To think school should deal with this

[Chickencuddle]

We go to the park most days. A little girl from the reception class (who is either 4 or 5 depending on when her birthday is) is always picked up from school by her mum. She then goes to the park on her own while her mum sits at home. Her mum lives close to the park but not so close you could see.
The little girl has kind of latched onto us. Asks me to push her on the swing and plays with my ds. She is often just in a tshirt and thin hoody even though it's very cold atm. This is relevant because the last few days we have started walking back to our car and she often walks home at the same time. But the last few days the door was locked and she was knocking but no answer. So she was locked out in the cold.
Also a few times she has run off somewhere with another little boy. Her mum cant know where she is.
When she was locked out the other day she tagged along with us to pick up my dd at a different time. Her mum is often at school picking up her brother at the same time so i hoped we would see her there. She wasbt there so i informed a teacher and said i didnt want to leave her on her own. The mother eventually turned up and all fine.
I brought it up again with teacher today because she was on her own again. Teacher said I should speak to the mother about it.
Wwyd?

This kind of thing has happened for years. When my mum, used to take me to a park, a child would wonder out from one of the houses without shoes. It used to make her on edge and she would wait until she knew the child was back in its garden before she took me home.
I think you should speak to the school before contacting social services. See what they say first.

@Chickencuddle

It was actually the head teacher I spoke to but perhaps she was rushed and I need to email her officially. I'll ring nspcc later when kids in bed.

Bloody hell!

Yes, email her officially, mentioning safeguarding specifically.

I’d definitely also flag up to NSPCC or SS, if the head seemed dismissive.

OP I feel like you live near me! It's very common here too to see reception / year one children out at the park alone, and sometimes they tag along with us as we are on our way to / from school. I totally understand where you're coming from as I feel very uncomfortable about it too. Thankfully for us it is much less extreme. I think you're doing the right thing to express your concern to the head and to talk to NSPCC to get their advice.

This is a serious safeguarding concern she is being left completely unsupervised at an age where this is entirely inappropriate. I’ve worked in a role where I have had to make safe guarding referrals and had to attend children’s services meetings. My advice would be to follow it up with school and make sure that they fully understand what’s happening but also to make a direct referral to social services through the council to ensure that the girl and her family are given appropriate support. In training around such issues the big thing that is flagged up is that there is no such thing as too many referrals but that issues often occur when what appear to be smallish incidents aren’t reported and a full picture isn’t built up. Social services will then be able to assess the family and provide support or intervention if appropriate.

Hi Op
Obviously you should contact the head teacher,(and find out who safe guarding children lead and tell them about this little girl welfare concerns issues are A.s.a.p

(Email/send a letter as rocord of this serious matter A.s.a.p

If you don't hear back about anything to do with this serious matter, in regard of little girl welfare A.s.a.p
chase them up about this matter..

If you are still concerned, report to social services Agency aswell don't hesitate don't assume someone else has done this on poor little girl behalf..

Also report about your concerns of those other small children left to play on the park on the own, they are way way far far too young for them to do that, the headteacher/safe guarding leader or social services need to be informed A.s.a.p this serious matter aswell.

Very Good sound Advice for Op
Report to council and social services aswell as informing school on little girl welfare and of those small children left to play on the own unsupervised etc.

Hi Op, some of the advice you have received is spot on.

I work at a primary school, so I can also confirm that it doesn't matter whether an incident happened after school hours or not. If it is a safeguarding concern (and based on what you have said it definitely is), then the school has a duty to investigate and do the relevant referrals. If they don't, they are in breach of duty.

Your school must have a safeguarding policy (check on their website, or ask for a copy at the school office), and in the policy you will see who is the Designated Safeguarding Lead (at a primary school it is usually the Head teacher). You can follow the procedure for reporting an incident. It will have to be in written so they have a record (explain everything in detail including the day and time), then date it and sign it. The school will have to start their part and deal with it. They should inform you what action they have taken, but they won't be able to tell you more than that due to data protection.

If you feel you cannot report the concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or you have but you are still worried about the safety of the child you must still take action - report to First Response (children's social services).

And do not talk with the teacher again (unless she is the DSL, although that would be worrying), because the advice she gave you was wrong. You should not speak to the child's mother about your concerns.

If you see the girl is on her own in the park again, or locked out of her house and you are worried and don't want to leave her on her own, I agree with other posters that the best thing to do in this case would be contacting the police.

Teacher turned social worker here.

As you aren't currently with the child in a 'live' situation then you need to put this- including historic incidents as this builds a powerful picture - in writing to the school and then report your concern to your local authority. They will have an initial contact number. This gives, hopefully, very little room for this serious set of incidents to be lost in the system.

If this happens again, by which I mean child locked out etc then absolutely call the police. If it is the case where she has inappropriate clothing or is alone in the park generally then report again to the school and social services and keep doing that until it stops! Don't apologise for persistence as this is neglect and is indeed abuse in itself. The risks to this child on any one occasion of this are significant, road safety, abuse by strangers, accidental injury etc. And that is regardless of the harm a significant pattern of neglect can cause!

For people saying it is out of school time, the school have no direct influence on what a parent does with their child after school BUT they play a huge part in safeguarding all of the children in their school community- whether the harm happens in school hours or not. Plans to prevent abuse would always include schools input and they would have actions in implementing the plans and their review. They would be expected to have dialogue with families and professionals in this and their expertise in assessing families and potential harm plus capacity for change is considerable. Please DO report concerns through schools no matter where you spot your concerns- although belt and braces is a good approach for serious concern like this- school in writing and local authority children's services.

Thank you for caring and recognising this situation as being harmful, this little girl will get help that is needed as a result of you speaking up and looking out for her.

For all those telling OP to contact the Head Teacher, she has already said it was the HT that she spoke to! Disgraceful behaviour on part of school.
Thank goodness there are people like OP who are concerned.

@Chickencuddle

It was actually the head teacher I spoke to but perhaps she was rushed and I need to email her officially. I'll ring nspcc later when kids in bed.

That's really not good. I would look on the school website for the complaints procedure and see how to escalate a complaint about the head. Presumably there's some mechanism involving the Governors. It's bad enough for that child's sake, But if your own children attend this school I would also be unhappy with leadership that ignores their safeguarding duty like that as it would make me concerned about what my own child may be exposed in the school.

I’ve called the police for this. Saw a very young girl walking to the park, spoke to her and she said she was on her own. I called 999 and followed her and she went home. Gave the police the address and they said they would come and speak to the parents.

If you go on your local councils website you can often anonymously, or leave your details if you wish, report a concern about a child. It's an online form, it takes about 10 minutes. Please just do it, then you know you really have done your part and hopefully someone can investigate and help this little girl if needed.

I would not hesitate to ring social services

I really hope that this thread has given you confidence OP that this is neglect and that the school should be doing something. It is part of their responsibility.

However, I would not feel confident to leave this with the school. I would report to social services (calling NSPCC if you wish to) and then I would tell the school how badly they have handled your bringing this up with them. Of course you should not speak to the mother, ever. The mother is failing her child, what makes anyone think another mother at the school intervening is a good way to go!

Thank you for caring, for intervening and for recognizing that this is not acceptable. To be alone, in the cold, (bloody freezing this evening where we are) and to think that that is acceptable is so sad.

There may well be reasons why the mum is not taking care of her child, and social services can intervene to help parents like this. So you are doing both child and parent a favour by bringing this to light.

Where on earth do you live that any 4/5 year old is alone at the park with mums checking them occasionally! I hope you manage to get her some help.

Working in Social Care I know that this needs to be raised by you. Not by you via school. Social Services safeguarding is required.

I am amazed that a ht would be so casual about this. Which makes me wonder exactly how this was communicated to them. If it was done in such a way as to make them think that the op had agreed to take the child to the park and that the parent was just a bit late picking up, I can see this could have resulted in them suggesting you speak to the parent. If it was presented as a real concern as it has been here, then I am, as I say, amazed at their response. It is only a few weeks since they will have had to deliver safeguarding training to staff at the start of the academic year and they themselves will have received level 3 training. I would put my concern in writing but I would also contact ss direct - after all, that's what you would have done had school not been open.

Make no wonder she has latched on to you op ..the poor child must be in dire need of some love care and attention...please phone social services asap. Heart breaking ....