said.'
Miss McDonnell, a jobless single mother, said her daughter was recently diagnosed with laryngitis and the school was aware of her condition which effects her breathing in certain situations.
Commenting on the 'punishment' incident in February, she said: 'If the children do something wrong they have to go and sit under the thinking tree, a paper tree on the wall.
They have to think about what they did wrong. It's supposed to be a positive thing rather than just telling the child off.
'Miss Judge sent Faye to sit under the tree. Faye says she didn't do anything wrong but Miss Judge didn't allow her to explain herself. She had to stand there for three or four minutes.'
She added: 'The school told me that Miss Judge was going to be coming back to the school, but probably teaching in the older year groups, and I do not think this is right.
'If she has mocked a small child, what will stop her from doing the same to an older child?
'I decided to take matters into my own hands and start a petition, because every time I asked the school what was happening, they simply told me it was out of their hands.
'All the parents at the school seem to be behind me and don't want Miss Judge to return to the school where their children are taught.
'I just don't want this to happen to any other child, school is meant to be a place where children can feel safe and happy, and I want to be reassured that it will remain that way.'
A spokesman for Kirklees Council said: 'A disciplinary process involving a teaching assistant is ongoing and we are unable to comment about this individual case.
'However, the school and the council are working together to resolve this issue.'
