Tuesday 4 September 2012

The day the school lost my child ...

You think that school is the safest place for your child, it should be, shouldn't it after all they are there from 8.45 till 3.30 and often longer if they go to before and after school clubs. There is an incident that happened to me when my son was in Year 3 so he was just 7 years old.

He was meant to be going to an after school football club when my son came to get changed he asked his teacher where he should get changed. The teacher who was nearing retirement just said quite blankly to my son that the football wasn't on.

The teacher didn't even check to see if this club was on.

So my son like most seven year olds in this situation accepted what his teacher told them.

Now I had this point was at home unaware of the situation.

What transpired next was my son was thinking I would collect him. But I thought he would be at football club as they say "Never the twain shall meet"

My son came out of school and I was wasn't there to meet him.


Next thing I knew was I got a telephone call not from the school but from one of his friends grandma who had decided on seeing him alone to take him back to her house!

Now in retrospect I should have complained to the governors about the incident , how someone else was  able to take my child home.

The difference is at Junior school that no one is required to pick them up.

Nut surely there must be some sort of law on legislation on this ?

After all at Infant School they cannot go home unless a parent picks them up ..

What would you do if school lost your child ?

18 comments:

  1. This was exactly my concern at Primary but thankfully never happened to me.

    There was a child who did disappear for a while and after that mine were indoctrinated into going back into school if I didn't appear to pick them up, but it's hard in the heat of the moment for a child to know what to do.

    We've been in the same situation re clubs and eldest walked home a couple of times when nobody told us the club was cancelled. Horrible

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  2. I can't believe it I'm in shock

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  3. That's scary how easily that happened. Good of that grandma to help out, but she should have spoken to the school first. At our school year 5s and 6s can go home on their own, with a signed permission slip. Year 3 and 4s can go home with a sibling in yr 5 or 6, again with permission slip. Last year my younger son could go home with his big brother. Now eldest at secondary and younger son in y4, so he has to be picked up.

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  4. Scary huh. If school has finished ours aren't allowed to leave unless they see the parent (in Juniors) & if they were still waiting the teacher wouldn't go in. If I had been the grandma though, I'd have wanted school to ring you before I took someone else's kid home. Glad it all ended well- still scary though.

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  5. They don't release children to us any more at my son's school, so in theory this could happen. The children are supposed to go back to the teacher if someone isn't there to meet them. The teacher does check the playground to make sure everyone has gone, but a child could be round the corner or playing with someone else.

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  7. Wow how was that allowed to happen. As you know, we still have a 3 tier system here, so Lower school goes up to age 9. Certainly in year 2 (Ruby's year, she's 7) teacher's aren't allowed to release children unless it's to their designated adult.

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  8. My boys are only allowed to go home if collected from an after school club

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  9. Wow - scary indeed. We still have this worry with our second son who has Autism, he's at High School and it's still terrifying.

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  10. A very scary moment for you both.

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  11. i would of gone balistic, our kids are not allowed to walk home on their own in junior school so if im not there they dont get past the school gates as they are made to stand with the teacher until the teacher sees the adult whos picking them up and passes each and everyone to their own guardian

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  12. Wow that is madness, who knew it could be so easy and they are still so young at that age! x

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  13. This is terrifying. At 7 they're so little still - it doesn't seem right that they could be allowed out by themselves. Thank goodness for the granny's help.

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  14. What a scary situation - mine have a tendency to zoom off on scooters and i panic that I cannot see them, but they would never let them go with just anyone

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  15. We have a section on the after school club forms to fill in to say whether the child will be going home alone or being picked up.
    I'd be horrified if that happened to my child.

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  16. Oh goodness thats' really scary. Our school will only hand over a child to a parent or take them to after school club. That's really worrying that it happened to you, I would have been furious at the school...and that teacher.

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  17. That's terrible, gap in procedures there! Schools really wind me up sometimes (so much so that mine doesn't go!)

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  18. How terrible - what a scary time for the both of you. Kaz x

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