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Hi Rosie,

The ofsted website says they inspect schools and further education establishments - so I would have thought that would include colleges. So yes report it to ofsted and anyone else who will listen! Good luck for today - will be thinking of you.

best wishes xx

Hi,

Will speak to Ofsted later.

The solicitor is due to call me within the next half an hour.

Will update after the meeting today.

Thank you xx

Leaving now to go to the meeting!

I could cry right now. Why can't the college understand that this is a safeguarding issue and that it's serious! Why won't they tell me the information and exactly what has gone on so I can do my best to try to keep my daughter and myself safe!

We had the meeting, it was with the deputy principal, the SENCO and my daughter's college tutor. Both the head of safeguarding and the principal couldn't attend as they we're "unavailable" (that's all they said about why they couldn't attend). Asked them all the questions I asked in my emails and they just keep on saying they couldn't give me the information yet as they need to "look into this further and finalize the details"! How do they need to "finalize" details to tell me what information was disclosed to birth family. They also kept on responding with "we don't have this right now but rest assured we have this in hand and will provide this information as soon as possible". They kept on trying to tell me "there is no need to panic or worry, we have this under control and fully believe there is no (safeguarding) risk to yourselves". When questioned further they said they believe there's no risk as birth mum has told them she will delete the emails and not act on the information. Surely they can't just take birth mum's word for this? I did ask how they got birth families details and they said "well we need to look into this further, we can discuss this once we have looked into it". Before the meeting I went through the safeguarding and child at risk policy and highlighted every part of it that they haven't followed, when I showed this to them their response was that the policy was an "outdated" version and has since been "modified significantly", the deputy principal only emailed the policy on Tuesday! And on the front of the policy it says it was written this September and not due for review until July 2021! They also refused to tell how long ago they contacted birth mum and said it was "confidential information that needs to be handled sensitively"! They then insisted that they had to end the meeting as they had to go to another meeting and the tutor had a class in 10 minutes! They have said they will arrange the next exclusion meeting within 14 days and after the exclusion meeting they will arrange another meeting to discuss this safeguarding/data breach matter! I told them I don't want the exclusion meeting until they give me full information about this safeguarding/data breach incident and their response was "unfortunately you don't have a say in this matter"! The college don't answer any of my questions properly!

I just don't know where to go from here as the college won't give me any information and won't deal with this. Where do I go from here with this?

Sorry if any of this comes across as rude,I'm stressed and upset because they are not giving me the information I need to make sure my daughter and myself are safe.

Rosie I am so sorry that you are having to deal with all of this. Contact IOC tomorrow and tell them that the college are refusing to release the information that you need - insist that someone contacts the college asap and get the name of the person you speak to - then keep hounding them to death for updates. Contact the police again and tell them you want to report a criminal offence and insist that they investigate it as a matter of urgency as the safety of your family is at stake. I am sure that the solicitor will have told you that you have grounds for a civil action and I would consider instructing him - he will send a letter before action which will give the college the necessary "boot up the backside" that they clearly need and he may be able to apply for an emergency court order to obtain the all of the documentation that they have as your safety is at stake. Don't forget that in civil cases it is the loser who pays all the costs (theirs and the other sides) so you should be able to get your money back. I would also get in touch with your MP and get him to contact the college - it is amazing how the are able to "rattle cages" and get things done. But I think that issuing legal proceedings is the only way the college will take this matter seriously.

best wishes xx

I’m so sorry Rosie, this is outrageous

I would go straight to the governors now. As the police are taking it seriously I’d ask the them to pay them a visit.

I work in DFE, I’m looking to see if there any channels I can suggest

But honestly I really would make a complaint to the police about the college - they are now endangering your daughter.

windfalls- I will contact the ICO first thing tomorrow morning and ask them to contact the college as a matter of urgency. Will contact the police again either tonight or tomorrow morning and ask if they can investigate it as a criminal offence. Yes my solicitor did tell me I have grounds for a civil action and I will consider instructing him. I will contact my MP as well. In the meeting when I told the college I would consider reporting the matter there response was "good luck finding someone that we are accountable to" in a smug sort of way, it's like they think if they drag it out then I will go away and stop pursuing it.

Serrakunda27 - in the meeting I mentioned about going to the governors and was told "there is no further escalation procedure to take this matter further". On the website it says if you want to contact the governors then you need to do it through the reception number, but the SENCO and the deputy principal have told the reception to just pass on my calls on to either of them! So they are making it impossible to contact the governors to escalate this! I will make a complaint to the police about the college.

What do I do if the college insist on the next exclusion meeting being before this safeguarding incident is dealt with?

I've asked my daughter again if she's sure she hasn't got any contract details for birth family and hasn't tried to find them and hasn't asked anyone to track them down for her. Previously she insisted she hasn't but now she's just saying it "doesn't matter".

Poor you! This is just appalling! My guess is they understand very well, but are trying to wear you down. Did you manage to speak to the solicitor before going into the meeting?

I would call ICO and ask how to enforce the regulations. There is no point to these rules, if there is no way to enforce them.

Can you get the police to get the answers you want? How is the police supposed to assess the risk, if they don't know what information has been passed on? Once the police has this information, they should tell you. I my (very limited) experience, the police can be extremely helpful in these matters.

Contact your local authority and make them aware of the safe guarding issue, severe data breach and the college's refusal to cooperate with you. Ask them to interfere and to make sure the college acts lawfully. Try to communicate in writing with them as much as possible. They might side with the college though, even if you are in the right (I have experienced this once).

Check for the complaint procedures of the school and make official complaints about the SENCO, Vice principal, principal, head of safeguarding and anyone else involved to the governing body. List everything that has happened and what you expect to happen with deadlines.

For any further meetings, take a witness with you and ask for the meeting to be recorded.

Contact your MP and the DoE. Copy each relevant rule and regulation and then very briefly state how they have been breached and ask for their support.

Did anyone take minutes at today's meeting? If yes, ask for them. If no, write minutes and ask them to make changes by Monday, otherwise you will take the minutes as accepted as is. Ask for the updated safeguarding guidelines to be send to you by tomorrow.

Hi chestnuttree,

I did manage to speak to the solicitor before the meeting, he did say I have grounds for a civil action and I will consider instructing him.

I am going to contact the ICO again first thing tomorrow and ask if they can contact the college.

I am going to speak to the police again and will certainly ask if they can get the information from the college.

Will contact the local authority and make them aware of the safe guarding issue, severe data breach and the college's refusal to cooperate with me.

They've made it impossible for me to get in touch with the governors. On the website it says if you want to contact the governors then you need to do it through the reception number, but the SENCO and the deputy principal have told the reception to just pass on my calls on to either of them! So they are making it impossible to contact the governors to escalate this! If I could get in touch with then I would make official complaints about the SENCO, Vice principal, principal, head of safeguarding.

I absolutely will take a witness to future meetings.

I will contact my MP.

They claimed they couldn't have anyone else in the room to take minutes due to "social distancing requirements".

I did ask for the updated safeguarding policy to be printed and given to me there and then however they claimed they couldn't do that do to a "technical issue" and they will provide me with the updated policy as soon as their "server issue has been rectified".

If you on to the college website you should be able to find the names of the governors with enough info about them to contact them directly

If you private message me the name of the college I’ll see what I can find out for you

Hi Serrakunda27,

On the college website it just has the names of the governors and says to contact them via the reception phone number.

How do I private message you?

It is absolutely outrageous that they invite you to a meeting but have none of the information necessary for that meeting - most of which is easy to access - and are still not prepared to acknowledge their mistakes or apologise or provide answers to your questions - bland assurances are not enough. I agree they are trying to bully / intimidate you and hoping you will just go away. I don’t have any advice to add to the above - you have enough to be getting on with - I’m also surprised as someone else pointed out AUK have not encouraged you to contact them. Best of luck with everything - and remember to look after yourself in all this

If you click on the orange box next to my user name you can start a chat with me

Safia- to be fair to them I did ask them for the meeting. They wanted me to just accept what was said on the emails from the SENCO and then leave it and not pursue it further or ask for any further information.

Serrakunda27- sent you a message.

My daughter has asked me if she can write me a "note" because she has something I "need to know" about this, she's written it and left it on the table but is asking me not to read it until she's gone to bed so I will read it later.

?

I think by this point it doesn't really matter what is in the note. This is not your daughter's fault and I am sorry that she might feel guilty. The college's behaviour is unacceptable and I am glad you are so determined and are taking this further. This is no way of treating a parent, never mind a parent of a vulnerable child with a safety risk.

The college agreed to the meeting and should have been prepared. This is their mess and it is not your or your daughter's fault. Don't let them get to you.

chestnuttree- I've read the note now but I'm not going to blame her, I think the bigger issue is how the college have treated us and dealt with this.

The note basically said that another teenager had offered to try and "find" her birth mum for her, my daughter had told them not to but as my daughter had spoke to the other teenager before (used to be friends but not recently!) they already had enough information to try and find them! My daughter insists that she doesn't know any contact details for birth family and that she has never tried to find them herself and insists she never gave any contact details to the college as she didn't know them herself.

Surely if the college accepted the contact details from the other teenager then that's a major issue as surely the college should have told me?!

Could the other teenager have given the contact details to the college? if so then that's surely another thing the college have done wrong by accepting contact details from another teenager?!

I know children in care whose names were googled by other teenagers. So I don't think it is uncommon for teenagers to play detective. However, even if your daughter has shared private information with her friends, how would the college get this information? And even if the friends had passed the information on to the college (why would they?), it should never have made it into the files, unless they forged your signature. Again, why would they? If the college accepted birth mum's data (there is another breach of data protection here, birth mum's data should be protected too) from anyone else but you without checking with you, then they mishandled the situation.

If the new safeguarding guideline (if there is such a thing) is not available and not published, then surely it is not in force.

The teenager in particular, my daughter was friends with but they fell out a few months ago.

That's what I still don't know, how the college got contact details for birth family? And whether the teenager did actually manage to find contact details for my daughter's birth family or not in the end?

It is ridiculous that you have to sit at home and wonder about this stuff. The college needs to tell you exactly what happened.