Should I complain to the governors?

[camegonfle]

DC has a history of anxiety. Severe episode 2 weeks ago which resulted in A&E trip and CAmhs referral within 24 hours. DH went to school to pick up DC for therapist appt which for which we'd pre-notified school. School were unable to locate DC. They'd been marked medically absent from a previous lesson and hadnt turned up to the following lesson. We had a torrid 40 minutes whilst they looked for them. They were found sitting in a corridor with a member of staff (thankfully) having had a panic attack.

Is it unreasonable to think this is a major safeguarding fail? Surely if a kid goes out of a class on medical grounds they should be checked on/notified to pastoral care at the very least.

We'd already been in discussions with safeguarding as they truanted from the last lesson of the day recently and it was not flagged up to anyone; I had to tell the school that DC had truanted and wanted to know why school hadn't contacted me.

Would it be unreasonable to involve the governors at this point?

Yes it would BU to go to the governors and also not doable anyway as there is a complaint procedure that has to be followed, you can't just jump steps.

You're worried about your child and rightly so but I think you're aiming your emotions at the wrong people.
A class teacher can't stop a lesson to contact pastoral each time a child doesn't show up, you said your child was with a teacher at the time you went to collect them so even though it must have been worrying to be told "we don't know where your child is" I think the teacher with them would have been focused on your child in that moment and would probably have informed pastoral care/whoever else afterwards.
By all means I would definitely ask for a meeting with pastoral care and head of year/tutor to discuss your concerns and maybe come up with a plan for things like this but I wouldnt be kicking off just yet.

But they were being checked on as a member of staff was with them? Who were they? How old is dc? Am assuming too young to have a mobile phone on them to have rung yourself?

Yes, completely reasonable to complain that the teacher in question was more interested in being there and helping your child rather than leave them to their panic attack to notify the front office.

On a serious note, all schools have a policy for certain students where the teacher needs to notify someone if they don’t turn up or that they need to be accompanied due to there being a risk of self harm. Did you have a meeting with pastoral / senco / head of house to discuss your child’s current situation after the last episode? Did you come up with a plan together? They’re not mind readers.

How old is your kid?

We have a system that notifies someone when a child hasn’t turned up. However, we have a big site so the poor did marauding around looking for them doesn’t always fine them. If a child was having a panic attack, notifying someone wouldn’t be my first priority unless I thought there was a medical issue.

Er no. She was in school, with a teacher, being taken care of. If she had wandered off site, or found alone having a panic attack then absolutely. But she wasn't.

You need to value and build upon your relationship with school. If you're unhappy, just mention it. 'I'm glad someone was with her but surprised that you don't know where she was' and you might get an explanation.

Work with them to make sure your child gets the best out of school.

Op, also for info, in secondary it’s very normal for a child to walk themselves to the front office / first aid if they’re feeling unwell in class. They are teenagers so there is an element of trust that they will go where they are saying they will go (unless there is a special plan for the child as mentioned in my last post which all teachers are aware of). The teacher on question will just have assumed they’re still in medical 40 mins later. Only if a child is saying they feel faint that another child walks with them.

Of course YABU.

My problem isn't about individual teacher behaviour - it feels like a failure of process. Teacher 1 lets child leave class on medical grounds (sat in the corridor outside class). Teacher 2 is the one who happened on DC in the corridor nearly 40 minutes later. Teacher 1 was unaware that they were still in the corridor. (most classrooms have external doors so the corridors aren't much used).

For context the not being able to find DC happened a week after the A&E visit/CAMHS referral and two weeks after the un-noticed truancy. I appreciate I'm hyper-vigilant at the moment so appreciate the advice.

DC is 14, has a phone but they're supposed to be switched off in school. The A&E trip followed an episode where they were unable to speak or move so having a phone on them wouldn't have helped anyway.

I think at 14 and with a history of truancy your complaint will change absolutely nothing.

They were still sat outside of the classroom they left and no-one (other than the teacher who was with them) could find them?

It’s not a failure of process at all. They are teenagers and they are trusted to be responsible and take themselves off to where they need to be. Your child can join the army in 2 years, drive in 3 and get married in 4. Teenagers don’t need to be followed across the school or have a member of staff escort them. If a child didn’t come back from the toilet, I’m sure the teacher would email the office or send another pupil to check up on them. Many times in medical, they sit them down and allow them to stay for a while so it’s not unreasonable to think that they’re still there 40 mins later?

Did you meet with the school after the visit to a&e and tell them your child is a danger to themselves and that they are not to be allowed to leave the classroom on their own? If you did and your dc was allowed to leave then I can understand you speaking to the school. Even then, I wouldn’t word it as a complaint.

If you start throwing your weight around and shouting about complaining to governors, they will think you’re a complete knob (no offence intended) and it’s in your interest to work with them for the sake of your dc.

@declutteringmymind not sure why you are saying "she"? Anyway DC has "wandered off site" as previously mentioned and also the Camhs assessment did uncover previous self-harm so maybe that's why I'm more than a little concerned?

Thanks for the phrasing around "glad someone was with them etc" because that is a helpful one to use.

I will go back to the safeguarding lead again (we had a meeting at the beginning of last week).

I get the point about building a relationship with the school so was definitely in two minds about approaching the governors as aware it might be counter-productive.

YABU.

Reception won't know where your child is if your child isn't where they're supposed to be. They'll know a) where they are supposed to be and b) if they're not where they're supposed to be - but they won't know where exactly they are if they aren't where they're supposed to be because pupils don't have individual tracking devices. DC was with a member of staff and being looked after. That means the school as an entity knew where she was - telling reception isn't even remotely relevant to anything because it's highly unlikely that reception would need to know. Reception aren't notified every time a pupil goes to the toilet or gets sent to a different classroom or needs to run back to their form room to get their PE kit etc. As long as the school knew where she was (roughly) and that she was safe and looked after, you have nothing at all to complain about.

I agree with a lot of this but a teacher can't physically prevent a pupil leaving a classroom. If they want to leave then they can leave - it's not a prison and pupils wouldn't be restrained. A member of staff cannot then follow the pupil if that would mean leaving their class unattended. Most teachers would then contact "on call" which is where another member of staff who currently isn't teaching locates the pupil - so would result in exactly what happened in this circumstance where the pupil is out of the classroom, usually in a corridor, with a member of staff.

OP could ask the school a thousand times not to allow her DC out of class by themselves but no teacher would ever be expected to enforce that.

He was with a member of staff who was looking after him during a panic attack.

I can't see why you think they failed to safeguard him.

So your DC was using an 'exit pass' but actually needs a Safety Plan.

Talk to the sendco and dsl about getting one set up. That will mean that dc isn't allowed to leave class on their own for any reason, but has to be escorted everywhere if they need to move during lesson times and SLT are notified if they aren't in a lesson from the start.

The SG link governor won't mind being asked if there is an established safety plan protocol and if not, could one be arranged for the children who are at particular risk/must be watched at all times.

If school are aware that there may be a safeguarding risk by your child going missing and they are ignoring this then a complaint would be valid. However it may be more constructive first to speak to the SENCO or Head of Pastoral to raise the issues and to see if they will put a plan in place.

I have a child who has been known to go missing in school for anxiety reasons and there very much seems to be a protocol in place for when this happens. (We are fortunate that this happen without having to ask). The protocol has been tweaked as initially it was causing my child more anxiety. It isn't perfect currently but it is a happy medium that keeps my child safe and the school side of things happy.

Some questions you could ask are: What is their protocol if this happens? How should a member of staff alert someone if your child goes missing/who should they alert. Is there a safe space that your child can go to if they are too anxious to be in class? (Don't accept a medical room or somewhere similar that there may be lots of other people, because I am guessing that won't work for your child- hopefully your child may be able to suggest somewhere).

It is really tough and there are no magic answers but you may get further if you try to work with the school rather than complain. Schools become very defensive if complaints are made and if you get to this point it may be in your childs best interests to find an alterative placement. Also, if your chold is too anxious to go to school, don't be afraid to listen to them and be guided by that.

If I’m taking the register and it says that the child has a medical appointment and they’re not in the room then I’m obviously going to assume that they’ve gone to it. If I found a child having a panic attack in the corridor I would stay with them and help. There’s no failure of process. If your child doesn’t have a specific risk assessment then you can’t expect someone to walk them down to reception. If you want a risk assessment then you need to speak to the DSL.

Thanks to everyone who has commented with evident knowledge about the workings of secondary schools. It certainly helps put my concerns in context. I guess asking school to flag it up a bit more keenly if DC leaves mid-class for any reason is the way forward. DC isn't considered an immediate danger to themselves by camhs but they've been very good at masking so far so I do wonder how accurate that assessment is.

@Stickstickstickstickstick thanks for the ear worm! 😆

From username obvs!

Why are you saying"they" ? You sound a bit OTT with everything.

@peppaminttea I'm so sorry you're also experiencing this. Bloody nerve-wracking isn't it. Thanks for your very helpful suggested questions. I will definitely use these.

Would you be able to share what the protocol looks like for your child? (feel free to DM me if easier). I don't want DC to get any more stressed about school than they already are.

@treesandweeds that empathy bypass worked out well for you?