Daughter got out of school

The poster was implying that kids are normally required to have hall passes but having had 3 kids got to 4 different secondary schools none of then ever needed such a thing and were therefore free to move around the school without being questioned as suggested by the poster.

Oh hahaha how hilarious, what a jape, what a funny thread!

Did you miss the fact that the child in question has autism and is therefore vulnerable? A missing early teen with SEN should actually be a cause for concern, it's not something to laugh at or about.

Some children with SEN don't have a great understanding of risk and danger, and can easily find themselves in dangerous situations; they think they get it, but they don't know what they don't know.

Coming from someone who has had to call the police to help find my vulnerable child twice this year, trust me I know.

Some secondary schools cannot fully secure their sites, because there are public rights of way through them. The only option to secure the full site at a previous school I worked at would be to lose over 50% of the playground. In an already crowded school, that is not a desirable option.

Equally, my last school was fenced about 3-4 years ago, but there are still a few ways a determined child could leave (through sixth form common room, via the sensory garden, climb the fence in certain places). That school also had an issue with internal truancy post covid- every lesson there would be at least 3-4 kids not show up. It's not always the case of just looking for one student.

It sounds like a conversation needs to be had with the school about a plan for this, and perhaps an individual risk assessment.

Or you could make a "massive complaint" and get everyone's backs up, and they could retaliate by excluding your daughter?

she was probably overwhelmed rather than bunking off

I disagree with all pp if the doors aren't checked by eg a reception who keeps track of everyone going in and out during lesson hours then it also means an intruder could get it! Perhaps by tailgating dd. It's a massive safeguarding risk there are many children with additional needs in mainstream schools , it's not just special or primary schools that need to keep a close eye on their exits

This. It's infuriating and terribly boring at the same time - a tiresome mix.

Firstly an autistic child who probably has a Sen plan or ehcp should not be lumped in with nt kids. My ds has asd and global development delay. He's in mainstream, he's 9 but his behaviour/social/emotional is more like a 5 year old. Thought processes are not the same and they are significantly more vulnerable. So absolutely the school should have provision in place to safe guard the child and if they can not meet need they need to inform the local authority so alternative provision can be arranged.

Secondly my dd secondary had locked dooors and anyone leaving had to sign out at reception then be buzzed out. If either of my dd had gone missing at 11 I would have been mightily pissed

@HonoriaLucastaDelagardie if an 18 year old student feels the need to randomly just walk out of school then they would probably let them out.
Personally though if I was the Head I wouldn't let them back in. 18 year olds don't have to be there if they don't want to be but by deciding to attend the school as a student they will have agreed to follow the rules. If they don't respect that then they shouldn't be there.
The same as any adult in a work place. Yes you can just walk out - but you would most likely be fired

My last school only had a perimeter fence and gates about 2 years ago. Until that point it was very hard keep kids in and the public off site.

In secondary schools there is usually someone who monitors attendance each lesson and someone will come looking for missing students, obviously they look for more vulnerable or those with a risk assessment first. I do agree it's quite worrying that they didn't notice. I would contact the sendco and say you are concerned your dd could do this again and make sure she is flagged to be checked. Ask them what they do to monitor attendance during the day too? See what their response is. It might be they are apologetic, someone was waylaid with another emergency or they might be dismissive and unconcerned. If the latter then that is a safeguarding concern and ofsted would be worried about that sort of thing. When did they last get inspected?

A massive complaint??🤣🤣 they are not locked in like they are at primary school! We used to always bunk off lessons and it took them ages to phone parents. You need to be speaking to her about not leaving school without telling anyone! Absolutely nothing to do with the school, especially only after 15 mins! What a ridiculous thing to say!!

If a kid has a legitimate reason to leave, reception will radio to the person on the gate to tell them.

Some secondary school pupils are eighteen (therefore not kids). If someone who is legally an adult wants to leave, surely they can't be prevented, whether or not they have what reception considers a legitimate reason?

They certainly can at ours as there are no fences and there are a couple of private businesses sharing the school site so people coming and going all the time. Lots of secondary schools have buildings scattered around - a couple of our local ones pupils have to cross over to the other side of the road to other buildings between classes. Another has multiple footpaths and bridleways across the school grounds so lots of walkers, horse riders, cyclists etc.

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Same at our secondary school.
I also thought it was pretty standard

I think people are being very judgemental. OP hasn’t really given enough details. As a parent of a teen with ASD I know if this was my dd I wouldn’t be happy, luckily my dd went to a Sen secure school but has now been moved to a SEN unit at a local college where she managed to disappear and walk 2 miles (gone for almost a hour) before anyone noticed, my dd is severely autistic, almost non verbal and doesn’t carry a phone on her.

OP, does your dd have a EHCP? Does she have a TA pr1:1 support, are there things in place to keep her safe?

Autism is a huge spectrum so it’s not easy for us to know how capable your dd is, how safety aware she is or if she’s at risk from walking out of school? Does she understand what she has done is against school rules?

As previous posters have said unless it’s a specialist school then anyone can walk in and out of secondary school.

We used to bunk off after dinner and miss last period and just walk out.

You have my sympathy. I remember how terrifying it was to arrive at school pick up one day and find DS (ND and in second week at secondary) wasn't there. School had no idea where he was. They were also utterly disinterested - wouldn't go and look for him and wouldn't look let me go and search the site. I had no idea whether he had been missing for ten minutes or whether he had never made it to school after leaving home that morning in the dark. I found the lack of any sense of duty of care, especially to a vulnerable child, absolutely shocking. I expected better of them then and I still do now.

@swashbucklecheer that's quite worrying.
Anyway.... derailing the thread somewhat.
If you are happy with that lack of security then fine. I wouldn't be personally.

How old and to what degree does the autism impact in this situation?

my dd is in year 9. She is on the autism spectrum. The other day she followed the school’s proper procedure to check herself out of school to go to an appointment. No concerns at all.

I'm a secondary teacher. We had a perimeter fence fitted about 5 years ago, for safeguarding reasons. Pupils who want to leave school can do so only via reception (and one other shortcut but no one knows it seems). This would take them onto the car park. There is a manned gate that is locked as standard. If a kid has a legitimate reason to leave, reception will radio to the person on the gate to tell them. I thought this was standard now. Apart from all the other reasons, how can you do a reliable headcount in an emergency if you've no idea where a child is? I really wonder what Ofsted would have to say about non-secure sites that only take a register twice a day btw. We have it drummed into us that the register must be done asap at the start of every lesson and we are to email the pastoral team if a pupil fails to turn up when they were marked present earlier.

Many secondary schools are designed to keep people out rather than in, so push bar doors that open from the inside but not from the outside. You can't simply lock children in, what happens in case of fire? Primary schools around me tend to have high fences but, given a secondary student could shimmy up them in seconds, it is actually safer not to have high fences at secondary so children can't impale themselves or fall whilst climbing them!

Yes they can when there isn't gates. You can't lock what's not there

@swashbucklecheer drop off and pick up times are different though. That's when you expect access to the school. But once school is in session (so from 9am) gates are closed and only re open at pick up time. If you need to get into the school you'd buzz the gate.
Surely people can't just wander onto the grounds at say 11.25 in the morning?

I'm also surprised that schools in some parts of the country have no fences. I mean, it's mostly to keep people out, not to keep them in.

In terms of OP - your outrage may be reasonable or not, depending on your daughter's needs. If she has an echp or otherwise high needs, it is more worrying. But you don't need to kick up a stink about it. It happened. She's safe. What can be done to prevent it happening again, or to ensure she is safe if it does happen again? That's the focus of the meeting you need to have.

@Regulus yes thinking about it my old secondary in Oxfordshire only got full fences a few years ago. It was a very open campus and anyone could walk on and off.
To be honest I am not worried about kids who decide to skive getting out (as long as they aren't vulnerable in any way) - it's random people getting in I worry about.

We have a driveway that goes through our site to 2 other schools. We have parents grandparents aunties uncles friends etc all moving through our site at various times for pick ups and drop offs. Very much our local community.