To be concerned that this child was able to leave the school

[bookeatingboy]

At dts's primary school they line up in the playground and CT's lead them into their respective classes. Head usually (not everyday) stands at gate.

I always wait in the playground as dts1 has ASD, so I need to see him go into class. Coming out of playground when I see a child from dt1's class darting across the playground in the direction of the exit gate (only one way in/out). This child has behavioural problems and special needs (although not sure what type). He ran straight past head who was having a laugh with a pregnant mum.

I'm pretty sure that due to my own personal circumstances I'm more tuned in to seeing this type of thing because of dts1 and having to have eyes in the back of my head but it would appear that I was the only person noticing him. I followed him out the gate and he went darting down the street at which point I ran back into school to alert them but head had gone in, ran to the office to tell them and came straight again. He was walking down the busy road and any attempts to call him were met with "fuck off"!

Not one person came out from the school and thankfully by the time he had got to the end of the road his dad came walking in the other direction. He too was met with a mouthful of abuse and at this point I left them too it.

Now I've come home concerned that firstly no one from school came out when I alerted them and secondly how the hell did all of the CT's not see him running towards the gate. I know it's busy but I saw him quite clearly and although he's YR4, he is very small so only looks YR2 at most.

Also the school would have been non the wiser unless I had alerted them.

I will speak with the head and suggest that she speaks with this boys parents to perhaps suggest it might be safer it they stay with him until he's safely in class. This won't stop him running off but at least they will be aware.

And before anyone says it, neither the mum or dad work so no obvious reason why they couldn't do this.

user the head had already gone back into the office when I'd realised that no one was in fact with this boy. He could have been running after his parents for all I knew at this stage.

I would guess the head went inside to call the dad and that's why he was on his way to the school. You're overreacting to something without knowing the full facts. I wouldn't be telling his parents how to parent him either, you stand there everyday and this is the only time you've ever seen it happen so probably what they do works fine for them.

Restraint of a child who is putting themselves or others in danger is allowed, but 1) unions advise not touching the students for any reason and 2) a child leaving school premises isn't necessarily 'in danger' unless he or she is hell-bent on running into the road. Staff can't be responsible for everything that could happen in a school; some things are outside their control.

Out The head was not aware until I went to the office to alert her.

I would never presume to tell a parent how to parent, that said maybe these boys parents presume their child is being supported by his 1-2-1 at drop off. You're right I don't know the facts but surely raising my concerns might help clarify the situation for both parties.

There may be an agreed protocol with child which is why they didn't follow him. With my own child I would absolutely expect them to follow and restrain him if necessary because otherwise he would be severe danger but doing that with this child may have made things worse.

I wouldn't restrain an aggressive child based on the advice from my Union. It puts me in danger of losing my job and I love my job, so as much as it pains me to say it, I can't be held responsible for a child who is unable to follow instructions, whatever the reason.

The father is obviously now aware that his child has run out of school so leave it to him to raise his concerns. You need to get a hobby that doesn't involve telling everyone how to do things. PP's are telling you it's practice not to restrain aggressive children so i don't know what you want people to do. It's happened once in all the time you've been loitering at school gates, hardly a sign of an epidemic

Staff can't be responsible for everything that could happen in a school; some things are outside their control.

Having someone fully watching the gate is definitely within their control. The situation in this case was fully the school's fault.

He shouldn't have been able to get out.

There are some children who will need restraining or their life will be in danger. These children will have a specific care plan for this and they usually not in mainstream school.

In which case the staff in those non-mainstream schools will need to make that call for themselves, Haddock. I, whilst fully understanding that this is not what many parents would want to hear, will not be restraining any kids.

Nanny: That isn't how schools generally work. The gates are open when they need to be and closed when they can be, but you don't have budget to have a member of staff on constant watch for absconding kids.

When ds who has ASD was at school another parent was pressing a complaint against one of the teachers because they had attempted to prevent one of her children doing a runner. For me, I thought it was a very reasonable thing for the teacher to do seeing as he was scaling a wall that ran along a very busy main road but the parent felt otherwise.
I actually asked ds's TA that she would stop ds if he tried to run because of this reiterating that I wouldn't complain however he was stopped because I'd rather that than him take his chances with a main road.
I suppose teachers don't know what sort of parent they might come up against which makes them wary and unsure how to react. Hopefully someone phoned the child's father from the school so had seen and reacted even if you didn't see them do so.

That is precisely the problem, insan1. Teachers are highly vulnerable to accusations of physical assault, particularly given the subjective nature of 'exceptional circumstances' in which it is legally permissible to restrain or remove a student. You just don't know how a student or their parents might respond, even if you think action is reasonable and necessary. You would think a parent would be grateful for your efforts to safeguard their child but it frequently doesn't work out that way.

Trifle privately I thought the parent was being vindictive tbh, her children were not unaccustomed to being manhandled she did it liberally herself in the playground. The teacher held his wrist whilst talking him down nothing more, there were plenty of parents in the playground to witness it and he let him go when talking wasn't working.Had it been me I'd have been ranting at the child (no SEN) but she decided that the teacher was the focus of her wrath

My DS has a son and when he was in Year 3 he ran out the school, climbed the gate and ran home . Luckily my DS was at home and rang the school as soon as he showed up . . 10 minutes had passed and the school had not even noticed he was missing !!

I am with the PPs who said perhaps the Head was on the phone to the Dad OP

Of course schools can restrain if they need to!! No one is going to let a child runaway/ injure others and property.

And primary schools can not let children out, that's mad.

I did though have the same with a friends son, he disliked school and followed me out the gate. I realised two roads later I had him in my heels age 5.

They can restrain if they need to but no teacher or member of staff is obliged to if they believe doing so could lead to an allegation of assault. If you are faced with an aggressive child intent on leaving the premises, there is every chance physically restraining them will result in such an allegation.

Every member of staff in my scho had restraint training and fortunately were decent people who'd always try to prevent harm coming to young children.

I've had to many times restrain pupils, from breaking up fights to runaways to preventing them trash an ICT lab. The only time I've been hurt is when the actual intention was to attack me, once from behind with a full sprint across the playground and another throwing an object. Both children had significant needs but were mainstream, it wasn't personal

We are talking about a tiny yr4 though, not an adult. I'd at least challenge them!

SexDrugs: Your insinuation that someone isn't a decent person because they opt to protect their job is really awful. You can't expect people to put their livelihoods at risk, it's above and beyond the call. I know often it isn't the child's fault but it's not the staff member's either.

Yes, SexDrugs, but many tiny Y4s are quite capable of saying a teacher hurt them/touched them, particularly those who don't want to be in the school environment. If you are off premises on your own because you have just chased a 9 year old down the road, you are incredibly vulnerable.

I think if it was at the point of ignoring a child get in the way of significant harm to protect your job it is wrong. You could walk alongside the child and reason, follow them with a mobile phone whilst calling parents and all sorts of other ideas. To do NOTHING isn't decent.

You could take objects away, talk gently to deesculate things... but just leave them to it?

High School or very big yr 6 it's different, but in primary these are young children

Less vulnerable than them on a road, presumably at drop off time with many witnesses.

I've had false accusations, but with common sense it's been a very short investigation as there's been another adult present plus children. Obviously in a room alone it's different, but you'd be an eejit to let yourself get into that situation.

As others have said, it may be that following the child would escalate the situation, not make it better. Off school premises you don't actually have authority over the child anyway and your responsibility is to inform the parents/police if necessary.

Regardless, I am talking about the decision to physically prevent an aggressive child intent on leaving the premises from doing so. I am not sure that meets the threshold for physical restraint and I wouldn't do it if I thought it would endanger my job. You can think what you like about that but I think expecting someone to endanger their job is excessive. I don't think it makes me a bad person that I am prepared to fulfil my safeguarding responsibilities in full in circumstances where doing so does not put me at risk. And my Union agrees.