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Daughter goes home alone twice!
Baz
June 3, 2013 19:59
Please tell me if you think I''m looking at this the wrong way.My AD is 6 years old, in Primary 1. Last Halloween I made arrangements to go to her school at lunchtime to get her ready for her party. 10 minutes before I was due at the school, she appears on my doorstop. Head teacher told everyone to have an early lunch and my then 5 year old decided to come home. She''d only been at school a few weeks, and thankfully we live next door. I was furious as no one thought to check if she was going home (she has never gone home for lunch).Anyway, fast forward to today and I arranged to collect her from school at the beginning of lunch for a hospital appointment. 15 mins before lunch, she appears on the doorstep again - they''d been given an early lunch, she''d got confused and thought I wasn''t coming for her and went home herself - the school had no idea.Our daughter knows that at the end of the day if I''m not there to collect her, she must go into the school. It''s never happened but we talk about it often. When she comes out she stops at the door and looks for me before going any further.Now bearing in mind that she never goes home at lunch, so this was a new situation for her, and that she has no concept of an "early lunch", I am right to be annoyed with the school? I took her back across as she had no jacket or bag and the staff gave her a row for leaving! She was terrified as she didn''t understand, and I was furious because surely the school are responsible for her until the time I agree to collect her? I know I''m ranting, but our daughter is so vulnerable and I hate the thought that no one looked out for her. Our son who has FAS starts in August and he''s escaped from nursery a few times though he''s been seen, it doesn''t bode well for them managing to keep him safe when he starts school.
freddie2
June 3, 2013 20:12
I have to say that I find that pretty shocking! The school owe your ad a duty of care during school hours and should be safe guarding her properly.At my ad's school, the teacher stands at the gate every afternoon and only releases a child when she sees a parent. During school hours they are monitored and would be missed if they left I am sure. The other morning my ad went into the classroom, but decided to come out a few minutes later to re find me as she finds separation hard. I had gone, but from a distance I saw her class teacher immediately come out and take her back into the classroom, as I would have expected.I know that mistakes do happen, but twice seems a lot. I would be speaking to the head personally as potentially it cuold be pretty dangerous.Good luck x
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Toast
June 3, 2013 20:17
You certainly do have reason to fume! And fume loudly! Would arrange to see the head teacher and explain what you expect in terms of safeguarding! They have a responsibility to ensure your daughters safety and you need to seek their reassurance in how they will ensure her safety. If you are not satisfied with their answer- escalate it big time! X
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sooz
June 3, 2013 20:19
scary!Pretty sure school are responsible for keeping your dd in school.I collected my ds 5 minutes early one afternoon as he had a hospital appt, he took off through the playground as usual with me following on, a teacher was out of the staff room in about 3 seconds flat when she saw him, but then spotted me trailing behind.Plus all doors and gates are monitored at break and lunchtimes.I'd say its not on!
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L and Ls Dad
June 3, 2013 20:26
Hi BazWhen you hand over your child to the school they take on what's called loco parentis. This means the teachers must take care of your child as any other reasonable parent would do. Therefore a reasonable parent would not allow their 5 year old child walk home on their own. Loco parentis is a legal responsibility and you have every right to be peeved. However all the teachers are aware of this responsibility so maybe talking to the school about your concerns is a good starting point.
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kstar
June 3, 2013 22:38
As a teacher I am appalled. I am even horrified by the early lunch bit, let alone the leaving school bit! We are not allowed to change lunchtime arrangements without informing all parents in writing. It happens once in a blue moon.As for leaving school that is truly horrendous. I teach secondary and we always have several staff on duty to stop students leaving. Even if they have an appointment, up to the age of 16, a parent or adult has to come into reception to.collect them.Insist on seeing the head and/or chair of governors. Mention safeguarding and ofsted, when paired together those words tend to have the desired effect.
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Baz
June 4, 2013 08:18
Thanks everyone, I'm glad I am right to be worried. I'm fuming to be honest.There was another incident a couple of weeks ago when I was running a couple of minutes late to get her as our son was having a meltdown. I phoned the school to explain and they said they'd tell her to walk home (as I can watch her out the window). I rush out to meet her and get half way down the drive when I meet her with another parent. The children had been let out on the "tidy up" bell 5 mins early and she'd waited at the gate for me. All the parents know she doesn't go home along so one of them brought her along the road. I phoned the school and they weren't bothered, just apologised for not passing on the message as she's already gone as they were allowed out early.grrrrr!
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bovary
June 4, 2013 18:37
I am horrified too, this is a serious safeguarding failure. Not to freak you out, but we had an incident in our local area just before half term where someone attempted to abduct a primary school child on her way to school with her mum and another sib in a buggy - child had fallen behind as they cut across the local churchyard and the guy just made a grab for her. Living next door is no excuse - who knows who she might meet outside the gates, what might make her dart across the road etc. Utterly indefensible.I would make a huge fuss about this, and involve school governors and above if necessary - they cannot be allowed to do this again. Your child is 6, that is so young, she cannot be expected to take responsibility for this. And as for looking out of the window, I am sure they would have a birds eye view if she happened to get run over or abducted!
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Baz
June 4, 2013 19:20
Well I went in to see the head today, she knew why I was there before I'd even said a word as the staff had informed her. I did suspect they wouldn't tell her. Apparently 2 other parents complained too, as their children arrived home early for lunch. She was apologetic and said they need to look at their systems. She wouldn't go as far as making sure every young child was collected by an adult so not happy about that. There's only 40 pupils in the school, it shouldn't be that hard to keep track of them! I was a bit fobbed off, but I do generally have a very close relationship with the school and the fact that I even raised a concern I think showed them the seriousness of it. The school is being inspected next week, and I'm one of the parents they are interviewing so at least I can raise my concerns at a higher level. Thanks for your support, I'll be monitoring thing very closely in future! They have said they will be alarming doors and making them child proof before DS starts, so we'll see......
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bovary
June 4, 2013 20:44
Baz you MUST take it further. It sounds like you live somewhere rural, but that doesn't make a difference, the Head MUST safeguard those pupils, if she doesn't she is negligent. It's not good enough to say she won't make sure every child is collected by an adult. In DS's infant school (which has 9 classes of 30 children) no child is allowed to leave the line-up at hometime until the teacher has spotted the parent - if I need someone else to pick up DS, I have to write the teacher a letter. When I pick DS up, he is hopping up and down saying 'I can see my mummy!', but until she's heard him and seen me, he can't move from her side. Why is is so hard for the teacher to stand at the gate and hand over each child - there are only 40 of them after all?
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phoebe67
June 5, 2013 21:49
Baz,Please do give a balanced view to OFSTED, saying what you do like and what works well at the school, but you ABSOLUTELY MUST raise this safeguarding issue with them. This is not a Y6 child for goodness sake! If you decided not to bother dropping off and collecting a 5yo, SS would knock your door down - quite rightly!It's vital that you also put a written statement to the head, expressing your concern that she still has not grasped the gravity of this situation. Copy the chair of governors in to the letter. Ask for a response in 28 days. State that you expect things to change - staff on duty at end of every session, no child to leave unaccompanied without parents permission in advance.It's normal for primary to request permission for children to walk home at start of academic year- otherwise they should be kept in. What if you were held up in traffic and she was on the street for half an hour?If you're not satisfied with the response, you can involve LA but ultimately, vote with your feet. I had to move my children after the same thing happened but they were missing for 2 and a half hours on a Friday night! The head then refused to meet me to discuss it!Phoebe x
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Baz
June 7, 2013 23:06
Well I met with the head again yesterday and I think we've moved things on a bit. We were meeting to discuss arrangements for our son so the issue of security came up. She has agreed that primary one children will be collected from the school door in future rather than the gate. The school have got a brilliant understanding of our sons needs so accept that this cannot happen again as the potential for our son to come to serious harm is huge. We are in Scotland and don't have Ofsted or school governors however the person I'm meeting next week is the right person to speak too. I've had contact with him recently on a different matter so know he can get things done!many thanks for all your advice
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DCO
June 11, 2013 20:50
I work p/t in an infant school and I just can't imagine that scenario happening, honestly.No child is allowed leave the premises during the day unless its with their parent. We don't even let them go with another parent at the end of the day, unless we have been notified. Its just like Bovary describes.We have over 200 pupils, from nursery to Y2 so why your head finds it so hard with only 40 pupils is shocking.If you have the opporunity to speak to OFSTED then PLEASE bring it up as they are failing in their duty of care.
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FIM
June 29, 2013 22:33
Have you tried to find safeguarding/child protection policies? They might be different where you live, but some education authority or local council should have a written policy which might give guidelines. I'd also look at national guidance on child safety and see if there's any written information. This is because you could be seen as one over anxious parent, whereas with written guidance from professionals it's not merely your opinion - even though we both know you're right to be worried.
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