My son is Year 7 and has ASD/ADHD. He normally walks part way home and then I meet him. We always confirm if he has a club after school and he didn’t mention anything in the morning. He did not arrive at the meet up point at the normal time yesterday, so I drove up to the school along the route he walks and no sign.
I rang the school to ask if he was still there and mentioned an after school club that he had been to before (but had not mentioned going to again) but I was told that he has definitely left school on time, that they had looked everywhere and then told he was seen by a teacher in a park next to school and they were 100% sure it was him. He is not there and I did say it would be hugely out of character, given he is anxious about walking home alone, hence why I meet him.
He rings me at 4.30 coming out of the school club, so was there the whole time. School also ring to confirm they had him.
Now I am wondering if I panicked too soon, I thought ringing school to confirm he was there was sensible. I mentioned this club as a possibility twice but was told he was not at school. Should I have waited until 4.30pm to call, did I unnecessarily panic the school? I was fine until they told me he was definitely not there!
I have told him he needs to let me know if he is staying late. His Head of Year has said he can also switch his phone on after school to let me know if plans change, so hopefully this won’t happen again.