Is a letter from the police about truency kept on permanent record?

[teamcullen]

DD has to be at school for 8.40am. Last week her bus was stuck in traffic and she arrived at the school gates at 8.45am. Standing at the gate was a Truency (sp) watch police officer and a teacher. They asked DD her name and class and sent her into school. DD tried to explain why she was late but they were not interested.

This was the first time DD was late all year dispite having to rely on public transport (2 buses)

On Saturday, we received a letter from the police informing us that the truency team had picked DD up outside the school gate at 8.45am.

Now I understand they have a job to do but FFS 5 minutes late Now Im worried that this will stay on DDs personal record and her school has broke up for summer so I cant speak to anybody until September by which time I will probably forget or will get nowhere because it happened last term.

Does anybody know what happens?

Blimey that sounds harsh!

Sorry don't know what happens, but that is very ott!

punctuality is not truency. I would be fuming.

I don't know whether it stays on a record as i have no experience of it but i would most certainly be calling to complain about it and make sure that it is removed immediatly.

That is astounding.

caught her outside the school gates!! Funny that as she was going to school. I would email the ht now as they will probably still be in school this week and we can acess our school mail from home pcs and do check during holidays>

Goodness me, what an overreaction on their part.

Complain, complain, complain.

If you let this jobsworth away with it now he/she will be completely power crazed in a years time.

I would say it is not kept on record. I had a similar experience my DD went out of school next door to her local asda at a break time as she needed sanitary towels and the machines in school had run out. She was stopped by a police officer and a letter sent home. I was absolutely fuming. I phoned the officer and he said that nothing is kept on record, they just like to frighten the children

Ask to see your DDs school records - in FULL - and see what's on them. Do the same with the LA and ask for her full educational record for whatever period of time you feel is apt. Unless you need to do otherwise, specify a short period of time - say, from the day before the incident to the date of writing, inclusive.

You may ask under 2 laws and it may help to use a formal request - Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 and the Data Protection Act 1998. AFAIk the first and second may be quoted to the school, the second to the LA.

If you find anything which is unacceptable, complain to the Head, cc-ing to the chair of governors and LA.

IF a child is genuinely truanting, it does go on record as far as I recall and will be reported to the LA.

Be warned - as I have discovered today, it may be a problem to get your DDs full record. Do NOT be fobbed off with a offer to see it under the supervision of a member of staff. You have a right to a hard copy - ask for that in your request (which you can email OR send in a letter).

And ensure that you make it clear that you want the ENTIRE record, including, but not restricted to, emails/reports/in-house memos/whatever you think of. It may well help to specify that you are particularly desirous of receiving any communications ot records relating to the incident of X date, so there is no excise not to give you what you need and no misunderstanding.

The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 requires the school to respond within 15 SCHOOL days, I believe that the DP Act demands a response within 40 working days. There is recourse if you don't get the information within this time.

HTH.

Ooh I didnt think of e.mail Mumbar. I will do that tommorrow.

I think the school are trying to crack down on a group of girls who stand outside school chatting to the boys from the school next door who start school later than DDs school. I think she was just unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But still, DH was ready to kick off on DD saying they wouldnt send a letter out for being 5 minutes late blah blah blah. Luckily DD had told me the day it happened that she had been stopped and the letter stated the time and place which matched with what she had already told me.

It had Merseyside Police stamped all over the bloody envelope too

Bloody hell Vallhala do you thik I need to do all that now or should I try and get some answers from school first?

Oh dear OP - that is just very bad luck for your daughter. Lots of schools have a 'late' check at the gate from time to time, and on this occasion it coincided with your daoughter having a bad journey. It's a scatter gun approach that has some effect on puntuality overall, but there are always some 'good children' who get caught up in it like your daughter has on this occasion. Whilst it's annoying the truancy officers can't make an exception and the letter gets trundled off to you same as it does to the repeat offenders who are always late. My guess is it won't be on her record at all as the school will know who they really want to target and the info will be kept on those pupils only so the school can take action as necessary for those children/families. I am a HT and I can't keep records on every little thing!! especially recording one instance of lateness for a child who is never late!! I am drowning in paperwork as it is. Just have a quick word or email to the HT - no need for the heavy stuff on Freedom of Information etc. And be nice - it may not even have anything to do with the HT! Contrary to popular belief we don't sit at home deciding how to annoy people, but of course errors occur from time to time. Parents storming into school and having a go have made me cry twice in recent weeks (not in front of them of course, but blubbing in the loo afterwards) and it makes a tough job that much harder.

Out of curiousity- what would happen if it was on her record? It is hardly going to stop her going to uni is it?

Quite right Butterpie! A child's 'permanent record' is really a file full of various bits of paper that will hardly ever be looked at by anyone. Receiving schools and uni etc want to know your child's academic grades and a general overview of them as a learner (e.g self-motivated, curious, eager to find out things etc). One late mark fro X number of years ago isn't going to figure on anyone's horizon in the future.