Where do we go from here?

[rebl]

Right from the word go 3 weeks ago we have had problems with our twins starting school (reception). 1st off reading words on flash cards on 3rd day.

Second week we had 2 major incidents regarding medicines. My dd's medicine was left on the side in the classroom and went home with the wrong child 1st day. The very next day again the wrong child got the medicine. Appropriate noises and actions were taken by the ht.

Third week we have had to deal with our ds leaving the school premises during the school day without being noticed for at least 10 mins. The school didn't inform us, I find out from my dd and spent most of tuesday evening fielding calls from concerned parents who heard from their 4yo dc's. My concerns were poo poo'd by the teacher. I went straight to get appointment with ht which is tomorrow. The gate in question that wasn't locked on Tuesday was left unlocked on Wednesday so I called ht at the federation school and she called me at lunchtime basically had the same conversation that we had the week before with the medicine. Basically "horrified" "will talk to staff" "won't ever happen again" "procedure wasn't followed".

After a lot of consideration we decided to still send dtwins to school but basically we have zero confidence in the school. And I'm not talking about education confidence here, I'm talking about keeping the children safe, pretty fundamental stuff.

DH and I can't come up with the answer to the question that is bound to be asked tomorrow of 'what do you want to happen?'. Short of saying no more major incidents I don't know what we can say. But I really don't know what will restore our confidence and trust. We are so stuck as what to do. Our heads are screaming at us to move the kids out of the school straight away but our gut instinct is that this is the right school for them. We've always gone with our gut instinct but its never been with what feels like gambling with our childrens safety.

[wisteriawoman]

Is it worth reporting these concerns to the county council?LEA. This is serious stuff.
Hope it gets resolved quickly and satisfactorily

[rebl]

teamEdward the flashcards are not visual in any respect. My ds is deaf and the teacher has been trained by the specialist teacher that all material for reading for ds should be visual. This has not been taken on board by the school. But tbh I don't know about the education aspect yet, its too early I think. But the safety aspects are something that I would never have in my wildest dreams have thought would happen.

[rebl]

No, he's not a "runner". He found the gate open and was wanting to see the school bus and watch the cars and lorries on the road (he is obsessed with cars and lorries and pretty much any vehicle). He's 4. Plus, what about weirdos getting in? I mean, I know that there aren't high chances of weirdos even going to this school but if god forbid they did they could walk right in totally unchallenged.

[Niecie]

Far be it for me to tell you which bit is screaming loudest but it seems to me that your gut instinct is to take the children out of the school and your head is saying, you can't do that because it is a good school.

Problem is it doesn't sound like a good school, or rather it might be a good school educationally but it is badly disorganised and is putting the children at risk. The medicine you could just about put down to an unfortunate mistake but the gates should not have been left unlocked a second day. I can imagine the head of my DCs' school going to do it herself if it wasn't being done by anybody else. She wouldn't have allowed it to happen again. I wonder about the HT's authority if people are not doing what is asked of them even though they know a child was put at risk. Suggests to me they don't care.

I don't know how you can get the trust back though. Short of nothing happening for the next 3 or 7 years there isn't anything the school can do really. And whilst you are waiting to see if the school breach your trust again you are on tenterhooks about whether your children will be in danger.

I think the only thing you can do tomorrow is see what they have to say for themselves. It isn't enough for them to say sorry, they have to demonstrate ways in which they will ensure it won't happen again.

Actually I think I would be writing to the with the governors. They have an obligation to make sure the head is doing her job and they need to know if the school is not being run properly. Safeguarding is a major issues in schools at the moment and if they are failing in this Ofsted would want to know too.

[admission]

These are two major safeguarding issues and would if Ofsted came calling probably result in the school being put into a category (notice to improve or special measures)

I think that you have to put this in writing as a formal complaint to the headteacher and ask specifically how the school is going to improve their safeguarding such that it is not going to happen again. I would suspect that the head is hoping that you do not make a formal complaint, but you need to. There is a basic lack of appropriate standards in place probably because of a lack of training.

By making a formal complaint the ehad has to investigate and reply. If you are not happy with what is said, then you can escalate it to the Chair of Governors, but any half decent head is going to realise that this is something that needs sorting. I note that you say about the federation head, which implies that they are not on site and that I ssuspect is the bottom line here, there is not sufficient supervision and management.

[rebl]

Thank you. We are going to write to the head. Today in the meeting we're going to ask for a full investigation and one of the things we think is lacking is that staff knowing school policies. Therefore we are going to ask for all staff to be refreshed on the school policies and procedures. These incidents have happened due to a lack of knowledge of the procedures. The handling of the incidents have been incorrect and poor because of the lack of knowledge of the procedures. Staff clearly don't know what is meant to be done and noone takes responsibility or has been given responsibility for ensuring the gate is locked, medicines are stored correctly or given at the correct time. What other major policies and procedures aren't being properly adhered to because of a lack of knowledge by the staff?

Whether these things are enough for us to gain confidence in the school we are not sure but I guess they're a good start.

[LIZS]

I would focus on the complaint direclty affecting the health and safety of your dc. Avoid any emotive, speculative stuff such as random intruders, the gates should keep children secure and are either locked or unlocked (with dc knowing the rules and being supervised). Most early years classes have a dedicated area of playground more secure than other age groups for exactly this reason. The flash cards are an annnoying oversight but that is more easily rectified.