At an employment tribunal, Ms Subrian argued the comment “had been made in jest” while she was teaching a small class of Year 6 pupils to help them prepare for their maths SAT exam, according to the Times.
But, a letter of dismissal sent later that month said that while the comment may have been intended as a joke because the pupil did not have English as a first language he “could not be expected to understand”.
Ms Subrian, who had been at the school for four years, was asked to meet the head of school the next day and learnt there would be an investigation into the case.
A teacher at a primary school in London was fired after a pupil did not understand a joke about “whacking” him round the head, reports say.
“A teacher may get away with a comment in these circumstances if all children receive it as a light-hearted comment and laugh along.
