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.

So sad that someone who is showing a genuine concern for children gets called a meddlesome crow.

Lady - this is a bit childish isnt it? You dont know that I knew OP didnt know blah blah

Unless OP was following the children all the way then she absolutely doesnt know the mum wasnt there. If OP did follow them then Id say shes the one who needs reporting.

Anyway I agree with Goingforit. Attention seeking crapola is what this is.

"The OP knows she is being provocative and controversial by virtue of her name alone." bollocks. op is a long-time poster, so it's not as if she's changed to this name to start this thread..

Legalities are irelevant here - fact is that if one of those children were run over ss would become involved. Equally it's not illegal to leave children alone in a house but if you did and something happened to one of them ss would become involved.

Just because something isn't illegal doesn't make it right.

Meddlesome crow or PosieParker - means the same thing @ LadyintheRadiator.

OP called herself it. Don't you think it means something.

PosieParker's posting name hasn't got anything to do with this thread; she's had that name for years.

RockinSockBunnies abduction does happen you know, woman in Bristol recently.........

Cut-off age - Stop splitting hairs - surely the younger they are the more vulnerable they are?

IMO, Reception and Y2 too young(too young to walk to school. End of.

I think it's difficult to judge children's age by their size tbh. Dd is almost 8 but smaller than all of the y1 and y2 children even though she is in y3. She certainly looks younger than some of her friends in reception class.
I think it's a parents decision to make whether or not their child is able to get to school independently tbh.
Where our school is situated it's not unusual for parents to have to park a good distance away from the school and the children then go from the car to school independently.
Anyone seeing my dd alone would think I was neglectful (I accompany her incidentally) but it's common among her classmates some of whom are about 9 inches taller than she is.

oh do have a herbal tea or something Lady.

I'll post what I like.

I got reported to SS for letting my nearly 8yo walk to school alone (well, he went by scooter, to be precise, the only traffic he encountered was school run vehicles, too).
I ended up feeling quite traumatised at the stigma of being investigated by SS, totally undermined my confidence (ironic, considering how much it was boosting his). Made me distrust everybody. Has left me shaking my head at all the other 7-8-9yo children around here "allowed" to travel to school alone whilst I don't know if I should dare let my children have similar freedoms. And as for the NSPCC who took the call (I presume that's who PP phoned, too), I could spit nails at them...

But you carry on, PP. Why not report the 5yo shouting "Fuck Off" at passing cars, too? And put in a word about the Schonrock children why you're at it.

After all, the children's carer could be on the floor incapacitated, and it's not like the children would do the normal thing of ringing 999, is it? After all, a 3yo managed to ring 999 to save his mother, the other day, but I'm sure the children you saw couldn't manage to raise the alarm and would shrug their shoulders & trot off to school instead, perfectly normal response.

actually I am more astounded that there are so many people on this thread who clearly have no concern for the welfare of young children.

Clearly this is why so much child abuse goes undetected if people believe that what others do with their own children is none of anyone else's business.

wannaBe HERE HERE!

Look RP, the problem is not that you felt concerned but that you rung ss and not talked to the school. You have no idea if the school knows about this, you have no idea of the childrens background. HTs work for all children, sometimes it might not tally with anothers opinion or parenting beliefs. It's easy to look at something and make a snap judgement but it would have been much better to have had a quiet word with the school and say it concerned you to see two siblings walking to school alone. There could have been a very good reason for it, the school could have been aware, or they might not have been, and then they could investigate as they wished.

Think you made a bit of a judgement call (your opinion but not everyones).

mloo - the OP is talking about children she genuinely believes to be quite a few years younger then age 8 (and yes I do know that some children look young for their age but there are not many 8 year olds that look as young as four).

Oh Wannabe - do cock off.

would you leave your handbag on the side of the street un attended? If your answers no, then why would you leave a vulnerable child? (Based on Reception YR2 child)

You were concerned - whether reasonably or unreasonably is impossible to say, without knowing more about the circumstances, which the head teacher would be in a position to consider.

Raising it with the school -> sensible

Getting SS involved, because the parents made a choice you wouldn't have, nasty.

WannaBe - noone is saying that.

Just that ringing SS was over the top.