School not letting my child from the school

Just feel sorry for your child really. Sounds like they have been caught in the middle, probably feeling uncertain and a bit embarrassed.

Here’s the thing. You allow one child who is, ostensibly, able, then you open this up for parents of other, less able children who live further away and whose parents, like you, want to stop paying after school club fees.

But they will allow it from April. Why is it a safeguarding issue now but won't be then? The children who live further away will still live further away.

Nspcc says there's no law about it, so it's up to parents.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/away-from-home/at-school/#homealone

At four years old the school would contact social care and report it as neglect. I would then expect social care to intervene and agree a safety plan with parents. At four years old that would meet the harm threshold. It’s so unreasonable that it would meet the definition of neglect.

Or Scottish children!

I think the school is totally overstepping - they do have a safeguarding duty, but the OP is satisfied that her child will be safe walking home, and there will be someone in - as my daughter was at that age. Sometime primary school principals forget that they're not always dealing with 7 year olds, and 'because I said so' isn't always enough to explain their decisions. Principal sounds like she'd doubling down as she's been challenged, rather than engaging with the parents.

How does she get home from afterschool club? Do you pick her up?

It really boggles my mind that schools in England think they have the right to dictate how their pupils get to and from school. They control what happens between 9 and 3, and that's where their responsibility ends.

In my part of Scotland, the youngest children (aged 4.5 to 5.5) are accompanied into the playground by their teacher who makes sure they can see an adult before sending them off. But after that, the bell rings, the kids come out, they go home. Some with parents, some with older siblings, some with friends. School/Headteacher does not have ANY say in this whatsoever, it's entirely a parenting decision.

Yet life in England is so dangerous and risk-laden in contrast that children are not allowed to walk home until they are 10. Absolutely, completely, mental.

Lots of schools have this rule. It’s a sensible one.

Here’s the thing. You allow one child who is, ostensibly, able, then you open this up for parents of other, less able children who live further away and whose parents, like you, want to stop paying after school club fees. Or worse, the children whose parents just can’t be arsed to collect if they can seize any opportunity to do so.

Quite simply op this is a safeguarding issue and although you may feel it’s entirely unreasonable, no decent school will do anything that might compromise their safeguarding arrangements, which, I’m sure you are aware, is a statutory requirement for all those who work in schools to adhere to.

Yes I wonder why we don't hear about hordes of German, Swiss or Japanese children getting run over, kidnapped etc of its so dangerous.

This.

As much as people don’t like it, the OP has PR and can make these decisions where as school doesn’t. If the feel it is a safeguarding concern, they need to follow their safeguarding policy.
If they have a policy around children being able to leave school on their own at a certain age/ point within school, this should be written down, if it then it should be considered on an individual basis.
The after school club should not be taking the child without parental permission, what happens if the child has an accident there, their insurance won’t cover it.

If you think I’m wrong then please tell me where you think schools get this power. Which piece of legislation or statutory guidance is it in?

It’s not in KCSIE or the Education Act or the Children’s Act.

The guidance on Parental Responsibility from the the DfE says we can share information for Safeguarding reasons and make a referral without parental consent or knowledge but there is no power there to detain children.

But safeguarding shouldn’t be an issue here - year 5 is a perfectly sensible age to start giving children independence and it is a reasonable choice

for me I think the legal approach of reasonable person should be utilised and it is a reasonable one

Dies she? How do we know? Anyone can say anything online (and I haven’t looked whether she says it’s ok or not - irrelevant as believing qualifications on an internet platform is bonkers).

Whether the school has a policy or not is irrelevant as it is not an area where school have the authority to have a policy. After school hours they have no say over this unless they have concerns in which case they report to Social Services. I would say your next course of action is to report to the academy, Social services, possibly LA (in Scotland, I'm not sure if they have jurisdiction in England) and if that fails Daily Mail

Even for four year olds? At what point does safeguarding say it’s ok to just let them walk out alone?

You are missing the point.

Honestly, I’d be tempted to get a solicitor to draw up a letter to the trust. It shouldn’t be necessary, but may well be effective. In the meantime I’d just be a broken record. Don’t collect, don’t pay ASC fees, report the distress to your child to the trust every single day.

If the ASC is run by an external company then I’d be tempted to also write to their management to say that your child is being sent to their ASC without your consent and asking them whether their insurance covers liability for any injuries or accidents for children who are being held in ASC against their parents’ expressed wishes. If the ASC refuse let the school send DD to the club then that would also solve the issue.

If you refuse to pay for ASC and refuse to pick her up from there they're going to have to let her leave eventually. The staff will want to go home themselves.

@DelilahRay but there isn't a rule or a policy in place. This is the material point. A parent has made the decision to allow their child to walk home. If school have an issue with this they are meant to contact social services not prevent the child from leaving. FFS. We have a safeguard lead on here telling everyone this.

It's really irrelevant what the precise policy is, there will always be edge cases. And sometimes those edge cases will want to try to push the boundary for their edge case.

Schools are a collective situation not an individualised one. They are required to deal with everyone as a group, and so that means policies that may not fit every individual how they would like. If the policy is actually not helpful for a significant number or even a majority then, yes, push for change. Schools have processes for this.

I had a similar thing with my kids school. We live very near the school no roads etc.
They have a blanket rule of when a child is deemed old enough to walk alone, if your child is younger you have to submit a request with your reasonings. If it's declined and you insist the school can get s/s involved.
I remember being sick and unable to collect my kids one day, it was agreed with the office I would stand in my front garden so I could see them coming out of the school gates 🤣.
Anyhow I would re write a formal request putting a diagram etc of where you live, her route and how long it would take. The school are just not looking outside the box. The next step is to have a chat with the head.