School let child out early, went AWOL

[nutleywombat]

Hi everyone
Just want to get a bit of perspective on what other people would feel about this. Sorry a bit of a long one!
My DS is in Year 6. He is Autistic and has ADHD, finds school hard and on many occasions in the past has got overwhelmed at school. I've gone to pick him up and he has masked it while at school then exploded outside of school/once we get home. School know about this as I have spoken to them about this and in the past it was agreed they would call before end of day to let me know, and if needed I would sometimes pick him up from the office.
Recently a few times he has run off, once out of school office and once when getting out of car when we get home. Has returned home after a bit (we have a tracker in his phone so knew where he was). Today I went to pick up DD who is younger, waited for DS to come out and check in with him before he cycles home. No sign of him. Waited, got told by one of his friends he had gone home early as had hurt someone am. I went to find his teacher who said she was going to call me (when?!). Basically DS had a bad morning, hurt someone and lost his lunchtime (that's fine agree with that). Stayed out of classroom doing work for afternoon as was still emotionally heightened. School have decided would be best for him to leave before rest of school and let him go before parents arrived. Said he was calm. Called my DH and DS hasn't got home. Tracker not working on phone and so spent next hour trying to find him on estate where we live. Teacher went to look for him ect. He eventually came home very upset and cross. I am just so angry that the school, knowing his background have allowed this to happen. Surely they should have called me to check it was OK to let him go alone and early?! I feel that this is a child protection issue and want to complain. How would you approach this? What would you do?

Your child attends an absolutely insane school. Huge, huge safeguarding fail.

Complaint in to the head and take it from there.

So he normally makes his own way home? How much earlier did they let him out? I can see how the teacher might have thought that letting him go at 3:25 instead of 3:30 to avoid the rush wouldn't have needed permission.

However, the fact that he was not in lessons all afternoon should have warranted a phonecall if the usual procedure there is for you to pick him up.

The fact that he then went missing highlights how important this handover procedure is.

Wow that is so bad!
Complain to Head for whoever decided it was fine for him to leave and I would go to LA.

But he has permission to cycle home.
He was just allowed home a few minutes before the other children?
I would definitely be annoyed that you hadn't had a phone call about the incident, but from a safeguarding perspective I'm not sure they did anything wrong.
Either he's allowed to go home alone or he isn't? It's not up to them to judge that on a daily basis surely?

Btw, OP, if you get any advice to 'go to Ofsted' it's not appropriate ATM.

Your school will publish its complaints procedure on its website. Follow that. Generally it's best to have a conversation before opening a formal complaint but it's up to you - this is quite a serious breach IMO. And I'm a safeguarding governor and rarely tell parents to jump straight in with a complaint

Complain to the head and the chair of governors,(information should be available on the website).

If you're still not satisfied, (I wouldn't be, whatever reason they give) report to ofsted.

It's a safe guarding issue and they have drastically failed in their duty of care.

I think it is important for OP to clarify if he generally has permission to leave school premises alone, if so I think the school has not really done much wrong, and OP needs to pick him up every day if she doesn't want him leaving alone

Going home at home time does not encompass going home at any other time. No way.

And of course schools have to judge things on a daily basis. They look after children every single day. Welfare is a continuous concern. You don't just do at the start of term or on Wednesdays or something.

The complaint (if you make one) is about not letting you know about the difficulties in school

Its not about him going home, he cycles home you say?

I think that depends on how early he was let out.
Five, maybe 10 mins I agree with you.

Any longer I disagree, my DD has permission to leave alone at 3.15, if she isn’t at our agreed meeting point by 3.25 then I know something has gone wrong. If they were to let her leave at 2.15 without telling me, then that’s a full hour before anyone would know something has gone wrong.

People who don't think this is a biggie don't understand the responsibility that schools have re. safeguarding.

He's a year 6 pupil out of school at a time when he is expected to be there by his parents. You do not send your kid to school only for them to let him leave without your knowledge. Literally no one knew his whereabouts during that time. MASSIVE failing.

As I understand it he is allowed to go home at the correct time but outside of that time should trigger a phone call home
If it was the correct time @nutleywombat would see them leaving and knows he's ok
Their system failed and they need to look into this

If a complaint like this came into our board of governors we'd be hauling the head over coals. I can't believe people think this is ok.

Children are entrusted by their parents into a school's care from this time to that time. A school does not unilaterally change those times.

Do you know specifically what you want to achieve by complaining?
Your son's needs sound very unique so I don't know what you can achieve beyond a specific apology to you.

Presuming he finishes at this primary school in 4 weeks time. What is the discharge plan for secondary school, Will you still need secondary school to retain him until you arrive & directly approve of his departure? Do you have that plan in place?

I read into the OP that it was a few mins - before the other parents arrived. That said to me that it was so that it was a bit quieter and calmer and he had space and time without people milling around like normal

Even secondary school would not allow a bone SEN pupil to leave at a non standard / pre advised time without contacting the parents.

Oh dear! I get why you're upset OP

Had something similar when my DS was only 6.

Two children with same first name. One of them was off sick that day. My sons Afterschool care called the school to advise they would be slightly late collecting DS. The receptionist told them that my son was off sick. He wasn't. So his after school care didn't turn up for him.

DS is then hanging about the playground wondering why no-one has come for him. Gets chatting to my neighbour who goes to the office and long and the short of it is, the school tell her, yes, she can take him home. She tells them she thinks they should check with me, but no, it's fine, they know her!

She calls my work to get a message to me, which is somehow relayed to me as "x is not at school!"

The schools explanation?

'we have an X with the dark hair and an X with the blonde hair, so there was a mix up' 

Having re-read it, yes I think your right and agree a few mins early wouldn’t be notified if he has permission normally to leave school.

So kid gets let out of school early and goes wandering. During that wander they get into some trouble, doesn't really matter what, just something happens. Take your pick from the kid being abducted (hope I'm not upsetting you, OP) to they break a limb or they decide to get up to no good and cause some criminal damage.

Can you imagine the outrage when the parents question the school only for them to say, 'yeah we let him out at 2'. WTAF. No way! He was in YOUR care at that time. You don't get to let him leave without my agreement. ----

Ok school should not have let your child go early, particularly after a bad day, without warning you. That said, maybe the cycling home is something that needs to be dropped as it does sound like he needs supervision after school. I would contact school to ensure it doesn't happen again, but definitely consider just picking him up after school.

So he's usually able to cycle home on his own?

Yeah, there's no safeguarding failure here. You've given permission for your child to leave alone. It's entirely sensible of the school to allow him to leave a few minutes early if it's likely to start him off again. You'd be complaining if they refused to implement reasonable adjustments for him. That's one of them.

The only person you need to be upset with is your son.

Yeah, there's no safeguarding failure here

Thank goodness governing bodies take children's safety more seriously than some parents.

They know your child has SN and they let him out of school early without knowing if anyone would be there early to collect him?

I’d report that to ofsted quite honestly.

He is autistic and has ADHD, why would OP be upset with him? He has had a bad day which OP should have been told about. Who lets a kid in that situation out of school early and doesn't tell the parents?

Not if the school usually release him to his Mum because she’s there picking up a sibling anyway. If OP usually sees her son before letting him cycle home, that’s nothing to do with the school, and it’s not a reason to think is safe for him to be let out early.