Teacher colleague pretended to kick me and it has brought back past trauma

DEAR DEIDRE: MY teacher colleague mimed kicking me on my bum when I was bent over helping a child.

He was giving a child instructions that weren’t clear and I could see the child was becoming upset.

I’m a teaching assistant. I stepped in to make the instructions clearer and gave away what the teacher was trying to do.

It wasn’t intentional but, as he was annoyed with me, he mimed kicking me.

I have previous trauma regarding violence with men which he is unaware of.

His behaviour made me feel uncomfortable and angry, firstly because he feels it’s OK to joke about things like this and secondly because he did it in front of the children.

I’m 34. My colleague’s 41.

I want to raise this with someone at school but worry I’m being too sensitive.

DEIDRE SAYS: On the contrary, his behaviour was inappropriate, and he set the children a bad example.

Talk to him about his actions and how it affected you and made him look unprofessional too.

If he apologises, you may decide not to pursue this but if he just laughs it off then talk to the headteacher.

My support pack Standing Up For Yourself will help.