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 ?

Are you deliberately missing the point of why they want the information?

But the school are not responsible for the safety of your child if they're not there?
I guess maybe the notion you'd pull your kid out and lie that it was because of a holiday when it wasn't could be seen as suspicious. Presumably abusers do use holidays as excuses when they might be keeping them back to make them do things that are inappropriate or because they're injured.

But it isn’t unexplained absence @ProudCat . And parents can abuse a child on foreign soil, and literally all they had to do was ring the parent and hear the international dial tone anyway!

School would be wasting time and resources in attempting to refer to social services for a child who otherwise has 100% attendance and was back to school on the Friday with no concerns just as OP said he would be after his holiday.

Social services probably wouldn't accept the referral anyway as I can't imagine how it would reach the threshold they require without any other concerns.

Hmm I assume it’s abit like when they ask for evidence that your child went to the dentist to authorise absense. My hospital letters have personal information, but I send them anyway.

what’s the personal information your scared of them having? Have you heard of deducting? Just put black squares on the information that you are not comfortable sharing.

Schools already know your address, DOB, parents names. You decided to take your child out of school, just give them the evidence, remove your personal information and be done with it.

Maybe they are trying something new, not because of your child, but there are many parents that just pull their kids out of school for silly reasons these days, and sadly the decisions of a minority, can affect the majority.

Youre taking it too literally, a culture where parents know that the school will be checking into the reasons for absences and recording details might improve awareness for everyone, highlight little bits of information that might point to a bigger issue, make children feel able to speak up. It's extra evidence if something awful does happen and might give lessons for the future

You just don't know, it seems like a good thing to me

This is a normal request. When we requested an authorised absence for our DDs to go to their uncle’s funeral in Scotland, their schools asked for hotel and travel details for safeguarding - although before we actually travelled. When children are taken away unexpectedly, it helps to confirm that everything is ok and you’re not lying about what’s going on (although I doubt they were going to call the hotel and checked!).

You’re being unnecessarily precious about this.

Your flight details? Just screenshot your boarding cards. They aren’t asking for your passports!

It's likely government / school rules to encourage least amount of absences as a lot of parents take the biscuit. They have pupils best interests at heart. Not worth getting knickers in a twist about.

i don’t think this is about them asking for ‘personal’ information, it’s about them being perceived to be unreasonable. I take both my primary children out of school once a year (two different schools) and neither has asked for this. If you told them you were going beforehand and then had your child back on the day you said you said you would, there is zero rationale for them needing this information to safeguard your child. They don’t ask you to account for your child over a weekend, bank holiday or holiday, all of which are planned breaks from schools, so why they would need to for a planned break in term time is beyond me.

That can't happen in Spain or wherever they said they were going?
Someone who goes to that much trouble could not find flight numbers for another destination or even have a back up story with false evidence ready in case of the child disclosing?
People who have done something terrible and have those kind of contacts would not have an escape plan ready which could be executed when the school show suspicion?
If the school have such concerns they need to refer to the appropriate agency instead of trying to investigate themselves which can destroy a police investigation and put the child at further risk of harm.
My concerns aren't privacy, my concerns are as a social worker seeing safeguarding used for a tick box exercise. If there are genuine safeguarding concerns they need to follow correct processes. If there aren't safeguarding concerns they need to stop using the word as a silencing tactic. That minimises safeguarding and breaks trust in services, impacting relationships that are needed for actual safeguarding concerns.
I'm also worried by the blind following of authority and people being berated for questioning it. We should always question and critically reflect on things. We should be open and transparent when safe to do so. We (professionals in safeguarding) should respect human rights, we should be ethical and we should be proportionate. We should be able to articulate the reason for doing something and all actions should be considered with us knowing what the potential outcomes are. In this case, is asking for the flight number going to be of any benefit, is it going to potentially pose a risk? If it's going to pose a risk, there needs to be a multi-agency approach and the appropriate agency need to gather the evidence (that's not school). If there is no benefit to the child, don't do it.

That's not for safeguarding. It's to evidence why they authorised it. Do they need that info if you go to a funeral in the school holidays?

I think I’d politely ask the school to explain exactly why they need this info for safeguarding, ie what the specific risk is that they need to safeguard against, and how providing flight numbers would do this.

Just demanding info and saying ‘it’s for safeguarding’ doesn’t cut it. They shouldn’t be asking for personal data that’s unnecessary. If it turns out that they have a sensible reason, however, then fair enough. I wouldn’t take that on trust, though, as it isn’t clear.

Christ almighty, why are you being so awkward?
They need evidence your DC flew to make sure:

He was not left with relatives who could have brought him in (if this was the case you should have stated holiday/quality time was with Nan)

He was not left home alone with cereal for 5 days taking himself in

He was where you stayed i.e. with you

This is not GDPR your side. You're being obstructive for the sake of it.

And let's face it, you took the piss going away week 2 of term.

I hate to be the one to break it to you but you can be fined for less than 10 sessions absence. It's that after 10 sessions school must consider referring for a fine (or words to that effect) so I'd be less cocky about being 'under the threshold' if I were you.

Why are you reluctant to provide the information?

All schools have stringent requirements regarding attendance and registration. The kind of register I had a a kid with a / \ or 0 is long gone and nowadays it has an almost whole alphabet of codes depending on the reason for absence eg illness, medical appt, authorised absence, unavoidable travel delay etc. The school also has to know reasons for absence for safeguarding purposes. Think of all the poor kids who’ve slipped through the net where schools could’ve picked up some clues. I don’t think you have to give the school your flight details but they’re just asking for the information that they need to keep full records. It’s not personal. It happens in schools everywhere, both state and private.

Okay, again, what does it prove. Where is the 'safeguarding ' what's the impact on the child?

🤣, if my daughter was still at school I’d do the same as you, 😬

And advanced warning of the absence.

Its well known that parents advise schools in advance of absence when they are planning to injure their child.

If this is a remotely legitimate request they should have no trouble pointing at the specific legislation or form which requires them to gather the information. Anything more over reach. I'm always astonished at the amount of personal information people are willing to hand over just because somebody with a clipboard asks them.

All nonsense like this does is magnify the background noise from which the real important information needs to be acted on. Leading to more false positives and negatives.

I guess they just want some reassurance that you're not just keeping him off til the bruises fade.

This ^
I would provide them with some information and cross out the info you don’t want them to know.
I did this with DD’s appointment’s letters - I would cross out her nhs number as DOB and address were known to school anyway.
I wouldn’t make it a hill to die on.

Racist? To not assume that a boy is out of school to have his clitoris excised?

Lol!!

The safeguarding buzz word again. Tell them to FO.