well i am a little bit but still......this is not on surely?

[GiganGORE]

some of you will have seen me post recently that a young lad at DS school Died.

It was a truely tragic event and shocked us all.

Today is his funeral.

Ds came home last night and said that there was no school today due to the teacher wanting to attend the funeral.
fair do's.

BUT the only notice we have had of this is the message from DS. there was nothing in his home school book, no letter home, nothing in the weekly newsletter, no text from the mailing system.

Not a single thing.

Now thankfully i am working from home all but an hour or so this afternoon when he can go to my mum. but What if i had a normal job that involved me making proper childcare arrangements?

I totally understand that this is an incident that cannot be planned or forseen but to not even send a letter home yesterday? and to rely on a child with SN involving communication and language problems to relay the message?

Am i wrong to think this is a bit out of order?

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

you're right that is odd.
Can understand the school wanting to attend, but surely they don't want the mayhem of children turning up and being turned back
Are you sure your DS has got it right?

[flowerybeanbag]

I wouldn't assume he'd got it right tbh.

[winnybella]

Yeah, are you certain DS got it right? Seems very unlikely.

[GiganGORE]

Oh i didn't believe him.

I couldn't ring the school as he forgot to tell me until about 9pm.

I made him get up and ready for school and walked him round to his bus. ( he gets school transfer which arrives before 8:30 when the office opens)

the lady on the bus confirmed that he was indeed correct. school was closed due to the funeral.

[bluecardi]

can't the kids join another class for the day? or could the head teacher take over?

[bluecardi]

the whole school closed - gosh that's difficult for people. Do respect it's for a funeral.

[TrillianSlasher]

Closing school for the day shoud definitely come with better warning/notification than that, no matter why it's happening.

[flowerybeanbag]

In that case YANBU and that's pretty rubbish of the school.

[GiganGORE]

well thats my feeling trills.

I thought maybe i had missed something so i went a re read the last two weeks of newsletters. nothing.

I'm not entirely sure what to do. i don't want to make a complaint about it because of the reason for the closure. but ....well, its just plain bad management.
which is odd as the school is usually fantastic and has excellent communication normally

[JaxTellersOldLady]

this is odd. And I am not sure they can just do that... can they?

A letter home, a phone call or an email would let everyone know.

How did the rest of the school know? If my DC came home and told me that, I would have done exactly the same as you.

But I would contact the school and clarify that no letter had been sent out and that you understand why the school is closed, but in future they need to manage the situation better.

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

yes I think you need to separate the 2 issues. School closed for a child's funeral is completely fine, of course it is. School closed without notification (esp when it sounds as if there have been communications to parents in the meantime) is not OK.

[bluecardi]

Surely something like this would be a signed form for the parents to return.

[GiganGORE]

This is my point. funerals are desperately sad but they do take some planning. this isn't the sort of thing that they wouldn't have known about in advance. surely?

The school is ofsted Outstanding, and for good reason.

I just think that the tragedy of it all has left them a bit well, i dunno.

The head is off at another school this term until they find themselves a new head so maybe the deputy is struggling in the new role?

but surely the office staff would have noticed that no notifications were sent out?

I have decided i will send a note in with Ds tomorrow detailing my surprise at not being notified of the the closure and how disrupted he has been (he doesn't like breaks in routine)

glad im not an evil cow for thinking it wrong

[2shoeprintsintheblood]

that is odd.
as you know this happens a lot at dd's school(kids dieing) and not all the staff go just a few Representatives.

[Vallhalloween]

What Jax said.

The reason is perfectly understandable and may their god go with the lost lad and his family, but the lack of notification is dreadful and should be addressed.

The problem is that there are probably many parents like you, who are loathe to mention it because of the tragic reason for the school's closure, so they won't say a word...

Someone has to though, so I'd advise that you make it you.

[missnevermind]

Ds1 is at senior school. Last term the heads wife died unexpectedly and the school closed for the day as all the staff were attending the funeral.
We were informed by letter of her passing and prewarned that the school would be shutting, but that until closer to the date they could not tell us when. On the following Friday we were informed that it would be early the next week, and then on the Monday evening we recieved a text to say it would be the following day.
So that was a letter and 2 or 3 texts in the space of just over a week, very well organised and we were kept informed at all times.

[BatBrainsPumpkinHead]

Do they have a school website and did they put the information on there? when the schools were closed we had no phone calls, no information and were expected to know to check the website for information.

It is truely rubbish. i know in that situation ds is not likely to say anything - he doesnt say anything about out of school uniform day.

School should really notify school closures in a letter.

[cumbria81]

is this a high school?

in which case surely kids can take care of themselves for one day.

if primary - well, that's different.

[nymphadora]

Ime of pupils dying (SN) school Usually shut but parents were notified well in advance with a note to inform them of any problems with childcare. Some staff/supply would then cover a group.