Safeguarding breach at school

[Confuuzed]

My child is 9 and in year 4. Shes suspected adhd and asd. When she gets dysregulated, she runs. School knows this and didn't put in any safe spaces inside school or safe people for her to go to if she needs help- they're also refusing to look at sen support or any formal plan for her.

2 days ago, without any staff noticing, she got from her classroom, out through a secure door, out of reception past the staff, and made it to the school gate where she was having a panic attack (she's been bullied at school and doesn't feel safe. That's a whole other story). Another parent who was coming into the school to pick up their own child found her and took her back in. Staff completely unaware, the other parent told me what happened at pick up. Staff still haven't contacted me about it and it's happened 2 days ago. I'm not sure they even noticed at all.

This is a major safeguarding failure, right? If the other parent hadnt intercepted her and brought her back, she could have got out if a delivery driver turned up for eg. And opened the gate. She's got no road sense, she would probably have run out into the road.

Just wanted to know from anyone who works in safeguarding how bad this is because my instincts are telling me very bad indeed.

Did you not speak to her teacher at pick up after that parent told you what happened?

No. The teacher disappeared before i got the chance as she was doing afterschool club. Before i speak to them, i want to know how serious a safeguarding breach it is.

I’d be speaking to the head teacher about this asap, hope your DC is ok.

It’s bloody serious! What more information do you need? I’d have been speaking to the HT straight away!

This isn't the first problem we've had with the school failing to meet her needs (the head is fully aware and is behind most of it) but it's the first time something like this has happened so i wanted a sense check. I don't know anything about schools or safeguarding and i don't know anyone who does know that's why I'm posting here.

It all depends on their response and you need to talk to them and I would not have left it two days just to wait, I would have asked someone to ring me if the teacher wasn’t available. There are so many variables. Did the receptionist pass on that she was found outside? How did she get outside the secure door? Did anyone notice she was missing, how long was she out there? If she’d run off while a teacher was dealing with something else and had been out there for seconds, it’s different from being missing for 30 minutes and not knowing, was the secure door shut etc. It’s hard to judge how bad it is until they’ve had a chance to respond and to know where the issue is. It also then depends on their response, safeguarding issues happen, but there’s a big difference between this is the action we’re going to take to address the issue and sweeping it under the carpet. I would ask for someone to give you a ring and take it from there.

Certainly sounds bad. I’m surprised you didn’t go straight into school to found out what happened though? How long was she there? She didn’t actually get out, which is good. Who suspects ADHD etc? Why are school not looking at a plan - that suggests they don’t think that she has. Has she been told that she mustn’t run? Have explained to her that she mustn’t. It’s a bit weird that you’ve left it a few days tbh.

No one can tell you how serious it is without knowing the full story. What did your dd say?

I would think about whether this school is suitable for her, especially if it is a small school. Small schools often do not have space to have a safe room for one child to use and often their resources are very stretched. A bigger school often has more facilities.

If she 'has no road sense' aged 9, I would wonder why a diagnosis hadn't happened already.

There's a lot of questions but it doesn't sound like the right school for her.