School asking for flight details after unauthorised term-time absence abroad

[PersonalData]

We went abroad mon-thu last week, ds (10) was in school the week before and went back on Friday. We let them know and obviously knew it would be unauthorised. As it was 8 sessions we don’t qualify for a fine. His attendance is usually 100%.

They asked on friday before and after for us to provide proof of the flights and other details for ‘safeguarding’ but he was back in school and clearly fine ?? We declined as this is private personal data. They replied back that we must submit the evidence by the end of tomorrow?

Is this usual ?

its a safeguarding requirement because the school needs evidence to support your information that they were as you say on a family holiday and not off school for some other reason. Schools don’t like the attendance requirements any more than parents do but still have to follow them. All that will happen to the info is that it will be stored securely on an online safeguarding system which only specially trained school designated safeguarding leads will be able to access.

In which case the hospital would have been doing the safeguarding.

Poor school… having to deal with people like this..

Good plan. Try and make sure people who work in education spend as much time as possible doing absolutely pointless stuff. That way, they'll be too busy to deal with the real issues and protect the children.

Sickening.

I presume that the school is checking uou haven’t taken your child somewhere to be radicalised, or if a girl, to be cut.
Just tell them.

There are different types of abuse. Some parents are not that bothered whether their kids attend school. They may just need evidence on fine that there was a good reason, and not just neglect.

Maybe the school leaders should use their common sense. Not chasing useless information would save them some precious time.

Schools are damned if they do and damned if they dont

Agree. So the effort people are putting into wailing about school overreach might be better aimed at the likes of Labour + Palantir, Reform/Restore, the Greens, AI regulation etc.

He otherwise has 100% attendance though and was straight back to school on Friday as was planned. School may have a point if his attendance was also concerning or some absences were unexplained/unplanned.

.....and flight documentation of some sort could be produced that would easily hide problematic destinations....

Gleaning this info is not automatically or inevitably improving safeguarding, but it's a worry that so many posters think it must do so.

It depends what the request is. You need to have boundaries somewhere in order to stop them from asking more and more info, which is intrusive and a breach of privacy.

We have been asked for travel details and a copy of wedding invite when took my girls out for a wedding abroad. It didn't do me any harm to provide it so I did. They then authorised 1 day of the absence. I don't have a habit of objecting to things just to be awkward.

I certainly agree schools are not the main concern, but they are very much a concern and are actually the State unlike some on your list. But it’s mainly about resisting the attitude exemplified in this thread that we should just conform because we’ve been asked to.

The information isn't useless. They've just asked for confirmation. Surely, common sense should tell you that this is necessary because not everyone is honest.

This is exactly what I would do. I would not provide it to the school but if they felt the need to do a safeguarding referral to children’s services - then provide them with the information.

Jesus this thread is depressing.

Someone compared schools taking care of children’s welfare to bin men. It’s hardly an accurate parallel is it?
‘Bollocks to them they have zero authority over you’.
I mean, is it any wonder we have a crisis in employing educators if this is the attitude towards them? They take care of the newest generation, and they try to keep everyone safe- and when they slip up, HORROR HAPPENS. Baby P happens, Sara Sharif happens- the stakes are so damn high, should we as society not do everything in our power to support the schools in any way they feel necessary?
The entitlement on this thread is MIND BLOWING. People who cannot see further than their own little bubble to consider that some parents are not what they seem, that abuse happens in plain sight. All these posters saying ‘ahh no previous, no past concerns’- how do you think the bloody background picture gets built? The bigger picture is made up of tiny things- an off feeling here, an absence here. These things can only be put together with DOCUMENTATION! Imagine - if there were other mild concerns raised to social services later down the line- would those mild concerns mount up to big concerns if there were absences scattered with refusal to provide evidence? Would all these seemingly OTT tick boxes provide a clearer background on a trail of abuse? Would it build the evidence which might one day help keep a child safe?
The ones saying this short absence should not be a concern (I agree it likely isn’t- but surely providing a flight number/ticket is so unbelievably easy, that anyone with nothing to hide would just…do it?) and cannot fathom why documentation might be needed are not understanding where the ability to build the big picture comes from.

I love how a forum full of internet strangers are so quick to condemn schools as over-inflated big heads who should know their place (with the bin men apparently?).
You all have rushed to tell a mum who has removed her child from school in the first 3 weeks of the school year for the sake of cheaper Turkey teef that the school are overstepping and to blame here, without knowing any background information about the family at all. I only hope the safeguarding teams at schools have more critical thinking skills and ability to think outside the (tick)box than you lot.
I honestly despair for society…

I’m slightly baffled by why they need to know but I’d just give it as it isn’t really personal data. I’m not sure this is the thing you really need to be digging in on.

I mean, WHY??? Why would you want to waste so much time and resource like that?

I can't understand why details of flights already taken is some kind of massive ask/privacy breach in the first place

The school is just trying to go its job and for some reason everyone is taking it so bloody personally. For all you know it may be standard safeguarding practice to check that parents went where they said they did. You must be aware that parents sometimes take their children abroad for nefarious reasons or may say they are going abroad when in fact they're doing something or going somewhere that is not in the child's best interest. No one is suggesting you did this; it just makes sense to have a blanket policy. Surely it is the work of a moment to send them the information they asked for. It's not exactly sensitive data, is it?

But how does supplying them the flight details give them any confirmation that the family actually took the flights?
You think they will check with the airline? And the airline will tell them? Now that would be a data breach.

If the school have a safeguarding concern I would absolutely not accept a screenshot of something which could easily be faked, to deter them from reporting this. If they suspect the child had come to harm - then they would report it? The child has clearly been on holiday. If they wish to take it further then they can

Surely your common sense is able to tell me what difference that information will make to a child? How it will actually safeguard them seen as that's the reason for the request? How they will know if the child actually got on that flight? How it could indicate or rule out abuse? What exactly it would be evidence of and what use that evidence is? Please enlighten me. Other safeguarding professionals have given numerous explanations as to why this information isn't required, so please do educate us all.

Did he attend for the complete day the preceding Friday, was in on time for the Friday morning when you returned and not visibly tired, I.e. the flight back wasn’t late on Thursday / early hours of Friday.