To report two infant age children walking to school alone

[ThePosieParker]

... to the head of the school.

This morning I saw two siblings (I assume) walking to school alone, the oldest looked about yr2 at the most and the youngest a reception child. I wanted to phone the school as there could be a number of reasons these children are walking alone, not all sinister but in my mind none good enough,. This is Bristol, a busy city, not the place to allow children to cross roads and negotiate traffic and people at the age of 6 or below, surely.

I am actually going to leave this thread.

Two boys walking to school and this is what it degenerates into.

Children walking to school is not the same as children being beaten and neglected. Like I said, no risk perception at all. Have there been any reports of small boys being run over or abducted in Bristol todsy?

Thought not.

so what then buzz. we wait until children start being run over before becoming concerned about it?

Buzz....Why did someone report you?

If you think that because you happen to be innocent then you have "nothing to fear" from an SS investigation then you really have no clue.

It isn't like a police / legal enquiry with the protection that the law of the land and the European court of human rights has enshrined. It is markedly different and that is why it is so terrifying.

Wannabe who is not concerned about it? As Buzz said earlier sledgehammer/nut. One can be concerned enough to 'phone the school and make an enquiry - one does not have to 'phone S.S.

Eeks - I'm on the wrong thread!

I'm glad I don't live near the OP.

My boys started walking to school alone on some days when DS1 was in Year 2 and DS1 was in Year 1. Usually because they wanted to go to breakfast club but I didn't want to trail DD back and forth twice as nursery didn't start until 9. Both myself and the HT were happy with this.

The area in which I live is safe enough to do this. It is a pity that some areas are not percieved as safe enough.

Mists is right. S.S. have great power. They can remove your children via Family Court and it's all done in secret and there is no re-course. Pretty terrifying stuff.

No-one reported me. They you go jumping to conclusions again.

How many children are killed/injured because people feel it's none of their business. How many people do you think heard baby p crying and did nothing?

How many, not many at all but one is too many and when you consider where the blame for that lies it's not with the general public but with the professionals.

ds (7) took it into his head to walk home from school on his own the other day. (He was supposed to be at after school club so I wasn't there to meet him.)

If OP had been walking past, I supposed I'd have social workers crawling all over my family now. Instead of the sensible option of stopping and asking ds if he was OK, or calling the school to find out why a 7yo was on his own. (Although he looks 8 or 9 which is probably why he got away with it.)

Actually no-one did stop him or call school - all the adults who saw him on his way home must have assumed he was with one of the other parents. Ds managed to get home perfectly safely, thank heavens, and dh and I dealt with him. Because we are his parents, it's our job to sort it out and decide when he can walk to or from school.

mamatomany, its actually quite offensive to equate walking to school alone with a toddler being beaten to death.
Sometimes its is none of your business.

It wasn't really passers-by who had the responsibility for Baby P though given that he was already in the system and several professionals were supposed to be looking out for his interests. Including those who we supposedly highly trained in safeguarding matters.

"its actually quite offensive to equate walking to school alone with a toddler being beaten to death"

Totally agree.

Come to think of it, if SS were not so overwhelmed with spurious, inaccurate and sometimes downright malicious reports then perhaps they could do their jobs more efficiently?

But you must as you seem to.know so.much about it and you said that unless I had experience.I had no.idea.

So we won't show any concern for young children because its one of our business and SS will whisk them away...nonsense

I have experience of it, not as a parent. You do keep proving my point that you have a complete inability to look at factors and judge accordingly.

And coccyx, you could try using some common sense and not ring SS for every little thing you see. Just a thought.

I haven't had chance to read the whole thread but I find it astonishing that the OP felt that her only courses of action were either to do nothing or to go home and make a report to SS.

Surely, if you have serious concerns about a child's wellbeing you need to step in immediately to ensure their safety. In this instance, going to school with them (or following behind at a discrete distance if you were worried about being seen as a scary stranger) and then having a quick word with a teacher would have been a better option than rushing home to do housework/get on with life/fit in quick call to SS.

Rushing home????

I took my dss to one school, my dn to another and my dd to a third, I then went to a chemist to buy some medicine for my niece who is unwell which is why I'm taking my nephew to school.

whilst at home for an hour and a half I tried to phone the school for an hour, they were engaged. So I then phoned someone else, then I collected my dd.

Queen,,,why would I go to a school that I have never been to, enter the playground leaving five children in my car or taking all of them with me?

I wouldn't in a million years allow my Year one and year Two children to walk to school alone, that is what, a five and a six year old? and I don't know anyone who would. I am frankly astounded that some think this ok.

I agree with wannabe. Although I am not sure that SS was the best course of action in this instance. School would have been best.

BuzzLightBeer - I was quoting wannaBe and responding to her comments.