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 ?

Nope. Never posted a picture of my ds. That is his choice to make now he is an adult.

Next !

Always one…

No it's not!
Again, in the absence of any other concerns, a term time holiday is not a safeguarding concern.

This post explains a lot!

But why?
I don't understand what you are "winning" and why you would prefer to precipitate a SS investigation rather than give the school, with whom you have a good relationship, the information they have asked for.

Yep. Schools are blamed for everything these days. And while this sounds like overkill, it will have come about because there's been an incident where the school had been told that the child was on holiday, but actually s/he was at home waiting for the black eye to go down. And when the abuse was uncovered, suddenly the school was berated for not investigating the holiday claim far enough.

Then of course the LEA or the academy trust sends out new rules to ask their schools to cover their backs going forward.

It's just the way things are now. It's maddening, but while there now always has to be an institution or company to blame when something goes wrong, we're stuck with this kind of thing. And of course sometimes, for a child's sake, looking into things further is vital.

I'm sorry for what you went through in your childhood @JustAnotherWhinger . And I agree that children will almost always lie to protect their parents in these situations. I did, too.

I seriously doubt they'd make a referral over this one time but it's surely better to have proof on record incase it starts happening regularly.
It is literally so they can tick a box.
Such a fuss over nothing.

Actually, it is.

The school are over-reaching, they can request but they cannot demand this information, I suspect they are misinterpreting guidance by quite some distance. I would be very unhappy if I discovered the DSL or other school staff were doing this, as they are failing to apply commonsense to the situation... and I write this as a current safeguarding governor /Chair and having previously worked in safeguarding.

And take a much needed social care worker away from their job of protecting children who are actually vulnerable. Great choice.

Maybe I'm just too old, and grumpy but all you need to do is reply

"Or what ?"

and leave it at that.

Age and experience have told me that a lot of nonsense melts away when pushed back. Especially when it needs something to be put in writing.

Alternatively just make something up and see if they bother to check it.

(Mind you, if I worked in a school I'd much rather check parents flight details tahn actual do any fucking teaching. Teaching is hard.)

Yes. I work in the NHS and mental health and have been involved in many safeguarding cases. The thinking behind this demanding of the holidays is irrational.

And what if someone took their kid on holiday and abused them there? Where is the safeguard around that?🤷🏼‍♀️ A flight confirmation means not to worry?

I think this kind of stuff gives a false sense of security and is a box-ticking exercise. It is much better to be vigilant and monitor families of concern, and raise specific concerns when needed and act on them asap.

It's the school that are being awkward here.
The amount of people who will bend over backwards to do whatever someone in a position of authority tells them to do and berate anyone who doesn't is quite scary.

But:

I could provide details of flights but never actually have gone on them

Or I could abuse my child while on holiday

How does having some fight numbers do anything except create a false sense of security?

@SethAndReubenTooSendGaloshes you obviously have some personal issues around this type of situation so I won't be responding to you any more.

Yes, they are massively overstepping, demanding to see flight information, LOL, the police would even need some paperwork from a court to do that.

Maybe all of them do. Or none. Doesn’t matter. The point is that what you choose to share is your choice. If I choose to share a picture of my arse on my own social media but cover my arms that’s my own choice. The whole point is we share what we want. Not what we’re told to share.

Why cant you just give them the basic flight info ?

I know someone who had to documents to the school complete details of her son's absences due to an operation on his brain and hospital appointments. So why the big deal ?

Seems mad that they want that info but no idea why you are obsessed with it being private information unless you do have something to hide. What does it matter?

When I read the opening post I initially thought "why do they need that?"

But having read the thread and people's thoughts there are reasons that the school might ask

Some children are sent abroad to be married and while this is usually going to involve certain countries and cultures it is easier for the school to get information from everyone than to be accused of discrimination.

Some children are sent abroad for female genital mutilation and this is also going to involve certain countries and cultures - again it is easier for the school to get information from everyone than to be accused of discrimination.

Some children will experience abuse or injuries that lead parents to keep them off school.

On reflection parents with nothing to hide co-operating with the school and providing the evidence frees up the school's time for cases that are concerning. If we are going to push back and talk about our right to keep our holiday flight private etc then we should do that knowing it makes it harder for schools to spot children being sent abroad for harmful purposes and harder to spot abuse.

That’s like saying no & I want to speak to my solicitor is a sign of guilt if the police want to search your house or read every message on your phone. It’s not. We have civil liberties for a reason.

There is no good reason to need this information and context is significant. Safeguarding is not the password which gets passed all right to a private family life, when there is no legitimate reason to be concerned. Schools are not the proper people to investigate even if it there were legitimate concerns - that would be social services.

Nope……it’s going down as unauthorised so I would be questioning why??

If schools were good with data I’d have more sympathy with this point of view. But in general, they aren’t. Teachers and staff gossip. Computer systems are not brilliantly well protected. Transmission of data is not always secure. And even if great at one point in time, all systems are vulnerable to change in policy and personnel. I wouldn’t give school data that has no benefit to my child as a matter of course.

And that’s without even considering the political impact of resisting government over reach.

Safeguarding is one of the most abused words I have ever seen dealing with schools.

Where you travelled is quite firmly none of their business in isolation. I would ask them to spell out their concern and to evidence it. If they have nothing, they have no SG grounds and I'd politely decline.

You've misunderstood. In these cases it's the parent lying about a holiday that never happened. A 'holiday' that the child spent at home nursing their bruises/pinch marks.