How do you justify seding your child to boarding school?

1. The school’s child protection officer. All independent schools must have a senior member of staff designated as the child protection officer. The school’s child protection policy will identify the CPO and set out his/her main areas of responsibility. One such responsibility is to ensure that individuals are referred to the Disclosure and Barring Service where the person poses a risk of harm to children. It is an offence to fail to make a referral without good reason.

1. The Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS is an executive agency of the Home Office. It helps employers, including schools, make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau and the Independent Safeguarding Authority and is responsible for:

processing requests for criminal records checks
placing or removing people from the DBS children’s barred list.

1. Local Authority. Local authorities in England have a legal duty to make arrangements to promote cooperation to improve the wellbeing of all children in the authority's area. Key components of the LA’s role are discharged by:

a. Local Safeguarding Children Board. The LSCB has a range of roles and statutory functions including developing local safeguarding policy and procedures and scrutinising local arrangements. It must coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area, and ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes.
b. Local Authority Designated Officer. The LADO should provide advice and guidance to employers and voluntary organisations, liaising with the police and other agencies and monitoring the progress of cases to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible, consistent with a thorough and fair process. The LADO should be informed within one working day of all allegations that come to an employer's attention or that are made directly to the police.

From: www.isc.co.uk/find-a-school/information-for-parents/safeguarding-children

I particularly think that these bits sum up my earlier points:
The LADO should be informed within one working day of all allegations that come to an employer's attention or that are made directly to the police.
The LADO should provide advice and guidance to employers and voluntary organisations, liaising with the police and other agencies

Hi Eastlynne... historically (and up to the present ) boarding school children have, for a multitude of reasons, been vulnerable to abuse ..although I know this does not just apply to boarding . However when a child boards you hand over daily care to the school . All schools say they are safe but some prove not to be .
You say you are fully aware of your son's school policy . Does this include a procedure of reporting all abuse to the police if any occurs? Asking the school if this is in place seems a safe and sensible thing to do ..

So the police don't know about it but you do?

I think you've got a duty to tell the police then. Today.

Maryz... Yes ... abuse can happen in any school and does not have to be reported to the police ..there is no law to say there has to be Mandatory reporting by schools ...
I don't just "think" there is a problem with boarding schools I "know"
there have been times very recently when known abuse in schools was "deal with" internally by the school and not reported to the police.

Look up Daniel's Law and Mandate now

Oh do stop shouting at me byah you are very trying.

I posted waaay up thread MaryZ said I was sneery that many of the arguments for boarding school would apply equally to a good day school so aren't pro boarding per se. But nearly all of the arguments against boarding are very specifically about a child not living at home for much of their time.

(I went to 2 boarding schools - one appalling and neglectful, the other excellent and probably more like the current style of school with mainly happy kids, happy staff and loads to do.)

My objection to boarding, however good the school and pastoral care, is that the fact remains that a young person grows up out of their family home. It's not only the big things iike holidays and exam results that bring a family together, it's the little daily life things that we don't notice like making toast or watching rubbish on TV, arguiing about tidying a bedroom or what time to be in at night. If your child is only at home at weekends and holidays then a distance develops inevitably as your lives happen in separate places.

From memory I experienced the following at BS without my parents having any knowledge. I'm not saying I would have told them if I was living at home but there's more chance the channels of communication would have stayed open if we'd been around each other when they were going on:
first period
first kiss
first cigarette
first party
first time getting drunk
first boyfriend (not all on the same night )

I never argued with my parents about parties or curfews or boyfriends or homework because they all happened out of their sight. I wish I'd once had a good old row with my mum about not going out dressed like that just to feel 'parented'. By the time I went to uni I was totally independent and the transition was easy. In effect I'd left home at 11. And that's not a good thing. It's taken me a lot of life, marriage, family of my own, to even get back to a stage where I want to share things with my lovely mum. We love each other but we're not close and I do blame BS.

Of course, sometimes, boarding is the best option for a family, but don't under-estimate the effect of losing that intangible family glue that only sharing a bathroom when you're in a rush or making your dc a piece of toast and cup of tea after detention for a forfotten PE kit can bring.

Lottie ... you are WRONG because there is no Law on Mandatory reporting of abuse in schools. There is no such law...

I am not "spouting" anything, just stating facts ...This is not making a personal statement about you or your work or how you treat children ...
It IS about advising parents to be aware that schools do not have to legally report abuse and that parents should therefore discuss this with the Head and get reassurance before leaving children in their care End of...

My experience of all my teachers were truly dedicated professionals who cared deeply about education, both academic and holistic.

My a level german master ran extra sessions at 6 in the morning for those of us that applied to oxbridge, was a passionate cricket instructor, house tutor. He was always available if you needed help or advice. The only thing he would not tolerate was pupils not fulfilling their potential - he would do everything in his power to make sure you reached it.

A big boarding school is a huge community. There are currently 550 or so pupils at my alma mater, hundrerds of members of staff - academic, service and vocational. Mine was like a town within a town. In a setting so large of course some people won't be happy - just like any other school.

I hate to break your bubble but abuse happens in state schools just as frequently

Byah

I have just as you suggested read Mandate Now and Daniel's Law. I can understand the strength of feeling you have .

I don't think Lottie suggested she or others at the school had a legal requirement to report , she outlined the processes put in place at her school to detect and deal with any abuse. They seem sensible and stringent to me.

Without trying to minimise the hugely important issue you feel so strongly about , this is not specifically a boarding school matter. I am personally confident that my son's school has good safeguarding policies in place and I am fully aware of them.

Whether the requirement should be a legal one or not is a much larger debate.

One of the two boarding schools I attended one 'School of the Year' not so long ago

It's rather pertinent how recently you attended don't you think ?

I don't want to ignore individual experience. But it is very difficult to talk about boarding/not boarding as concepts when people are taking being opposed to boarding as a personal attack.

Trying to write "you cannot ignore the individuals experience because then you view are not based on fact but opinion."

But Haculyt the decision parents make when they send their DC to a boarding school is about what is right for their individual child and circumstances, those of us who support it are talking about our individual children although some are now taking about the whole school. mimi is talking about her individual experience.
Also research even clinical research is about the individuals experience, how they felt. how they responded etc etc, you then collate the the data collected and come to a conclusion. So you cannot ever ignore individuals experiences be aisle then your views are not based on fact but opinion.

Lottie you are being excessively abusive and ignorant of the facts. You are WRONG

I'm not and I'm not. But if you think my posts are excessively abusive do report them to MN I'm sure the admins have nothing better to do

I'll admit to being robust in my replies. That is because what you are spouting is so wrong and such a direct criticism of my working life.

A working life I'm happy to passionately defend. I must be one of those BS teachers who really doesn't give a shit about those kids in my care? Or, er, in fact the opposite.

And I am pretty sure that it is a legal requirement for anyone to report a crime to the police. Whether that crime takes place in a boarding school or anywhere else. Is that not true?

I believe that wherever possible, the best place for children with their families. I don't agree with the concept of boarding school. I would very much rather not talk about individuals. I don't quite know what you mean by an entrenched view- do you mean I haven't changed my mind?

Hacluyt you and others have such entrenched views that you will never concede that although it's not your choice (which is fine) it is a perfectly viable choice for many happy family orientated well adjusted children and that it won't have a detrimental effect on them or their relationships with their families.
lottie I could accept their point of view better if their arguments were evidence based but we are now hearing from those who work in boarding schools who probably haven't "swallowed the prospectus" and they are providing evidence that children are happy well adjusted and family orientated and that children aren't being buggered senseless by their HM's whilst the head turns a blind eye.

Lottie you are being excessively abusive and ignorant of the facts. You are WRONG. There is no legal requirement for a person in a school who knows of abuse to report it to the police. Some school do this .. others do not . But it is NOT the law and while it is not the law some schools "deal with" abuse within the school and children go on being abused.
If that is "offensive" as you put it, to those of you who work in boarding schools I am not interested and really don't care... My interest and concern is for the CHILDREN ...
For sensible parents out there.... the best advise is to get a very specific written statement from the Head, of the school policy on reporting any known abuse to the police before you leave your child in their care . This is not about past historic abuse ... a case of abuse at a boarding school was in the courts yesterday and it is not the only recent case...
Read 'Mandate Now' and Daniel's Law

"still repeatedly state that it's the worst thing you can do for a child "

I don't think anyone is actually saying that, are they? I'm certainly not.

Sad but true happy. This thread has turned into:

'Black is white'
'No Black is black because of xyz, evidence based argument'
'Lalalala, whatever you say you're wrong because your very lifestyle is tantamount to child abuse'

I'm not sure why I'm still bothering tbh!

Frankly it doesn't matter what any one who's pro boarding or has eerie nice of boarding writes on here the anti boarding brigade (with all their current experience of boarding schools) will still repeatedly state that it's the worst thing you can do for a child and only their way is the right way.