to ring ofsted right now

[Inneedofbrandy]

First time poster and in shock, so please excuse any spelling or grammer mistakes.
Took my Ds age 4 into school today, started walking out the playground and realised i had his pe bag. Go into his classroom to give it to him and hes gone missing. Me and TA searching for him in all the classrooms and cloakrooms in the infant block. My neighbour dropped her son off abit late and told me he had been found trying to do a runner out the school!

HOW THE HELL COULD HE OF ESCAPED OUT OF THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND NO ONE WOULD HAVE KNOWN HE WAS MISSING IF I HADNT GONE BACK IN.

Ive then gone to speak to headteacher but ended up with the woman who enrolled kids into school in january. She tried to patronise me and twist it round and make me take equal blame in this. I told her how upset i am that i want a full written investigation and how are they going to make sure this never happens again. She said the heads going to ring me later hmmm. AIBU to ring ofsted right now instead of waiting for headmaster to ring

40 years ago a 4 year old at my mum's school walked half an hour through central London to get to his mum's work. By that time the police etc had been called, and then the boy's mum brought him back to school.

My mum spent a sleepless night thinking the boy's parents would complain. The next day they both came to school and apologised for their son's actions. How times have changed!

Ours go in at the gate from about half way through reception. HT and another member of staff always on the gate. Any problems can either leave message at school office, or talk to teacher after school.

Didn't stop the reception escape committee breaking out into woods through badger holes at lunchtime. Mine not involved but did give them a talk about 'never ever going out without parent/teacher, telling teacher if see anyone else escaping'. School repaired holes and has more frequent checks on the fence.

The time I hate the most is hometime when all the children have been collected, mums chatting and some kid can't see mum so decides she must already have gone and heads to car / home alone. Cue distressed child/parent. Again mine never have, but they know never to leave grounds without me (unless playdate etc), and have agreed meeting place if they can't find me. Maybe talk to your son and say safest place is in class, you will always come and find him there. Ours still don't usually change for pe, so kit isn't used anyway according to dd2!

schoolgov im happy that they agree with me about parents not talking to teachers at start of day. Im going to ring the head back this afternoon to suggest contact books, maybe a box to drop contact book in so the teacher does not have to go through everyone everyday!

marymary once the child is in school they are the schools responsibilty to keep safe. Are you suggesting i should apologise to school for them not having safeguards in place And if you had read everything ive posted you would see that my son apologised to me and teacher for running off. My point is that the teacher should of been more aware of the comings and goings of her classroom and he should never of been able to nip past her. Hopefully this incident will insure correct safeguards are in place for all pupils

3duracellbunnies He didnt think, he panicked at forgetting his pe kit and automatically ran to find me to get it. He already knows not to leave school premises without me as our school also is mad at pickup time. He is only 4 im not putting the blame on him for this.

Argh for the record i am not one of those mums who thinks her child is never in the wrong and always perfect even if its coming across that way!!

Inneedofbrandy you are absolutely right, once your child is in the school (playground or class depending on policy) it is the schools responsibility to look after them and in no way should you accept any responsibility for this (other than between you and your son when telling him it is unacceptable etc).

I think it is one of those incidents that rarely happen as most children wouldn't run out of school but at 4 there is still that chance as they are so young and don't think rationally at that age really. Now they are putting safeguards in place you can probably start to feel comfortable as I am sure it won't happen again - they are probably quite upset by it too (quite rightly too).

Didn't stop the reception escape committee breaking out into woods through badger holes at lunchtime. :O first smile since ive got home thankyou

accountantsrule No they really dont think rationally at that age. Roll on the older years when i can just shove them out the door and they can make their own way

I didn't mean to blame your son, it's just that often parents don't instruct their children. I do 'the talk' every time a child goes off (happens about once a term), and we all rehearse where we go if they lose me.

The escape was apparently completely premeditated. When I questioned dd2 she said the group had been planning it the day before, but she didn't want to go. A serious talk was given to all the children by their teacher. Hope he has had a good day, he's probably forgotten about it all now.

Like enimmead, DD's school closes the gates to the playground at 9.00 thus completely securing the school grounds. The only way in/out during the school day is via the school office, walking past the Head Teacher's office door :o Too many people would notice an escapee.

Thankyou everyone who replied and gave ideas.
The school is now only having one entrance for reception and year1, and introducing home/school communication books in september. Head was really enthusiastic about contact book. Yippee musnet to the rescue with common sense.

I suspect, ten years on from the original post, they've got every reason not to know where the OP's son is right now.