Annoyed with school

[HelpMeToHelpDD]

DD is 7, just finished year 2.

They finished for summer on Friday. DD has some medical needs which means medications are kept at school (think inhalers and pain killers plus epipens and similar – DD has severe asthma triggered by both hayfever and hot weather and also triggered by the cold weather. She’s also got an insect allergy that causes antiphalictic shock. There’s also a painful condition which school give pain relief for)

The medicines have not come home. According to DD they were in the side pouch of her bag at afternoon playtime but when I picked her up there weren’t there. I can only assume as DD keeps her water bottle in her other side pouch she’s pulled the stuff out, realised it’s not her bottle and without thinking put it down.

Without them she cannot go to holiday club. Usually I take the ones from school to holiday club then replace everything right before she goes back to school.

She’s been off holiday club this week due to not having the stuff. Next week I have a big meeting I need her in holiday club for as it’s all day and a train ride away.

DD has some SN, and in previous years they’ve either got me to pick the stuff up from the school office or handed it to me as I walk through the gates. Apparently Year 2 and up they don’t do this but with her SN I thought they’d treat her as if she was a younger child – I am assuming she put the stuff in her pouch not realising what it is, I generally don’t carry the pain relief around with me for obvious reasons so she’s probably not even recognised that.

Apparently DD is not the only child in the class to come out without her medicine. I emailed school as soon as we got in before the gates are apparently shut for pickup for the older children (Ys3-6) but got the out of office response. I then called but got a phone message saying the office is closed until September – usually the secretary works until 4.30pm and responds to message and phonecalls until about 5 minutes before that time.

I’ve called the GP to get an emergency reissue but not having much luck actually getting hold of the medicine, remembering I’d usually ask for the reissue as a general prescription so they have 6-8 weeks to source things and there’s always a few weeks leeway with her previous ones if they can’t before school starts.

I have the pain relief as it’s over the counter, and I have the physical epipens and inhalers but I’ve removed them from boxes and thrown boxes away for storage at home so I can’t even send those into holiday club and ask for them back everyday. The home ones go between here and ExHs house so not even a spare supply anywhere.

AIBU to be annoyed with school? And AIBU to ask how on earth I can get her into holiday club next week?

I’m a single parent and if I lose my job because of this then DD will be unable to continue her extra curricular activities that keep her so well and help not just her SN but her medical issues too.

Please help.

Will add here school are generally great and manage DD with her issues well. I've never had direct contact details for her teacher or I'd have emailed her instead.

[PyjamaFan]

How is this the fault of the school? She had the medicine and then lost it.

[OwlinaTree]

Can you physically go to the school today? There may well be staff on site cleaning, sorting out classrooms etc. If you took some ID and some proof your daughter attended they might let you in to have a look for it.

[Howshouldibehave]

Annoying, but if it was as critical to have this bag as you say, could you not have sent her straight back in to get them on Friday when you picked her up?

[HelpMeToHelpDD]

@Howshouldibehave

Annoying, but if it was as critical to have this bag as you say, could you not have sent her straight back in to get them on Friday when you picked her up?

I assumed they were in her rucksack so didn't look until I got home.

[mineofuselessinformation]

Have you contacted the school?

[IseeScottishhills]

I know you want want to read this but my DS (now grown up) has brittle asthma outside of work I not the most organised women in the world but I was very hot on making sure he had his medication on him e.g when school finished for the term. I wouldn't have expected the school to remember it at any age especially if it was difficult to source.

[HelpMeToHelpDD]

@OwlinaTree

Can you physically go to the school today? There may well be staff on site cleaning, sorting out classrooms etc. If you took some ID and some proof your daughter attended they might let you in to have a look for it.

I've walked up bu no-one there not even the caretaker, it's all locked up. They're having cleaners in the week before school restarts in September for a big deep clean.

[Rinoachicken]

I do sympathise, but I do think you should have checked before she left the site on Friday.

[MrsN100]

This isn't the schools fault at all op. The time to have checked was right then and there. Just like how you are assuming she had it in her bag, they have already given it to her so it's her responsibility from that point. Can you ask any other parents/school group pages for contacts for someone at the school?

[LagneyandCasey]

It's madness that such a young child had to look after important medications herself. When my dd was at primary parents picked up medicines from the office. I guess it's another side effect of covid not wanting parents hanging around.

However, you should have checked before you left on Friday, op, but I can't believe there's no one on site all summer or the caretaker couldn't arrange to meet you and escort you to look for the missing items. They're really important.

[MoreAloneTime]

I think you need to get into the habit of checking her bag at the end of term if this is the schools system rather than picking up from the office.

[MarcelineMissouri]

Sorry, I don’t think this is down to the school. Your op reads like you already knew that in yr 2 they would give her back the medicine directly (and just made an assumption that they wouldn’t in your dd’s case) so if you weren’t happy for them to do that you should have spoken to the school and made your own plan to pick it up.

[Peaplant20]

Email the headteacher if it’s really urgent as they will certainly be checking their emails. As a teacher I really wouldn’t mind being emailed about something important like this and I can only talk for secondary schools but I would imagine the head or someone else will be on site at some point soon, or they might be able to arrange for the caretaker to meet you. If the head isn’t able to reply then they won’t but I would think they will.

[Hippywannabe]

If you are really desperate, put a callout on the local Facebook. Someone who is a friends with a staff member may able to pass on a message.

[FluffyPJs]

I think the biggest concern is that the bag of medication is missing. Any of the other children could have picked it up and ingested/ injected the drugs. This is a huge safeguarding concern.

I can't believe that the school is completely closed all summer. Keep emailing, address the emails to the head and put safeguarding breach in the title.

Check on the website and near the main entrance for a notice with the caretaker/ site agents contact details, lots of schools do have this in case of deliveries arriving in holidays.

Don't just let this go. That bag full of drugs is either somewhere in the school grounds or a child has taken it home. Either way it needs to be found

[LIZS]

Surely if it is that important you would double check. I'm slightly surprised it was entrusted to the child and not handed over to you direct though. Are these meds really so hard to come by that you cannot get a repeat?

[Howshouldibehave]

You assumed she’d have it, the teacher assumed she’d have it.

You talk about how important it was so it was down to you to check on Friday-you can’t blame the school now.

[DancesWithTortoises]

Really not the school's fault. You should have checked before leaving.

[Honeybeebloom]

Those saying it's not the fault of the school, Im a teacher and we would get absolutely hauled over the coals for sending medication home with primary aged children (with the exception of inhalers and such). Every school I've worked in medication such as epipens are to be brought into school by an adult and handed back to an adult, they absolutely would not be getting sent home with children unless it is something that would be actually kept on the child's person anyway.

[Howshouldibehave]

According to DD they were in the side pouch of her bag at afternoon playtime

It sounds like the school actually put them in her bag ready to go home, but she has taken them out!?

[LFQuery]

You have said so many times how vital it all is, yet you didn’t check? My kids lose (less important) stuff a lot so I always make sure we check before we leave anywhere that we have what we’re supposed to! It’s very odd that school are totally closed now with zero contact mind you.

[Siite]

How is the school supposed to stop her from losing things?

[Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow]

Really if they are so important i wouldn't have assumed anything. I would have checked.
Not the schools fault.

[tiredanddangerous]

I don't understand why you can't get the stuff prescribed by the GP? Is it a supply issue with the medications?

[LucyLovesCheese]

Have you tried ringing any pharmacy’s direct? They can issue items on the day if they have them in emergency situations- as your daughter has no medication I would say this would class as such?
For what it’s worth I don’t think they should be giving out medications to children that age to go home x