Aibu to think headmistress is living in la la land?

[Maxandrubyrubyandmax]

Get out of a 30 min meeting at work 5missed calls on mobile and my secretary comes rushing over at same time land line calls. Headmistress from ds school. DS has run into post and banged his nose. Can I get there immediately. Apparently DS is fine but we have to pick him up. Explain I will be about 45 min as need to pack up and get train and walk to school. DH about an hour away. Quizzed about couldn't a grandparent pick up
DS (no the nearest is 2 hours away). Didn't we have friends? Yes but it's not 1955 so they all work? Other relatives? No they live miles away and yes they work. Set off to school. Head mistress rings DH goes through same questions. As no one has moved house in last 5min gets same answer. Get to school. DS sat chatting to school secretary happy as you like. Head mistress goes through same questions nope still no one hAs moved or given up job in last 45 min. But there must be someone says the head. Well no actually there isn't. But she wants someone who can be at school in 5 min. Start to get pissed off. No one I tell her. She then shakes her head and says I guess that's how it is these days then. Aibu to be pissed off and felt judged about the fact I have moved away from the family home, got a job and don't just drop off child and sit at home all day? If it had been urgent I would have jumped in a taxi

I'm surprised that so many people think 40 years ago there were more SAHP. I was the only child in my class with a SAHP, my DM could not have got to school in under 90 minutes due to the buses. Now I know far more people who are SAHP's because childcare is much more expensive.

Not one teacher has come on this thread to say what they do when their child is taken ill.

Bollocks, Worrall. This is political correctness with no compassion!

Watery, should tiny single form entry infants schools have this full time nurse and counsellor, just like an 8 form entry secondary?

Our local Primary has a system whereby parents give the name of a friend or neighbour locally who could collect the child in an emergency. I had to do this once and did not mind in the least. Surely an easy solution?

I'm a teacher and if my child is ill I leave work. Simple. Cover is arranged either through TAs or my Headteacher will cover herself and I go to my child. No different to Amy other job.

Maxandruby: I love the suggestion I make friends with a random on my one pick up a week purely on the basis they don't work!

Apparently you just need to do some "networking" and these trustworthy, free-of-charge, unemployed, commitmentless, happy-to-help local people practically fall out of the trees. Maybe there's even a Craigslist for them.

PickAChew: Watery, should tiny single form entry infants schools have this full time nurse and counsellor, just like an 8 form entry secondary?

In fairness to Watery, Pick, I'm the one batting for a counsellor. Would I have a nurse in those cases? Absolutely. Little kids get hurt/sick no less than big kids and arguably need more care more because they can go downhill frighteningly quickly. As I said in a PP though, in such a context I'd have the nurse/counsellor role bundled into one. Small children are as much the victims of terrible home circumstances, abuse, and other unpleasantness as big ones. The counsellor may not offer them counselling sessions as they would an older child but their expertise in observing troubling behaviour and spotting the signs of abuse could be invaluable in bringing safeguarding cases to the fore much sooner. What's not to want about that?

Thanks User.
ForTheSakeOf great idea. I could advertise myself on Craigslist

Not one teacher has come on this thread to say what they do when their child is taken ill.

I did. Various back ups or DH. If none available, I went.

Watery, should tiny single form entry infants schools have this full time nurse and counsellor, just like an 8 form entry secondary?

I didn't say a counsellor. But teachers shouldn't be expected to do it, so a nurse is the best option. In such a small school no one would be free to look after an ill child.

Glad gran as stated up thread all my friends work! Neighbours work or are elderly or wouldn't trust them to look after DS. Maybe as sake suggested I should try networking and once a successful victim is found demand tgey stay at home and contactable just in case😂😂😂. Interesting note from a teacher that if she had to leave cover would be found immediately so she could dash off. If people are this easy to find to cover emergencies in a school there are enough "free" people to look after a dubiously "sick" child for an hour surely! Or are we now saying people in schools are perfectly happy to help out their workmate but not look after a sick child??

why 5 minutes? How silly.

Watery In an ideal world we would have nurses and counsellors in school but we don't and for the majority of schools them it's never going to happen. I don't think it's unreasonable for teachers/ta/whoever to provide a small amount of medical assistance to children until the parent can reasonably get there.

I'm also a bit shocked by you saying teachers actively don't want first aid training. I think it should be mandatory.

According to the DWP parents now have to be available for work with a commute of up to 90 minutes. Just saying.

I guess it depends on the community you live in. My DD probably is the only kid in the class with no aunts, uncles, grandparents living locally. If I happen to be at the other end of the country, tough. Not sure I'd ask a local friend to drop everything to pick up a child with sickness or a head injury, either.

GladGran - my friends work and neighbors work and our families don't live locally. I left that section of the school form blank. If they can't get hold of DH or I, we're stuck!

I'm also a bit shocked by you saying teachers actively don't want first aid training. I think it should be mandatory.

You never get a peaceful lunchtime if you are a designated first aider. Dinner ladies knocking every few minutes with wounded soldiers. So most people used to opt not to do it. The one day courses are only one step up from useless, I'm told.

watery So if most staff are trained then it wouldn't always be you that's bothered.

First aid isn't just for grazes and cuts. It could be serious and any first aid training is better than none.

So do you have no first aid trained staff at your school?

I'm retired now but taught in at least 2 schools with no designated first aider. No extra money if you were trained, that my have changed now, though.

Why should you get extra money for it?!

I've done the one day course. It's barely even a weak hobble from useless. You could summarise it as "Don't panic and entertain/distract the patient till someone with literally any training more than yours comes along." It's really only sufficient to make you aware of how excruciatingly unprepared most of us are for a moderate-to-serious incident.

I did the five-day course too - three days on general and two add-on days specifically for children and babies, in preparation for the arrival of the DC. (Interestingly it even included a one-hour crash course on helping a pregnant woman to deliver. That gets condensed right down to, "Catch!") After that week's course, you're essentially qualified to stick on plasters and bandages first, and then wait for the professionals to take over.

My parents were both teachers and if they got called to pick one of us up, the call would go to the school office first, then they would have to hurry around arranging cover work and then drive to our school. They both worked over 30 mins away in opposite directions on a motorway. If it was something like a snow day, a friend's mum took me home. My brother had lots of emergencies at school due to a medical condition and the situation was still the same. We are still both around to tell the tale!

Now I teach and I make the call on whether a child in my class is sent home or not so I do a lot of the ringing of parents. If they can't make it fast, they can't make it. We are more than happy to lie them down with a blanket in the medical room, or look after them in the classrooms, until someone can come. The only thing that's a bit annoying is when mum, dad and emergency contact don't pick up after repeated attempts or there are numbers that are no longer in operation.

Nicknacky Medical care is a serious responsibility. It can have profound and lifelong consequences both for the patient and the carer if things don't work out. For instance, quite often in cases where ordinary people find themselves administering CPR, the person does not come back to life. That is harrowing for the person who tried to save them. In other cases if the carer (with insufficient training) makes the wrong call, they're going to have irate parents out for their blood. Someone who takes on the role of first aider absolutely should and must have that level of responsibility recognised.

I think the hm was being a bit daft here, does she have kids herself?

Why should you get extra money for it?!

In most jobs you get paid if you take on extra responsibilities. Nothing unusual in that. If people are expected to give up lunch breaks then there should be an incentive.

First aiders, fire wardens etc in my place of work don't get paid extra - it is a voluntary role. I think that is norm, actually.