School coming to home to view sick child - Normal?

[CandlelightGlow]

I'm feeling really sensitive right now due to work stress so please be kind.

My 5 year old is off with chicken pox right now. He got the spots on Sunday, he's been quite poorly with it Monday - Tuesday, very sleepy, then very uncomfortable Weds waiting for the scabs to form. He's just started to feel better today but the school have an INSET day tomorrow anyway.

We just had a knock at the door, and it was a teacher from DS's school! He was very reluctant to come downstairs because he's only in his pants and thought the teacher was there to take him to school. She was very nice and said it's sad that they have to do this in this day and age but it's completely normal and they do it for everyone who's been off this length of time.

He's been off for 4 days? His older sister is at school so we've still done the school run every day. To be fair as it's an inset day tomorrow it will be over a week by the time he goes back on Monday. But I've never had a teacher come unannounced to our house to check on our child. Can someone reassure me it is actually normal and they don't think something bad of us! My poor boy is just ill. I've called him in and updated, updated again this morning saying he would be back on Monday!

I'm curious on what would happen if you refused or they wouldn't come downstairs. My child is suspected autistic and definitely wouldn't want a teacher seeing her in her underwear. I understand why they would wanna check incase of neglect or abuse but genuinely what would happen if as you said the child was elsewhere or unwilling to come down. Also it should definitely be on their website and a clear policy parents know about. It's almost like it is hidden to catch parents out or something if they're lying about a holiday or whatever.

It sounds very odd to me. I work in Education, and have never heard of this sort of thing. Did she have identification? I would check the website as someone else suggested, and also call the school to ask about their policy regarding children who are ill and at home. She may be innocent, but it's worth checking.

My DH , locum teacher, did home visits in a job role as Head of year. This was senior school though and mainly for children with suspicious sickness patterns.
I would call the school and enquire about the policy as chicken pox is infectious and teachers shouldn't be exposed to infection. I'm not sure on the rules of infections but dangerous to pregnant women.

This is very unusual especially in primary. When I was a secondary school teacher we did occasionally visit homes with the educational welfare officer if there was repeated truancy but for 4 days off for a 5 year old, no! I’m surprised they have the time!

My son was off for a whole school week with chickenpox. Spots came out at the weekend so I emailed in on the Monday and then there was no other contact until I sent him back in the following Monday.
At the school I work at we would only do a home visit if the family has poor attendance and is under the attendance officer or if we had welfare concerns. However I know some schools are under a lot of scrutiny from OFSTED for attendance so are carrying out checks for all families not just those with concerns.

It sounds to me like they have safeguarding concerns. It’s not ideal but this type of procedure is needed and sometimes families who are perfectly fine are caught up in procedure.

The statutory guidance has recently been updated for more of a focus on attendance and schools have no choice but follow that - so are putting new approaches in place to ensure they have evidence of meeting the statutory requirements. I wouldn’t take it too personally. The mast majority of visits will just confirm what they need to know and that everything is okay. On rare occasions they may identify a child or family in need of help and can put measures in place to support them.

Never experienced this. I think it’s overstepping and intrusive.

i dont think it is over stepping and intrusive
and if it is, we need more intrusion in some cases.
as said above
think of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes

I had meetings all morning this week as I had a bunch of workshops, so I messaged on Dojo upon realising I hadn't called daily

what was stopping your husband, a SAHD, from calling the school to report the absence?

Absolutely!
If the choice is between hurting adults’ feelings by “overstepping” or letting another child die due to abuse or neglect, then I’m putting on my big overstepping boots.

Exactly

and this child is often late and the parents called day 1 but no further all on Day 2 / 3 or 4. So there were certainly grounds to be concerned.

and the excuses the Op gives for above are so week.

late because they “live out of catchment”

didn’t ring every day because op had workshops. Ok so… you ring as soon as you wake or the other parent, in this case a SAHD, rings

Weak

« I need to have eyes on him » warrants further explanation from school. If I were you I would schedule an appointment to speak with the headteacher. They’ll possibly want to talk about punctuality with you.

Oh? How many years in education have you worked? And in how many different settings?

I worked in schools 2008-2017 across all age groups and in three settings.
It was common practice in all three.

Very odd I would say.

Teachers at our school would call the parents is they are off for a period of time and offer any assistance. We do food parcels and activity sets. It's not a check on the parents, just to try to be helpful.

Oh OP, my heart goes out to you. I can see how this would make you feel, but it really isn't that they think you're the 'kind of home' where something bad might have happened.

I've done lots of safeguarding inset, and one of the key things they drum into you is that bad things can happen in any home. So I really doubt they were singling you out. I think the simplest explanation is that they are simply following their school safeguarding protocol due to you (quite understandably) not phoning in every morning. If they don't follow it to the letter, they can get into trouble.

It won't be a reflection on you - they're just following their procedures.

Hope your dc is feeling better now.

If the choice is between hurting adults’ feelings by “overstepping” or letting another child die due to abuse or neglect, then I’m putting on my big overstepping boots.
Agreed.
OP's situation wouldn't typically trigger a home visit in the schools I've worked in, unless there's more in the background that's not on the tread.

But I can easily see how another school might decide it meets their policy.

As another poster says:
and this child is often late and the parents called day 1 but no further all on Day 2 / 3 or 4. So there were certainly grounds to be concerned.
and the excuses the Op gives for above are so week.
late because they “live out of catchment”
didn’t ring every day because op had workshops. Ok so… you ring as soon as you wake or the other parent, in this case a SAHD, rings

In a straightforward scenario it's two forgetful and disorganised parents not keeping in contact with the school about illness and for whatever reason seem incapable of getting their child to school on time.

In a worst case scenario, it's a chaotic and disorganised household where a child has been harmed, the parents have contacted the school to inform them that the child will be having the week off school just before a long weekend, then silence.

No sensible adult would say it's fine to risk the worst case scenario just in case an adult had a tantrum about a welfare check.

i dont think it is over stepping and intrusive
and if it is, we need more intrusion in some cases.

Still you don't have to let them in to nose around, while your family is in various states of undress or sleeping. It's not like they have a search warrant.

They’re not asking to have a nose around. They’re asking to see your child to ensure they’re safe and well.

Not so unusual in senior school. Have you called every day to say he’s still ill. Usually they will visit if haven’t had a call.
I work in a senior school and generally home visits are if no contact has been made with the parent or the student has bad attendance. Some times I agree with it and other times I don’t!

Put in an official complaint!

Common for our school. Especially around inset/ bank hol or either side of a half term. Parents are prone to sneak away in a family break. We went away mid week last week and missed school call. I got a message from the family support worker telling us to enjoy our break away😬 but I should have informed them before. ( I couldn’t as week before they were off with snow days

Seems strange to put in a complaint about a school caring about vulnerable children and safeguarding