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AIBU?

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Original poster

Kids sent home - safeguarding issue?

372 replies

PutTheBathOnPlease · 28/02/2017 20:18

Got a text at 10.20 this morning to say secondary school have a power cut and kids will be sent home on buses at 11:30. My son is 12, I was 80 miles away for work. Other half was able to get home just after DS, but school had not asked either kids or parents whether an adult would be at home - they relied on one text message with 60 mins notice. I find it boggling that they sent home 11 and 12 yo kids, not knowing if they would be able to get into their homes let alone have an adult meet them. Maybe I'm old fashioned! But what if the text had failed to arrive? The consequences could be serious. Your thoughts please.

OP posts:
Italiangreyhound · 01/03/2017 11:29

Meggie that sound so hard. Are you getting any help with her? What does she want the money for?

Italiangreyhound · 01/03/2017 11:32

Noodle "A child should also be taught to speak up and say something if they are worried." Do you think that I'd so simple? I'be been trying to get my child to ask for assistance in ships for Years! Her brother is half her age and far more confident than her. Same mum, different kids.

Italiangreyhound · 01/03/2017 11:33

In shops!

Rockpebblestone · 01/03/2017 11:40

Alternately, from a school's perspective, I cannot see how checking with the children they have keys or know for certain someone will be in / they have permission to be at home alone would be onerous.

As Italian said there could be something on their planner which indicates whether they need to phone and check or stay at school until someone collects or just can leave.

SuburbanRhonda · 01/03/2017 11:56

Who is teaching schools to cope with power cuts?

All schools in our LA, including the one I work in, are required to have an emergency plan. We devise this in conjunction with the LA, other schools in the area and the emergency services. A copy is available on the school website.

Italiangreyhound · 01/03/2017 12:19

SuburbanRhonda does the plan usually involve closing? I wonder if there is a buffer zone like they don't close until the power cut has been 'on' or rather the lights have been off for a certain period of time?

I remember frequent power cuts as a child, but usually at night.

IfNotNowThenWhenever · 01/03/2017 13:33

Thanks Italian, there was a lot of theivery where I grew up sadly! I'm a hardy soul, but probably a little more careful than my peers with more sheltered upbringings!

TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince · 01/03/2017 13:46

I'm a teacher. We have a full list of all the names of kids who can't be sent home early for any reason like snow/ early closure etc. The parents have to fill in a form at the start of the year. If it's not returned or filled in, it's assumed that the children can go home if required. It would be up to the student to tell a teacher if this wasn't possible. All parents who haven't returned form will be advised by text that dc are being sent home. Those who have returned it are kept until parents can collect them . This is basic safeguarding.

When we have had power cuts at my school, we usually wait about 2 hours before the decision to send dc home. It's health and safety. I won't go into the agony of entertaining teenagers with no computers, lights, whiteboards etc. Actually it's quite fun😄

123yourusername · 01/03/2017 17:30

They're not babies. I'm not sure why a secondary school child wouldn't have a key but if not wouldn't they just go to a friends until later or phone you?

Susieangel · 01/03/2017 17:53

Schools are not a baby sitting service. Any child of secondary school age should have a house key. The school would be required to close if it had no power. After I retired I worked as a school nurse. All the children had phones and if they needed paracetamol I had to ask parents permission. The kids used to phone parent so I could ask (I was usually clearingup blood or vomit)
As a secondary school kid I had to catch 2 trains and a bus. My mother was often home after I was and Dad was home later. And no, life is no riskier than when I was young. We/you are just more fearful

Marymoosmum14 · 01/03/2017 17:55

They are considers old enough. Why didn't your son ring to see if you would be in and if not go t a friends? Most kids have mobiles in this day and age. That's what I would have done at that age anyway.

ComeOnSpring · 01/03/2017 17:57

why should a secondary school aged child have a house key? That is a parental choice point.

The question is, is it a safeguarding issue. It is. By definition. They are children. The school has a duty of care during school hours. The handoff of that care can't be a text.

ILoveDolly · 01/03/2017 17:57

They are old enough to know if they will be able to get in to the house or not, and arrange to go home with a friend if they are worried they will be on their own outside all day. It are these little out of the ordinary experiences that teach young people that they have coping skills and can be self reliant.
BTW I have an 11 year old so I do understand your qualms but we have to let them grow away from our help.

pollymere · 01/03/2017 17:59

This is an issue but your child needed to say something rather than staying quiet. I probably wouldn't give mine a key just yet but would hope that the school would call any parent where a child did not have a key.

Italiangreyhound · 01/03/2017 18:02

emoji the plan to get firms filled in is good but... "If it's not returned or filled in, it's assumed that the children can go home if required" sorry that is the Sri g way round and could potentially lead to the school being sued if a child is allowed home and you don't have permission to do so. Surely the form should be a permission to let child go home outside school hours.

ArcheryAnnie · 01/03/2017 18:09

Just FYI, my teenage DS only takes a key to school when he absolutely has to, because he doesn't want it nicked. Same with his phone. And we do have a neighbour with spare keys, but like most other people she'd have been at work in the middle of the day.

Craigie · 01/03/2017 18:09

Secondary school age children (at mainstream school) should be able to (a) fend for themselves (b) have the means to contact you/other relatives (c) gumption to go home with a friend if you were unavailable. YABU.

thunderbuddy · 01/03/2017 18:10

This happened at the dc old school.
Basically we got a text because they had got the power back on but had no time to cook food for anyone so they sent them all home, of course they asked all the kids if someone was home, of course all the kids said yes even though no one was, no transport arranged they just turfed them all out.

ArcheryAnnie · 01/03/2017 18:13

I mean, he'd have sat in the lobby of our block of flats and done homework, so it wouldn't have been a tragedy, but not every kid has a key on them all the time.

thunderbuddy · 01/03/2017 18:13

Sorry I meant to add it was not a big deal.

theSnuffster · 01/03/2017 18:18

My children are much younger but if I happen to be working the same hours I do currently when they're in secondary school, there won't be any need for them to have their own key because I work within school hours so would be home in time to let them in at the end of their (normal!) day.

fairweathercyclist · 01/03/2017 18:19

I love the assumption on this thread that kids can "just" go home with friends.

Really?

scottishdiem · 01/03/2017 18:26

Mmm. I started highschool at 10 1/2. After a few weeks my mum went full time and dad was working away during the week. Depending on shifts I either left the house last, locked the door and got a bus to school or knew when I got home that mum wouldnt be home until between 5 and 6 depending on traffic. My school was in the next town over. If the school closed or it was a half day, I got the bus home and went into the house.

All of this was before mobile phones were mass market (it was 1988). What is wrong with people these days that this would now be regarded as some kind of safeguarding issue.

(I had best not mention the bivouacking with the scouts. Here is a knife. Here is an axe. Here are fields and woods - dont go over the city bypass. Have fun.)

teenagetantrums · 01/03/2017 18:27

When mine were that age l didn't get home until about 6.30pm. So they had keys and let themselves in. However keys,were always,getting lost and forgotten so they had a back up plan. I had friends with younger children who were normally at home and would have them or they went to library or a mates house and hopefully would remember to phone me and tell me, mind you phones were lost on a regular basis as,well. Work or us but I'm in London so plenty of options must be harder if you in a rural location

scottishdiem · 01/03/2017 18:28

Oh, and there was a spare key under a certain stone in a certain part of the garden that as never to be touched unless it was for the key.

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