School coming to home to view sick child - Normal?

If the choice is between hurting adults’ feelings by “overstepping” or letting another child die due to abuse or neglect, then I’m putting on my big overstepping boots.
Agreed.
OP's situation wouldn't typically trigger a home visit in the schools I've worked in, unless there's more in the background that's not on the tread.

But I can easily see how another school might decide it meets their policy.

As another poster says:
and this child is often late and the parents called day 1 but no further all on Day 2 / 3 or 4. So there were certainly grounds to be concerned.
and the excuses the Op gives for above are so week.
late because they “live out of catchment”
didn’t ring every day because op had workshops. Ok so… you ring as soon as you wake or the other parent, in this case a SAHD, rings

In a straightforward scenario it's two forgetful and disorganised parents not keeping in contact with the school about illness and for whatever reason seem incapable of getting their child to school on time.

In a worst case scenario, it's a chaotic and disorganised household where a child has been harmed, the parents have contacted the school to inform them that the child will be having the week off school just before a long weekend, then silence.

No sensible adult would say it's fine to risk the worst case scenario just in case an adult had a tantrum about a welfare check.

Oh OP, my heart goes out to you. I can see how this would make you feel, but it really isn't that they think you're the 'kind of home' where something bad might have happened.

I've done lots of safeguarding inset, and one of the key things they drum into you is that bad things can happen in any home. So I really doubt they were singling you out. I think the simplest explanation is that they are simply following their school safeguarding protocol due to you (quite understandably) not phoning in every morning. If they don't follow it to the letter, they can get into trouble.

It won't be a reflection on you - they're just following their procedures.

Hope your dc is feeling better now.

Very odd I would say.

Teachers at our school would call the parents is they are off for a period of time and offer any assistance. We do food parcels and activity sets. It's not a check on the parents, just to try to be helpful.

I worked in schools 2008-2017 across all age groups and in three settings.
It was common practice in all three.

Oh? How many years in education have you worked? And in how many different settings?

« I need to have eyes on him » warrants further explanation from school. If I were you I would schedule an appointment to speak with the headteacher. They’ll possibly want to talk about punctuality with you.

Weak

Exactly

and this child is often late and the parents called day 1 but no further all on Day 2 / 3 or 4. So there were certainly grounds to be concerned.

and the excuses the Op gives for above are so week.

late because they “live out of catchment”

didn’t ring every day because op had workshops. Ok so… you ring as soon as you wake or the other parent, in this case a SAHD, rings

Absolutely!
If the choice is between hurting adults’ feelings by “overstepping” or letting another child die due to abuse or neglect, then I’m putting on my big overstepping boots.

I had meetings all morning this week as I had a bunch of workshops, so I messaged on Dojo upon realising I hadn't called daily

what was stopping your husband, a SAHD, from calling the school to report the absence?

i dont think it is over stepping and intrusive
and if it is, we need more intrusion in some cases.
as said above
think of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes

Never experienced this. I think it’s overstepping and intrusive.

The statutory guidance has recently been updated for more of a focus on attendance and schools have no choice but follow that - so are putting new approaches in place to ensure they have evidence of meeting the statutory requirements. I wouldn’t take it too personally. The mast majority of visits will just confirm what they need to know and that everything is okay. On rare occasions they may identify a child or family in need of help and can put measures in place to support them.

It sounds to me like they have safeguarding concerns. It’s not ideal but this type of procedure is needed and sometimes families who are perfectly fine are caught up in procedure.

My son was off for a whole school week with chickenpox. Spots came out at the weekend so I emailed in on the Monday and then there was no other contact until I sent him back in the following Monday.
At the school I work at we would only do a home visit if the family has poor attendance and is under the attendance officer or if we had welfare concerns. However I know some schools are under a lot of scrutiny from OFSTED for attendance so are carrying out checks for all families not just those with concerns.

This is very unusual especially in primary. When I was a secondary school teacher we did occasionally visit homes with the educational welfare officer if there was repeated truancy but for 4 days off for a 5 year old, no! I’m surprised they have the time!

My DH , locum teacher, did home visits in a job role as Head of year. This was senior school though and mainly for children with suspicious sickness patterns.
I would call the school and enquire about the policy as chicken pox is infectious and teachers shouldn't be exposed to infection. I'm not sure on the rules of infections but dangerous to pregnant women.

It sounds very odd to me. I work in Education, and have never heard of this sort of thing. Did she have identification? I would check the website as someone else suggested, and also call the school to ask about their policy regarding children who are ill and at home. She may be innocent, but it's worth checking.

I'm curious on what would happen if you refused or they wouldn't come downstairs. My child is suspected autistic and definitely wouldn't want a teacher seeing her in her underwear. I understand why they would wanna check incase of neglect or abuse but genuinely what would happen if as you said the child was elsewhere or unwilling to come down. Also it should definitely be on their website and a clear policy parents know about. It's almost like it is hidden to catch parents out or something if they're lying about a holiday or whatever.

Nope, never been checked up on like this! I
actually find it quite intrusive and would probably put in an official complaint.
If I phone in and say my child has chicken pox/covid a sickness bug or whatever, I’d expect to be believed and certainly wouldn’t expect a teacher to knock my door.

Do you think it is easy to spot a vulnerable child?

I think there are usually some indicators actually...

-child is dirty, unkempt, poor hygiene, untreated lice/scabies
-child is not dressed appropriately for the weather for example
-unusual bruising, injuries and odd explanations
-the child doesn't come with lunches
-child is withdrawn, acting out
-child makes negative/unusual statements about their home life
-the parents are not reachable/there is poor communication
-the parents have poor presentation

And yes, attendance - definitely. However what OP is describing is not like the lack of attendance that would signal a safety concern.

I says this as a social worker - just being away for 4 days due to the chicken pox is not a child welfare concern. It would be reasonable to give the parents the benefit of the doubt unless there are a host of other issue surely? If a school is worried I would think the first port of call would be to open the lines of communication with them, ask curiosity questions and see how things are going at home.

@FixItUpChappie it’s called safeguarding, trying to help vulnerable children and reduce abuse. Also the outcomes for children who regularly miss school is marked compared to children who have good attendance

teacher responded with "I need to have eyes on him"

Yeah right - I would definitely have told her to jog on and closed the door.

However, I'm not in the UK so just generally can't wrap my head around the big brother stuff going on over there with respect to school. Does it serve to get that smaller segment of families who never send their kids to school to do it or does it just harass everyone else? I would be interested to know.

That sounds very odd. Sorry OP. Hope you’re all ok

my son is a 5 years old and he has autism. he is in a reduced timetable (2 hours per day), this week I did not bring him ( too much hassle, I need to walk 20 minutes to school, then another 20 minute back home, then another 20 minutes to pick him up). last week he was only on Mo day in. The school haven’t called me why my son has not be in.