Dc absent from school, so school called police

[angelinheaven]

Hi all, wasn't sure where to post, so posted here for traffic.
My dc was absent from school today, and I wasn't well either so at 7:10 am I emailed school so didn't have to think about ringing them at 9am.
Anyway where I live I get no mobile phone signal if downstairs, and the school tried calling me twice, and then called my mum, who was at work so did not answer her mobile either. So the school then called the police to say they where concerned that dc wasn't at school and they couldn't get hold of me.
So I then had a police officer knocking at my door!!!!!!!
Head teacher said she was worried and the reason why they didn't read my email was because the receptionist was off ill and no one else can access the school emails.
I am in shock that this has even happened, is this normal. My dc is never absent from school, and before anyone asks we have no issues with care of my dc or social services etc.
So just really confused, teacher did apologies, but still!!!!!! X

Message from MNHQ: We've been asked to put a trigger warning on this thread because there's some distressing content further down about a recent news story involving a child.

You said it yourself- child never off so school so school acted out of concern not managing to contact you. Thank them and the police for taking the trouble to check. Also suggest someone else should be able to access email to check for absences.

Maybe they should make their policy more clear to all parents so you are aware of it.
At our School we are not allowed to email absences through but must call. If a child does not turn up to School and none of the emergency contacts answer the phone, the Police would also be called. If my child had for instance left to walk to School on their own and never arrived I would be very grateful for this.

I would trust the police to decide whether and when to pay a visit in these circumstances.

This.

I'm not sure why people would think it was a waste of police time. I doubt the school called 999. More likely they contacted local police directly who then considered how many officers they had on duty, where they were and what issues they were dealing with, before deciding that sending officers was a reasonable use of resources

Should the school have sent a member of staff? Consider this: It's a small school according to the OP, so probably not large numbers of staff. We already know that the receptionist was away, so they are short staffed today. Safeguarding rules specify the adult to child ratios that must be adhered to. Should the school put all the other children at risk to check on the OP when a discussion with local police reveals that they have the resources to support the local community today?

The school did absolutely the right thing so you are being ridiculous.

Really, Paris? Do you think they were absolutely right not to check their emails before calling the police?

And yes, if the secretary is absent it is utterly ludicrous for a school not to have any facility to check emails on her computer. Suppose they had the email saying Ofsted was coming in and no-one saw it?

It depends, in our school the policy is you must ring in, if this is true then the email is insufficient. I'd just put it down to experience and ring in next time.

Cero, yes I do.
If I'd was not like the child to be off and for whatever reason they couldn't access the emails, then it was absolutely the responsibility of the OP to phone in.
What if something had happened to the child or family and they were lying unwell or even worse? It's called safeguarding.

I agree Ceto. Common sense would indicate that those emails you couldn't access, and a permitted form of contact for absence, might contain the information needed.
Very poor on the part of the school.
Some people are blindly missing that point.

Paris that's ridiculous.

How on earth is OP supposed to know they can't access emails when it's a previously accepted method of absence notification?

Also the 'for whatever reason' isn't ok as a blanket excuse. IT system crash/ Internet down etc. is an unforeseen circumstance and I would agree better safe than sorry in those instances.

This was caused by a lack of planning, procedures and policy review on the schools part and I'm highly sceptical that the receptionist has never had a day off before so it's never been noticed.

You would have imagined that if the school were trying all options that they would have also considered checking if their were any emails from the OP, especially if this method is often used by parents.

i agree it might have been a waste of police time but what a caring headteacher you have that was concerned for your families welfare

what annoys me is when i recieve a text from school saying my daughter is NOT in class when she IS and staff have not marked her in

I don't know how you put up with the schools in the UK.

All this nonsense about missing one day.

Our school also requires you to ring in each and every day that your dc will be off ill, so not just the first day! I expect you think that's ridiculous too. However, it ensures that you didn't die overnight after notifying them the first time, so if you had then your child's absence on the second day would be picked up.

Rather than considering it "nonsense", I'm relieved there is a chance any extremely serious incident such as parent death will be discovered sooner rather than later. Because sometimes shit happens.

Monday means you could have died on Friday evening and been dead all weekend (as no safeguarding weekends and hols ), hence calling the police within two hours of school beginning. Better safe than sorry

Be thankful we live in a society that still cares.

Quite, Lilithxxxxxxxx, that's what it is
Nothing to do with being hauled over the coals if they haven't followed safeguarding recommendations and guidelines

I think the fact that you state your child is NEVER absent does mean the school were right to be very concerned, and while they were remiss not to have checked emails, what if you had fallen down the stairs and lost conciousness.....

Yes, persistence cleverly points out you could have been unconscious, OP. And since Friday evening!
I do wonder that there's no safeguarding checks in place for such scenarios at weekends and during the 6 week hols, for these many socially isolated individuals who rely on a school to raise the alarm

Ex teacher here too. Very bemused!

I live in Ireland. In the schools my kids go to there is no requirement to inform the school if your child is absent. You just send in a note the next day.
Some schools do a clocking in thing, mainly secondary schools, to prevent truancy but not all.

They were covering their backs in light of the recent news about that poor mother & son. What a tragic waste of life.

Emails aren't often a permitted mode of communication of absence in primary schools. They normally require a call to the school office in a specific window of time.

DS's school would have done exactly the same as they wouldn't have expected or allowed an email for school absence.