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?

It's a bad cold. I still question why an otherwise healthy teen can't get out of bed for 4 days. If a child was lying in bed for that amount of time, assuming they are too ill to get up to come downstairs, shower, eat etc..it would be warming flags. If however they were eating, showering, using their phone then unlikely to need to lie in bed for 4 days

That’s clearly not a standard threshold. If it were we’d need twice weekly welfare checks for the first 4 years and every holiday.

Yeah must admit after 4 days of school means a welfare check seems a bit much. It was a couple of weeks before there was a welfare check on DD. I can understand a welfare check pretty soon if the family is known to social services.

Teacher here! Always worrying when we don’t physically see the child, so I feel as though it could have warranted them seeing your son, worst case scenario is them recording their findings on the schools system, which is usually cpoms.

It’s fairly standard to do a check after 3 days. Regardless!

This.

But because parents lie about their kids being sick so they can be off school for other reasons, not because of the risk of the them being strangled.

hours passed I agree. If social services spent more time chasing up cases that really WERE cause for concern,instead of wasting time on issues like this,then maybe we wouldn't keep continually hearing of tragedy after tragedy where children have suffered and died at the hands of their parents or guardians.

Welfare checks sometimes happen because they want to check you're not on holiday or that something hasn't happened since last term such as him becoming a young carer etc.

We had this happen to us which unfortunately freaked out our DC as it was a teacher who was very abusive for one of the checks! Just smile and nod and send them on their way.

Nah that’s not a “welfare check” it’s a check you’re not on holiday check. First week where the majority of schools are back and the holiday prices start coming down. They were checking you weren’t on holiday OP. If they were that concerned about doing a welfare check they wouldn’t have left when you said no. They would have escalated it to the police and social services.

Hello could surely have looked out the window for a few seconds. Not sure why you got so bothered about it.

Does anyone know what the welfare team do if no one answers when they call?
When unwell, my 15 year old stays home alone while I work, but she doesn’t answer the door and if my younger child is unwell she goes to stay with grandparents so that I’m able to work

if they called repeatedly they’d be no answer and the grandparents are 40 minutes away

It’s a safeguarding concern, whilst you know that you wouldn’t harm your DC, there are parents out there calling schools every day to say their DC’s are poorly to hide the fact they have a black eye or something. Those parents would also probably email the school to say their are being unreasonable.

I have had 6 children go through school and have never had that happen. My grandson has bad attendance 66% at one point. My daughter has never had a welfare check.

Fight school fines
Work of advice.ask.to see the how they have recorded the absence as 'autherised' as sick leave should be!!
Ask them to changed it to autherised as children was sick.ir you could get fined

This is quiet normal these days, a friend of mines DS was sick with bad food poisoning and the school got the council and police involved over it, eventually it had to be proven by a doctor but not after their house was raided and the father was taken into custody for being pissed off at them.

They eventually received full apologies but the one school welfare team lead did laugh in their faces when asked to apologise, they then found out she as having a relationship with a student so just about sums up the average safeguarding team member.

Regulations have changed over time. Safeguarding has had to change over the years for obvious reasons!

Our authority is 3 days off and staff should try to have ‘eyes on’ for safeguarding purposes. I’m sure some school take the chance to try to see if you’re being truthful but to be honest, for my school, it is purely to check everything is ok and family isn’t in crisis with behaviour. (PRU)