to think school should give parents an emergency contact number?

[MrsMcColl]

DC is on a 5-day school trip. She's in year 6. School won't give parents a number in case we need to make contact in an emergency - they say we need to go through school. But what if there's a family crisis of some kind outside the school day and we need to get in touch? Am I BU to think we should be able to get hold of them quickly? School clearly think I'm nuts. Am I?

[itsbetterthanabox]

This is ridiculous. I'd give my child a mobile in this situation.
What if something urgent happens not between 9-3?
Schools also don't always pick up their reception phones either!

[Thenapoleonofcrime]

At my children's schools, the year 6s are on reception in the afternoons and its a disaster. I had to change pick-up arrangements recently at short-notice, first time ever, and they told the wrong child to leave to go home without parents! I knew they weren't writing down the details.

I would be extremely concerned if they couldn't provide a contact emergency number, even if it was just the place they were staying at. It is very rare, but not completely unlikely an emergency might occur that requires them to act out of hours. Even if ringing in the night is inappropriate, as someone else said you don't want to wait til 8.30-9 til someone switches the answerphone off in the office to get through if there's a genuine emergency.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Odyssey and notso - what if a parent or sibling were seriously injured/ill, and you needed to get the child back in time to say goodbye?

[ScarlettDragon]

Is it with a particular company that you could look at their website? My year 6 went on her first school residential last month. The school didn't give us an emergency contact number, but it was with PGL. So I looked on their website and made a note of the phone number for the site she was at.

If you can't do that then it is pretty poor planning on the school's part and I wouldn't be happy with it.

[ScarlettDragon]

year 6 dd that should say

[MonoNoAware]

I think you need some way of contacting them in case an emergency pick up was needed. Doesn't need to be direct contact, could be a third party or the venue itself.

The situation that springs to my mind is a family emergency which involves travel. We have family who live overseas for part of the year and in the event of something happening we'd want to grab the children and take the first flight out. This might mean an evening or early morning pick up.

[MrsMcColl]

Thanks Chunderella. I guess it's because of my complicated other child that the issue was in my mind - but honestly, I think as a general rule, parents should have a way to get in touch with whoever is looking after their child. The place where DD is staying doesn't answer phones 24 hours - I checked!

[maddy68]

The procedure in my school is that in a crisis parents phone school. And school will contact the teachers on their mobiles

[MrsMcColl]

And what about outside school hours Maddy?

[lalsy]

We always get given at least one mobile number for emergencies, so it is clearly possible and workable. We have never used it (apart from to return a call about permission to give a painkiller) and I don't know anyone who has - but I can imagine situations less serious than death of a parent that still need urgent contact. I don't understand how schools can say it is impossible and unworkable when some schools do this routinely.

[afterthought]

There should be a number and it should connect to someone not on the trip, and not related to anyone on the trip. That way you can speak to someone who is not trying to deal with a distraught child.

It is possible that the school number will redirect - I worked in a school where this happened.

Please don't sneak a mobile phone though - that is a recipe for disaster!

[intheenddotcom]

Our school number has a prerecorded message with an emergency contact number after hours (I think it is the caretaker's number who has other contact details).

Depending on the trip, sometimes parents will be given the school mobile number.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Giving parents the deputy head/headteacher's number seems reasonable.

Thenapoleonofcrime When I was in year 6 I had a go manning the phone in the school office one lunchtime.

It was awful, I couldn't understand what the other person was saying so couldn't write it down adn couldn't remember any of it to repeat to the secretary. Then she laughed when I started crying as I thought I would be in trouble for mucking it up.

It gave me a massive complex about ringing people on the phone for years! I nearly had a panic attack when I had to do it for the first time as part of my job when I left school.

[maddy68]

Outside school hours the parents will know where they are. They can contact the venue directly.

Visits are so often impaired by over anxious parents. I can easily see why there is no direct contact number.

[McBear]

Maddy, op has already said phones aren't answered 24 hrs at the site...

[GretchenWiener]

Out primary gives the secretary's mobile for out of hours.

[Cerisier]

Our school has a lot of trips going out so has a rota of senior staff who are on emergency phone duty. They have the school emergency phone (so it is always the same number for parents to dial) plus the numbers for the staff on the trip. The duty member of staff aways sends out a text to all the parents when the party reaches the destination and lets everyone know of any changes in arrival home time. Sometimes you get updates during the trip too.

Not having a communication system in place seems very old fashioned and not justifiable in this day and age.

[MidniteScribbler]

To be honest, are you sure this isn't about your anxiety over them going away? Having an emergency contact number is a security blanket - you know you can get in touch if you really needed to, even though the likelihood of you needing it is very slim.

Sometimes, what we do as teachers is not just about the children. If having an emergency number makes the parents feel better by at least knowing they can get in contact in an emergency, then that is also important and could sometimes make the difference between a student being the opportunity to go on a trip, or being made to stay home. I've had students who come from certain backgrounds that are genuinely terrified of letting their children out of their sight. Answering a phone a few times to say 'yes, Bobby is doing just fine', is really not such a big deal, and a parent who abuses the privilege would be dealt with on a case by case basis. A large part of what we have to do as teachers is to help parents to facilitate their child's education, and it is just as important as actually teaching the child themselves. There are times when the parents need their hands held more than the students do.

[insanityscratching]

We have HT's mobile number and so seeing as he leads every residential then we would be able to contact him if needed. He actually sends photos to parents during the residential so that we can see our child is happy and in dd's case covered in mud top to toe.

[MyBootsAreMuddy]

5 years ago Dd1(then aged almost 9) was away on a residential trip for 3 nights. Dd2 was seriously ill but we wanted to keep life as normal as possible for our other dc so had sent Dd1 off on her school trip as she wanted.
on the 2nd night we were told Dd2 was unlikely to make it through the night. Shortly after midnight we phoned the emergency number we had been given and told the member of staff we needed Dd hone ASAP and that our shepherd(we're farmers) was about to leave to collect her. The member of staff very kindly offers to drive half way and meet at a fuel station to try save some time meaning the 3hr round trip was able to be done in just under 2.

Dd1 was able to see her 2 yr old sister and say goodbye and tell her she loved her and give her a kiss and cuddle. Had we not had the emergency number we would have had to wait until the school office opened at 8am the next morning to get the message out..... Dd2 died shortly after 6am so it would have been too late for dd1 to say goodbye to her much loved baby sister, something that dd1 still speaks of and is very greatful for getting the chance to have done.

[MrsMcColl]

MyBoots that made me cry - and is exactly what I mean. I can't make the school understand it though. Glad she's leaving soon.

[gamerchick]

Can you not buy a cheap pay as you go and give it to her school under the proviso that you will only ring it if you really need her home? It can be kept at the place she's going to. Then arrange a stand by collection person who can fetch her at a moments notice. That way there is little disruption to their plans and they won't javelin to arrange to rush her back.

[nokidshere]

I had a similar fight on my hands when my son went away for the first time with school. I asked for the address and phone number of the place they were staying and was told that I was being over protective and they didn't give it to parents. Everyone (apparently) including teachers and office staff had done this trip with their own schools when they were children themselves and all local schools use the place so I was supposed to take their word for it that it was fine.

As a newcomer to the area I had no idea where this place was, what their safety record was or how to contact them if necessary. Actually it wasn't really about contact it was about me knowing where my child was. I wouldn't let him go on a sleepover without having an address and phone number so why would I let him go away with school without the same.

Yes I could have looked it up on the website (and did) but I dug my heels in and insisted the school gave me the information (as they are required to by law). It took a month of my asking every day if they had the information for me but eventually they gave it.

They were so condescending about it I nearly asked them to provide me with copies of all the risk assessments (again as they are required to by law) just for the hell of it.

insist on having it.

[Mrsjayy]

I think that's quite strange maybe they have been bombarded with calls in the past, if you know the centre they are going you could phone them