School not letting my child from the school

You just have to pay for after school club or get a childminder like everyone else.

The policy at my dc school is that children are allowed home alone in yr6 - distance doesn't come into it.

The school are being ridiculous as are some of the posters on here. Children aged 9 or 10 are perfectly capable of walking home short distances and most schools allow it or they did years ago when mine were at school. Parents should be the ones to decide and if the school strongly disagrees (e.g. because a child is very immature or has special needs they need to discuss that with the parent or social services).

I have an EQUAL understanding.

A school cannot detain a child WITHOUT contacting the authorities.

You can detain for safeguarding concerns but MUST follow proper procedure IMMEDIATELY.

The school are not following correct procedure - they are applying rules they don't have the authority to apply.

I've been doing this for a very long time. I have detained children at the end of the end over safeguarding concerns. I have followed correct procedure when I've done so.

There will be children in year 6 that are not capable of walking home alone on the last day of term 6.

Using your argument, we should we not let any year 6 child walk home alone either.

They can refer to social services and police.

Schools have a power to discipline that comes from legislation and statutory guidance.

They do not have a power to overrule parenting decisions. They have a duty to report to social care if they think those parenting decisions put the child at risk of harm. They could intervene in a case of immediate risk of harm, but a 9 year old walking home doesn’t meet the harm threshold.

Last post… I promise. 😂😂

@Kutika your description of where you live sounded very familiar, new estate with own school etc but we are West Midlands. Our school also only lets year 5 leave from the start of Easter term, very quiet estate, no through traffic at all and also pretty rural.

So you're happy to keep punishing your child for your principles. Because she's the one left at school because your point of view over rides her wellbeing. No one wants to be left at school because Mommy wants to win the arguement.

The OP says it's a trust policy.

Depending on how big the trust is depends on how effectively the DSL can tell people how stupid this policy is and how effective they could be in pushing through a change.

The DSL has to tow the trust line whether they agree with it or not.

To be fair DH WFH but can’t even stop to answer the door when he’s busy. He’s working!

How is she getting home from after school club. I would refuse to pick her up up from there either, presumably they’re not going to make her stay all night I bet as soon as the head realises she’ll be the one having to stay over her hours she’ll be happy to let her go.

Why can't they?

And if OP did send her child to a different school that would presumably be a lot further away.
Well you are hardly the first hysterical poster on Mumsnet so there is a kind of deja vu involved.

You are too lazy to arrange someone to go get your child in line with the schools published policy so you post on Mumsnet and accuse randomers on Mumsnet of being child kidnappers as well as the teachers who look after her all day. ....😆

also I think it’s crazy to let a 10 yr old out by themselves.

That 10yo will be travelling to secondary school, perhaps by bus or train, possibly just a few days or a couple of weeks after his or her eleventh birthday. It's crazy to let out a 10yo, but once they turn eleven they're suddenly perfectly OK to go out alone? Or should Yr7s also be required to be escorted to and from school? At what age is it OK for a child to go somewhere alone?

My DC’s school is an absolute stickler for ridiculous rules ‘just because’, but since Covid, when clearly it was for their benefit to have less people on site, they happily let any child leave on their own provided a parent has signed a form, from year 3! There are no questions asked about how they are getting home. I find it baffling that ‘safeguarding’ has such different standards and meanings to so many schools.

@Kutika what part of the country are you in?

So an adult with responsibility for a child all day can say oh it’s 3 ocllock fuck off now. And just wipe their hands of the kid? What if the kid’s parents don’t come to get them? Can a teacher just say sorry kid I’ve got a hot date, make your own way home… ? Genuinely interested as this sound like a grey area at the very least.

and if they can’t decide this then how can they decided anything? How can they tell you to wear uniform? Or be in at a certain time? Or any other rule they enforce? I’m assuming they can because if you don’t adhere to thei rules they reserve the right to say you have to leave…

"And if OP did send her child to a different school that would presumably be a lot further away."

Which is far worse than sending her to a school full of alleged kidnappers she has called the police about.....

There is "always someone at home" around "300 yards away" and no one can find a few spare minutes to just walk to collect her? Really?

It's very clear that no one will be home for some of the time, so I suspect this is school's concern.

So what happens at the end of after school club? They allow her to walk home?

Tbh OP, whilst your dc at 9/10 you might consider to be mature enough to do the short journey, there will be others of the same age who aren’t. The only way the school can put a rule in place to cover all pupils in that year, is to assess each child individually as to whether it is okay to allow them to walk home alone, which would result in more work for teaching staff. Allowing all pupils in that year to walk home alone would be setting a dangerous precedent, as if something happens to a pupil who isn’t as mature, parents would be going ape, placing the blame and responsibility on the school no doubt, as is the norm these days. Seems schools are put in an impossible situation with petty demands from parents.

This is utterly ridiculous of the school and I too would fight this. My child is Y5 (10 next July) and walks on their own. It’s possibly about 300m, I’m not good on distance! And involves crossing one small road.

"Try sending the link to the school I attached above"
😆
Because you have a better understanding of the law than their DSL. FFS get a grip.

No doubt this outrageous case of child kidnapping in flagrant disregard of the law will soon be plastered over the local papers....