Have the school failed here?

[cabletied]

Hi,

My sister is struggling at the moment with some mental health issues that we have just become aware of. I am trying to support her. She has a 13 year old daughter who is often not attending school.

Last week, her daughter stayed at home on Weds, Thurs and Fri. My sister buried her head in the sand and didn't call the school. The school sent a text each morning and called later on, on each day. My sister didn't engage with this.

Am I right in thinking that the school should really have sent someone round to the house after a couple of days? I know that my sister is responsible too, but anything could have happened to my niece.

Is this not a massive safeguarding failure on the school''s part?

DC’s previous school last year would come round after 3 days of absence even if you did call each day. If I didn’t phone them before about 10.30am to tell them she was absent, they would send a text asking me to ring. I don’t know what would have happened if I still didn’t get in touch with. I assumed this happened in all schools following a serious safeguarding issue but Her new school doesn’t come round. At this school if I don’t phone by about 10am, they ring me. I know this because they ring me when I am at work and DC is at home with my parents and no one told me she hadn’t gone so I didn’t ring.
(her attendance is very low due to her mental health and unmet SEN, not my mental health)

Do you seriously think schools have time to visit all the people who fail to turn up and don’t inform them ? What would your sister have done if someone knocked the door if she’s in such a state that she can’t / won’t respond to her phone ? If she hadn’t answered the door do you think they should call the police? . Where does it end , personally I think teachers / school staff should be in school . Also if this has been going on for a while the school are probably used to it now . What do you plan to do about her attendance @cabletied

Well yes, this is what the educational welfare officer in each school is for. Ours and SEND staff do go to houses to get a student into school. Even as a form tutor I have stood in the car park trying to persuade a student out of the car for an hour.

OP, it is definitely a safeguarding concern yes

mnahmnah
Most schools especially secondary have far too many absent students to be able to do visits to all who do not answer. They will prioritise vulnerable families if there are specific concerns about particular children. The schools i have worked in all call those who do not call in. Some also call everyone to chase up absence, offer support and encourage students in if they think the absence is unnecessary. They physically cannot visit them all. They might go round to those on a concern list. It sounds like the OP has only just discovered herself that her sister is not well. How would school know this? If the op thinks her sister's child is at risk she needs to speak to the school and social care.

Sent who to the house exactly? There will have been no-one with time to do that. If your niece is flagged as being in a vulnerable living situation, they could have made an urgent referral to social services under safeguarding. Otherwise someone doing attendance part-time has tried. It's not unusual for parents to forget to notify the school, and then not be near their phone. There would have been no time to do a further follow-up.

@cansu

Agree on the vulnerable taking priority. With any others, day one would be a phone call. Day two phone calls to all numbers. Day 3, with no word, I think a welfare check would be done

So exactly, what is the procedure for school refusing kids, I'm interested, particularly for senior school..

This is normal here, schools don’t have time or resources for that. I generally remember to notify the school of absences but:

Primary school, if I forgot to notify they would phone me, if I didn’t return the call I don’t think they would do anything.

Secondary school do absolutely nothing. And even when I have said to DD “I’m not notifying your absence because I didn’t give you permission to skip school” the school genuinely don’t care.

I think it’s because since Covid there is a massive rise in absenteeism and it’s normal for kids to miss school, and often for days at a time.

It sounds like you need to contact the school and ask to speak to the DSL.

If they know there are safeguarding issues with your sister and her mental health they will be more likely to do home visits. They can also make referrals and offer support.

You're very lucky to still have an EWO. Ours was not replaced when she left - we simply don't have the money.

And the SEND staff are with the students with SEND.

What are you going to do about this now? Do you think contacting school or your local safeguarding team is necessary so your niece gets support too ?

Wastingtimeonhere
Most schools have clear procedures for absence notification. If your child refuses school you call in. The school will offer support and work with you to improve attendance. There is of course still an expectation that the parent engage with school and phone in. I know that where I work ome welfare checks take place where a member of staff visits to see the child but this would not be every day.

Did you know about this? Did you go round?

Am I right in thinking that the school should really have sent someone round to the house after a couple of days?

Schools cannot become the default solution to every single problem in the absence of health visitors, social workers, EWOs, GPs, school nurses etc etc . They simply don't have the funding. We can barely afford paper and pencils for the children to write with, let alone fund spare staff to go to people's houses who haven't sent their kids to school.

DS' school does send someone. I know because I was WFH last year and they turned up, asking why DS hadn't been in school for two days and we hadn't called. He had been in school, he was there right at that moment and has excellent attendance, that term was actually 100%, they called the office and had taken the details of the wrong child. So not covering themselves in glory but they do clearly send people out if a child is off and no one contacts them. Are the school aware of the situation? They should be really looking to support that child.

Well yes, this is what the educational welfare officer in each school is for.

There isn't an 'educational welfare officer' in any school round here and hasn't been for years!

Ideally, yes they should've or sent the police over for a welfare check, especially after three days with no communication whatsoever.

Is it possible that DN is in touch with her school friends and they have updated the school? Even then, she's in a vulnerable position so a SS referral should've been made.

How can it be a safeguarding failure on the schools part? They've called every day. How about you engage with the school and let them know what's going on? Or is it easier to blame them?

👌SuperSange. No one should pass their responsibility to schools, thinking them the panacea to everything as Shinyandnew1 observes. It’s utterly ridiculous and untenable.
Ttf I retired from the profession.

Because they theoretically haven't heard or seen from the parent or child in 3 days. They could both be dead in the house for all they know.