Will I get in trouble with the school?

[wanderingtopographer]

DS13 has been ill this week with a bad cold and has had 4 days absence. Nothing serious enough for the GP but in bed for the duration with Calpol and feeling generally unwell - I've also caught it and am feeling rubbish so it's clearly contagious. I have called the school every morning to keep them updated. For what it's worth, He performs very well academically and his behaviour at school is excellent so there are no other causes for concern.

I was on the sofa in my PJs when there was a knock on the door and two people from the attendance team were on the doorstep to do what they called a welfare check. I told them what i had said before - he's tucked up poorly in bed. They then asked if he could come down or put his head out of the window!

I was quite taken aback, as well as being slightly out of it, and said that no, he is poorly in bed, I am his mum and that feels like a big overstep on their part. I didn't raise my voice and said it politely but it feels absolutely wrong to have him forced to present himself as proof when he is feeling ill and not even dressed. We have never had any issues with the school that I think could warrant them disbelieving me or being otherwise concerned about his welfare - he is a nice, happy, well adjusted kid who happens to have a stinking cold!

They didn't push the matter and went away, but am now worried that it will be a mark against my name or they will raise it in school. Does anyone know if they will take this further?

gp for a cold ffs no wonder the nhs is on its knees

The government doesn't disagree. Neither the teachers nor any other school employees have authority to require sight in this situation. Only the police do, and they require a reasonable suspicion that the child is in danger to do so. Being off school for 4 days isn't going to meet that mark.

It wouldn't be the first time I've felt a government policy was flawed.

Personally I'd like to see massive investment in children's social work departments, rather than school staff wasting time knocking on doors where nothing needs to be checked.

Unless there are underlying health issues, nobody needs to take to their bed for a week with a cold.

Are you and other posters seriously complaining about the school checking that the kid is safe and well? After all the articles about hundreds, if not thousands of kids going missing from education because 1) they’ve been forcibly married 2) left behind in a different country as surety for a deal 3) murdered 4) beaten so badly they have to stay home until the bruises heal 5) been made to take drugs across the country 6) obliged to take on caring duties for an incapable adult etc etc?

As for those complaining about government intrusion - exactly how else do you expect the government to know which kids are safely in bed with a cold and which ones are hidden under the floorboards?

The point is you need targeted specialist intervention, not huge amounts of time wasted knocking on the doors of everyone who has a cold.

Exactly how does the school or any other service know that in this particular case nothing needs to be checked? Clairvoyance?

And how do you identify the people who require “targeted specialist intervention”? School absence is a very good (though evidently not perfect) proxy for that. Are you planning to rely on people just asking for help? Waiting until a neighbour calls the police? How are you going to see what’s behind closed doors if you don’t look?

Maybe you could explain exactly where this “targeting” should be focused?
How the school could tell op’s ds was genuinely in bed with a cold?
You haven’t an actual clue what you’re talking about.

I’ve never had the attendance team but when ds was off with EBSA (all sorted now and he’s in a sen school) every now and then the deputy head would either want to talk to him on the phone or pop in and just check he was actually okay and I hadn’t maybe killed him and just making it all up lol it’s just safeguarding

I can’t believe the number of posters who would have told these welfare officers to “fuck off”. How crass and abusive. The same posters who no doubt wring their hands when yet another child is abused or murdered and wonder why social services can’t protect them. It starts with investigating 4 consecutive days off for a cold - no one without underlying health conditions needs to be bedridden for four days with a cold. Of course it’s suspicious.

all they needed was to see the child at the window, can’t believe you couldn’t oblige with that simple request.

The thing is that it won't be the poor person who turns up at your door that has decided this. This will be because of safeguarding and OFSTED stuff. The people who turn up and the school are just doing what they have to do to meet their targets and tick their boxes - I doubt very much whether they are concerned about your child's welfare - why would they be, your child turns up, does well, is well behaved and raises no concerns at school but the system will say they have to do this.

Obviously schools would share their concerns with social services who make child protection judgements and have additional owers.
The point is schools will be wasting time knocking on doors where no knock is needed - they know this.

Ordinary school absence is a completely useless proxy for serious issues - having a virus is not a cause for concern.

Yes, a healthy 13 year old should be able to fight a cold without lying in bed for nearly a week. He should certainly have been well enough to get up when asked. I think this attitude to illness will set a precedence for adulthood and a ultimately working life.

I'm pleased schools are investigating because there is an outcry when children's absences are ignored. I suspect the school have reasons.

So you seriously think that a teacher should knock on the door of any family where their child is ill for four days? What would seeing a child's face at the window tell you?
You think that would be better for child protection outcomes than properly staffed children's services?

Yes agree. DC2 had 2 weeks of illness in October of y8 and I informed the school every single day about their symptoms, doctors appointments, blood tests etc. I got a threatening letter from the educational welfare officer at the council threatening me
wlth court and a £1000 fine because their attendance had gone down to 80% (or whatever jt was). It was 100% the previous year and most years in primary.

I was furious.

Almost a week off school is not ordinary school absence, hence why it triggered a visit. You are quite clearly someone who has never been involved in safeguarding, as your comments rest on a number of assumptions which are wholly false.

I'm sorry, a teenager with a cold should absolutely be in school - we all did it, at school and at work. It's the start of term - they need to be in school!

I was being shitty and sarcastic tbh. Who has almost a week off work / school / sticking your head out the windows for 30 seconds for a ‘cold’? I was insinuating you don’t need to be in bed for 4+ days when you have a cold unless you’re exceptionally weak or it’s actually something more serious. Your inference skills could use some work.

I'm all in favour of true safeguarding and would support much increased investment in child protection services.

I'm interested to know what the safeguarding impact is of the knock on the OP's door. What happens next?

""I would only find that appropriate if there had been other incidents / observations that the school felt were a cause for concern, which really isn't the case.""

There has to be the start if something and look at all the kids hurt and who are missing becusse schools isn't check up on them..

Yeah me too. Questioning a policy is one thing, but in all honesty why be so awkward about it? Just show them the kid. It’s well known that schools do this.

His health must be quite fragile to be off with a cold for 4 days-have you made a GP appointment for him?

If concerned, escalate to SS

If their policy is a home visit then they would be slated if they did some but not all.

I would have let them see him.