To be very pissed off with school

[AlbertaAnnie]

First day back at school today - school is round the corner from my house. My son is year 6 and walks to school himself ( he’s done this all last year no issues). He went to school as normal this morning and at 9.30 I revived this text from the school.
“ CHILD1 has not turned up at school today, please could you call the school immediately to update us.”
This immediate made me panic and think the worst! He’s very responsible and wouldn’t skip school so all the worst case scenario’s we’re going through my head!
Rang school in a panic shoes on ready to run over! They asked me to hold while the called his class and he was there all along but had been missed off the register! They said he must have “snuck” in past the teacher! He didn’t sneak we just went to school as normal!
anyway I know people are human and errors can happen but surely they should check before causing such alarm! I’m shocked that this isn’t standard procedure and more shocked that if he had actually been missing it would have taken them 30 mins to inform me. Spoke to head teacher and she was awful and so insincere in her apology and just came across very defensive! I want to take it further as I’m unhappy about the whole situation.
AINU to feel so angry with the school or am I being ott? Thanks!

Automated systems which this is work 95% of the time

this was a time it didn’t it was quickly solved

I had one of those automated text messages from school yesterday morning asking where DD was…

Erm she left in July and goes to another school now.

I thought the same. I would think that would take a lot longer.

If you want to make sure he is definitely in school you should walk him there yourself

You're being OTT. Human error..lots of kids, mistakes happen. All is well.

Hark at all the contrary Marys on here - so quick to defend the school, when actually there’s been a real breakdown in communication, which has in turn led to the OP’s undue stress and worry.
I wouldn’t be impressed either, OP. If schools have - even temporarily - ‘lost’ a child then they need to self report to Ofsted. Has this been done?

Yabu. Understabdable as you had a fright but it is an admin error and no harm done.

Sneaking past is just chit chat not an actual suggestion the child did anything wrong.

Also 9.30 is fairly quick to inform you, bell rings, kids in jackets off, sit down, complete register, office compare register to those who have contacted as off ill then phone any others.

Procedure at my school is that the teachers take the register using SIMS computer management system. I print off a list off all absent children.

I then take the list around the classrooms and clarify. Only then do I contact parents.

Surely the obvious thing to do before phoning the parents is to check the class he is meant to be in and see if he is there. YANBU.

No they don't @Seafretfreda , Jesus how did we become a society that has to report everything
It was resolved within minutes
Unfortunate but as I said the system usually works well and nobody was hurt , the staff will be more vigilant im sure

Completely agree - this is much worse and not funny!

It was just a normal human error. You are being OTT.

Also being annoyed that 'if he had been missing it would have taken them 30 minutes to inform me' is ridiculous. If the school day starts at 9, their system has to make allowances for kids being a few minutes late due to traffic or a late bus or whatever, and then they've got to actually collate a list of who is/isn't in, check against records to make sure they haven't previously called in sick or been excused for an appointment, and then send out the message. So 9.30am is a perfectly reasonable time for them to contact you.

He didn’t sneak we just went to school as normal!

You don't take him to school. Therefore you have no idea how he went in. And they're clearly not suggesting that he deliberately sneaked in to avoid being registered; they just mean he was under the radar somehow.

Completely different scenario, in which your vulnerable child was actually put at risk - I’d have made a formal complaint about that one.

I think teachers should double-check if marking a child as absent. Being rung and told your child is missing from the school is very worrying and should be avoided. If, as in this case, the child is simply in the loo or standing behind another child or whatever, then it's obvious the teacher escalated the situation prematurely and in error.

Totally understandable that you were upset. Any parent would be. If a child is marked absent then doesn't the text or email just go out automatically?
You can't have it both ways. Took too long to inform you (9:30 isn't very long) but they should have double checked (so if he wasn't there it would be even longer).
It was a mistake, it happened and your son is fine. If he's got to Y6 and this is the first issue you've had then it sounds like a pretty good school.

Most classes take two registers, one for children being in school, the second for lunch arrangements, a teacher who knows the class well would probably notice that X was marked on one not the other, this was the first day of term, a teacher not familiar with the class could quite easily miss that there was a discrepancy.

And I agree, a half hour turn around for absence phone calls is quick, the office was probably rushed off their feet too with queries, emails, scrappy notes and incoming phone calls asking “Are they back today, is school open………”

Mistakes happen, if a one-off then unfortunate.

The response of the Head Teacher is of more concern, though good that you were able to have a conversation. Perhaps write to the chair of Governors asking that the process be reviewed, as you don't want mistakes to be made.

I do not think you are being OTT. 30 minutes is a long time between a member of staff knowing and the school responding.

what if he was really missing? A lot could happen in 30 minutes. Yes mistakes do happen, but as a parent, their mistakes are not your problem. They have a responsibility to keep your child safe.

on this occasion it was fine … but they could do with taking some lessons from the incident

what if he was really missing? A lot could happen in 30 minutes. Yes mistakes do happen, but as a parent, their mistakes are not your problem. They have a responsibility to keep your child safe.

And that responsibility starts when he walks through the school gates. If he wandered off on the way to school or was abducted by aliens, this is not the school's responsibility.

OP has judged her DC old enough to walk to school by himself. 9.30 is pretty early to find out he's not there (DC's secondary school it's nearly lunchtime). Bear in mind most of the absentees will be people who are off sick and have forgotten to let the school know.

Don't be ridiculous, the administrator in the office cannot physically walk to every single classroom to check every absentee!
These text messages are automatic in order for the parent to then call in and verify the reason for absence, understandably you were panicked but it was a simple mistake.

I'm not surprised you are shaken.
DS1's new school did it to me on about his 3rd day, in a new country. I put him on the school bus, aged 6, and got a call a couple of hours later to say he wasn't there. It really, really shook me. They found him, 35mins later, in the classroom he was supposed to be in. However, human error happens.

You will possibly have mild shock at the moment. Can you take 15 mins to sit somewhere quiet, have a drink, and maybe a biscuit. I was shaking for about an hour. Then give him a big cuddle when he gets home and move on from it.

What's your son saying about why he wasn't registered?

I'm a teacher. Our system is all on computer, I mark the roll, it gets sent to the office, text is automatically sent out at a time (not sent immediately to allow for lated in the first half an hour). It is extremely easy to accidentally click "absent" instead of "present". Human error that was recitifed relatively quickly. Perhaps the person before or after him on the roll was absent, or like others have said teacher didn't see / hear him. Don't really know what you expect to happen by going further with it? As others have asked, who would you go to and what / who exactly are you complaining about?

what if he was really missing? A lot could happen in 30 minutes. but he'd have gone missing on the way TO school Yes mistakes do happen, but as a parent, their mistakes are not your problem. They have a responsibility to keep your child safe. as does OP so if the concern is "what if DS disappears on the way to school" then it is up to the parents to keep the child safe. Op doesn't walk him to school. Her choice but not schools fault.

If you've spoken to the Head, presumably you have already escalated this?