Enquiry

[Questionable00]

I'm writing this to try understand if this is acceptable:

Recently my 9 year old nephew who has Autism has been going in to school and coming home full of anxiety, saying that his teacher is questioning him about what goes on at home but its making him full of worry and anxiety, are they permitted to do this? I'd also like to ask if this is allowed as last week the police had came in to school on two occasions to question him but I thought with his age and his special needs that a responsible adult i.e Parents or Grandparents were to be present? No family member was made aware of the Police's attendance at school until the SW has brought it up. I'd just like to know the views on what others make think of the situation, Many Thanks....

I think you'd have to give some more detailed information really OP.

Is a teacher allowed to make general enquiries or conversation about a pupils home life within reason and what is appropriate for the situation - yes.

Do you mean police came on to school grounds to formally question a 9 year old? What is it that's going on that requires police involvement I think is the crucial information missing here and why would these questions be being asked because the situation sounds like it isn't something small that prompted this.

Police are allowed to question a child without parents present and in the company of another appropriate adult if it is felt that that enquiry needs to be made urgently to establish whether anyone is at risk. You can view the police policies on their interactions with children online and see that ultimately they are not required to disclose to parents that it's happened. To interview the child or make an arrest I believe they would need to be 10 years of age or older. Speaking to them informally does not come under the same umbrella as this.

I've no idea what the responsibility of the school is but you can presumably speak to the Head to try to understand what has happened and discuss your child's welfare issues.

There must be a safeguarding issue if the police came in. Were they specifically questioning your child or others too? Have the school not spoken to you about potential issues previously to this?