How does your child 'leave' school

[Astro55]

So DC needs parental permission to skip leave school. The back of their planner has a section to put in the reason and date/times they intend to leave, then signed by the parent. These are supposed to be removed from the planet and kept as a record of them attending an appointment.

However - there is no master copy of thenparents signature to compare.

Also they won't accept emails or telephone calls from parents to 'pre book' dates/times of absents.

In the morning there is a truemcy call if they haven't arrived, but the rest of the day they could skip without any notification to parents. Just by having a 'signed' escape slip.

It seems like madness - what would happen if they skipped school without consent and had an accident?

[nicp123]

Your terms are confusing. What do you mean by 'skip' school?
Are you concerned about children just getting out of the school's gates during the school day?
In my area the majority of schools are locking the gates straight after the morning registration, and the intercoms are available for those arriving late and for the visitors.
Your child should have in the learning diary times for registration and lessons times explained.
The school should have your signature on file if they want to compare or check authenticity. If you remember, at the beginning of school year, parents have to sign all sorts of forms; therefore, I doubt they can be tricked by forged signatures. By the way, everyday, after lunch the pupils have registration again so the school should be able to check numbers of 'fugitives'. Not sure where you live but over here everything is under control so far.

[Astro55]

Skip - truent - leave school without consent - pretend to have dentist appointment - forge a note (in this case a planner tear out slip)

School don't be keep the notes - so if a child left school and had shown the forged slip there's no prof in school who signed it.

[Pancaker]

Truant
Truancy

[PedantHere]

As a teacher, I check signatures on notes with the parent's signature in the child's planner.

[Astro55]

There isn't a parent signature in the planner - there maybe on files in the office.

[MooPointCowsOpinion]

I doubt they'd get out of the school grounds, they all have fences.

We register children every lesson and notify pastoral if someone isn't there who should be.

[Astro55]

Grounds aren't locked - several leaving points

If they signed out to go to the doctors they wouldn't show as 'missing'

[nicp123]

Astro55 I think you don't realise that schools in England won't allow any student to leave the school on false reasons. The teachers won't just believe your child if he says: "Oh! I forgot my signed letter and I'm going to the dentist now. Bye!"
If your child really has an appointment to attend, fair enough; but the school can ask you for proof if they think otherwise.
The teachers are aware how many 'heads' they have in the classroom every lesson as they always keep in mind 'Fire evacuation' eventuality for example.

[Astro55]

So how do you check?

If a child signs the planner and you don't check or it's a good signature - how do you check?

Do you ring parents?

[nicp123]

At my children's schools they make photocopies of the 'sickness' or GP appointments notes but I also have to write and sign a letter which is kept on file, otherwise, the Absence will not be approved by the Headmaster.
Children are expected back to school if appointments are in the morning. Every time my children have appointments they have to sign OUT in the office before leaving the premises and on their return they need to sign back IN via the School Office.
The main school gate stays locked at all times during the school-day and the Sixth Formers allowed out of the school grounds for lunch in town via Office. Never heard of children 'skipping' school and truancy is non-existent at my children's Secondary schools.

[nicp123]

Are you a child trying to 'skip' school? ... you sound like one

[Out2pasture]

If a teen (you've posted in secondary school so I'm assuming teen) wants to skip they will find a way.
If your child is skipping out, which can be as easy as walking away between classes, why not ask them how and why?
PS if they themselves are not great at forging your signature, their best friend might be better.

[Astro55]

Nope - I'm 48!!

I'm concerned that children can leave school at any point in the day (after morning registration because that results in a truancy text)

They can sign themselves out and leave (and return) without any parental contact.

Parents can not ring in advance to say DD has X on Y day - they just say 'oh sign in when they get back' or 'just sign out when they leave'

It's just seems really irresponsible and open to abuse

[Astro55]

I suppose what I'm asking is how do your teens leave school? How do the school manage it? Do they insist of a hospital letter or dentist appointment card? Do they accept parents phone calls? Do they check signatures?

There seems no layer of checks.

I'm also concern that if a child does skip school and the school have nothing from parents or even the fake note then they are open to bigger issues if the child comes to harm?

[nicp123]

Try and voice your concerns to the school in question... Letting them know will help improve their policies and procedures and give you peace of mind. Good luck!

[Out2pasture]

I expect it varies based on location and size of the school.
Where I'm from the secondary school has no fence. Students have study blocks and do leave school grounds, there is always a flow of students walking to and from as well as parents picking up and dropping off. Never gave the liability issue much thought.

[MyWhatICallNameChange]

My boys school is completely fenced and the gates are locked during lesson times. They do allow years 10+ out at lunchtime and they're supposed to have a signed permission slip from parents, but my oldest never had one and still went out! I'm not sure how they only let the older ones out, and make sure younger ones don't escape.

During lesson times the only way in or out is through reception, so they can't just walk out.

I've no idea how easy it would be for them to pretend they have an appointment, they have slips in their planner but as mine haven't needed to use it I haven't taken much notice.

[corythatwas]

If you are talking teens, the accident thing is a bit of a red herring: surely teens move around freely in the community during their spare time anyway, so an accident could happen then anyway? Hospitals will have to identify the patient as best they can, just as they would if you went for an unplanned shopping trip and had an accident.

Yes, truanting is bad but for totally different reasons: harm to education, risk of ending up in bad company etc etc.

But like all issues that involve teens it is very much about parenting: trying to build up a relationship where the teen doesn't want to let you down and doesn't want to let themselves down. If your teen is forging your signature, you have far more serious problems than whether the school is taken in by it.

In most cases, a more casual check works fine, because most teens do not indulge in forgery to sneak out of school. In dc's school, parents would normally phone in over absences, and were expected to check for themselves if their offspring's absence record tallied with their expectations. If you fear your own teen might need more supervision than the norm, then you need to be a bit more proactive and contact the school and ask for extra vigilance.

[Laniakea]

how do they leave school?

School grounds are locked after morning registration - if they need to get out they go to reception, sign out & the receptionist buzzes them through the gate (if they have permission).

If they have an appointment we ring the school absence line to leave a message telling them what time we're picking them up. The student informs their tutor during registration who gives them a permission slip & then gets buzzed out at the right time (as above). At the end of the day the parents get a red notice email and have to confirm that they picked up their child & for what reason.

[Laniakea]

theoretically the kid could pull a fast one & get permission from their tutor to leave before the absence line is checked (about 9:30) but if they were going to do that they may as well bunk off completely rather than going through the rigmarole of lying (not turning up at all would be discovered at about the same time).

[jr2116]

At my DS's school the parents must pick them up from front office Years 7-11. As in they have to walk into front office and not just sit on the school drive in their car. No exceptions.

They take a photocopy of the note in the planner too. All the notes go on one page.

[DrudgeJedd]

Just asked ds1 & he tells me they have registration at the start of each lesson. There is an online register that is updated by the school office with authorised absences for dental appts etc.
Swish eh? I had no idea