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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to expect the school to be concerned if a 10/11 y/o girl is 20 mins late for a lesson

40 replies

whatkatydidathome · 08/09/2011 18:16

dd is nearly 11 and just in y 6. She was 20 minuites late back to class after lunch and no one noticed. Should I be concerned? (No pupil goes home for lunch.)

OP posts:

Greensleeves · 08/09/2011 18:18

surely they must have noticed, didn't they take the register?

I would have thought that they would be actively chasing her up by 20 minutes into the afternoon lesson.

Original poster

whatkatydidathome · 08/09/2011 18:22

apparently no one noticed and the teacher (have spoken to her on another issue) said that there was no problem as dd appologised nicely for being late - no mention of the fact that no one looked for here and lots of talk of how the childrenhad to learn to be independant now that they were in year six.

OP posts:

Feenie · 08/09/2011 18:23

Why was she 20 minutes late?

Hassled · 08/09/2011 18:25

I think if I were you I'd be very concerned. Was a register taken during the 30 minutes?

Hassled · 08/09/2011 18:25

20, sorry

cat64 · 08/09/2011 18:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

heather1 · 08/09/2011 18:28

Yes I would be concerned. I live in Switzerland, where the kids walk to school alone. From age 4 (I have a problem with this). If your child is more than 10 minutes late they ring the parents.

activate · 08/09/2011 18:30

Why was she 20 minutes late though and what was she doing?

I think I'd be cross at her

Yes the school should know as there should be afternoon registration but it's not unusual

Maybe the teacher thought she was absent for the day?

cornsylk · 08/09/2011 18:33

need more info on why she was late and what was happening in class

ProfessionallyOffendedGoblin · 08/09/2011 18:37

So, are pupils allowed or able to leave the premises?
If not, I would assume one of several possibilities had happened, and then be expecting a message.
She got injured and was being dealt with.
She was in trouble and being reprimanded.
She was helping someone else and would be along shortly.
No message in around 15 minutes, then I'd be sending out investigators in pairs.
Entirely different if the child could leave the building, then I'd be asking much sooner.

slavetofilofax · 08/09/2011 18:39

Was she asked for an explanation as to why she was late?

If she was asked and she gave a reasonable explanation, I think that's ok.

There are plenty of children her age walking to school alone, and the year above her they are taking trains and buses alone them walking through big towns to get to school, so I think it's reasonable that they didn't panic.

Original poster

whatkatydidathome · 08/09/2011 18:55

she spends her lunchtimes in the library reading and cannot tell the time yet. She is very good but the bell did not go for some reason and so she had no way of knowing that lessons had started. She was discovered when another class came in and asked her why she was there. It was afternoon school so they knew she was supposed to be present. The school in out in the sticks - no one goes home fo rlunch (no where to go and no way to leave without the school buses).

OP posts:

Flisspaps · 08/09/2011 18:59

I assume she has some sort of SN which is why she cannot tell the time yet?

Is the lunchtimes in the library a particular habit of hers? If so, perhaps the teacher (knowing full well no-one goes home for lunch) quite rightly assumed she was still there and decided it wasn't worth upsetting your DD about, as the bell hadn't gone and she knows your DD can't tell the time (even though she should have been marked as absent for not being in the classroom)?

ShatnersBassoon · 08/09/2011 19:01

I agree with Flisspaps. They probably should have gone and fetched her back to the classroom, but no harm done.

Original poster

whatkatydidathome · 08/09/2011 19:03

apparently she does not have SN - she is very bright except at certain things but the school say that there is no problem.

OP posts:

janajos · 08/09/2011 19:11

The teacher whose class she was supposed to be in will have noticed and will draw it to the attention of the form tutor at an appropriate time. However, teachers are not shepherds! It was her responsibility to be in the class at the right time and even if she can't read a clock correctly there are presumably bells at the school and she will have noticed other children leaving the library to go to registration/lessons!

How was the teacher supposed to know that she was in the library and do you really think it would have been reasonable for the school to have mounted a search for one errant child who should have been in lessons!

I am a secondary teacher (HOD) and we are paid to teach quality lessons, not to leave a class unattended to search for missing children, nor to spend time at the beginning of the lesson finding out where she might be.

Providing the school has good security for signing in/out, I think YABU and should be very cross with your daughter for missing all the signs that lessons were beginning (trust me, there will have been many!)

Original poster

whatkatydidathome · 08/09/2011 19:20

janajos she is not at secondary school (she is currently 10 and has just started year 6) and just has a class teacher. I am also a teacher (secondary) and I would be concerned if a normally well behaved 10 year old girl child failed to materialize at the start of the second session. And yes I do think that the school should have looked for her. Are you at a school with a big truancy issue by any chance? Where I worked we did not have a big truancy problem precisely because there was a culture of tracking down missing children.

She would not have noticed the signs that lessons were starting if she was reading as she getrs wrapped up too much in books to really notice anything.

OP posts:

ZZZenAgain · 08/09/2011 19:20

I think it was a one-off that the bell didn't go. If she struggles to tell the time, she could maybe nevertheless manage to recognise the particular position of the hands when lunch is over, i.e. is it 1:00pm? Could you work on that?

I do think it is odd her absence was not noted. What are you planning to do about it?

flack · 08/09/2011 19:20

Mountain out of a Molehill, imho.

ZZZenAgain · 08/09/2011 19:21

so if she was wrapped up in a book, she just wouldn't check a clock/watch face presumably?

not sure really what I would do about it.

Original poster

whatkatydidathome · 08/09/2011 19:28

I don't know what to do about it. I may just e-mail and ask what their policy is for checking for missing children. It has thrown me really - I'm now wondering how long she could be missing for before someone does something - would I just not find out until she failed to appear at the bus stop?

OP posts:

activate · 08/09/2011 19:30

you really need to teach her to tell the time

she should have learned this in KS1

they should have given her a detention for missing lessons - that'll teach her

evil

Flisspaps · 08/09/2011 19:31

Perhaps one of the others in the class told the teacher that DD was in the library.

Really, I wouldn't be thrown by this, particularly in a primary school. I'd be more concerned with how DD is going to manage in secondary school next year if she can't tell the time.

jendifa · 08/09/2011 19:37

I'd be more concerned that
a) she cannot tell the time aged ten
b) she was not playing with friends but was in the library reading.

I would want to know what the schools policy is regarding the locations children can be in during break times.

WilsonFrickett · 08/09/2011 19:38

It sounds to me like she was so 'wrapped up' in her book that she quite simply didn't bother to go to class. In the same way as I get so 'wrapped up' in MN that I 'forget' to do the hoovering. She's lucky she didn't get a dentention, or whatever sanction the school would normally use for a pupil not attending class. I once 'forgot' to go back to my P6 class after lunch (no bells due to some sort of complicated shift arrangement for eating) and I got a rocket I still remember some 30 odd years later.

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