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 sorry, but I've never heard of this at all. Unless the child was on a safeguarding list, I wouldn't expect a teacher to arrive unannounced at home for a 4 day absence.
We're they expecting you to call in every day of the absenceand pehaps you haven't, so maybe is that why they have come to the house, perhaps a misunderstanding about how long the absence would last maybe.

When both my DDs were off as they had been a close contact with a Covid case (when you had to isolate) a teacher phoned me to check on them. I had already phoned the school but then she called me. She said if I hadn't answered the phone she'd come to the house.
Never had it before or since.

You'd do those things by turning up at the front door 😳😳😳

In the case of offering additional support where Fridays are being missed, why wouldn't you just start with a phone call? Or a letter asking for a call?

Of course at some point some visits are warranted but those reasons are largely insufficient. (IMO)

Did they explain why the response to your message didn't flag there would be a visit. And why the policy isn't on the website and clearly communicated to parents. As those seem basic to me and I'd still complain.

Also as other said what would they have done if you or the child weren't home. Child might be in hospital or being looked after by someone else and/or you could have been at work & no one at home. Parents need to know these protocols.

I am also quite suprised that the school allow a staff member to go to a home alone and potentially go inside the house (what if child is asleep/too sick to come down and parent refuses to 'produce' sick child at front door?) That would be classed as high risk in places I've lived in and employers have a duty of care to employees. Some parents could really kick off if feeling challenged.

I agree
Never heard of this

My friend is a teacher and had a girl having chemo and she goes once a week to visit and do some fun crafts and stuff but within school hours and with the agreement of the family but this sounds bizarre!

I can't see how you would be able to argue with an attendance officer that you wanted to keep your healthy child off school.

How on earth could an 'attendance officer' judge the medical wellness of a child? 🙄

The story about kids being rounded up in a bus & brought to school sounds nuts, if true (is it?). In Ireland it simply could not happen, as constitutionally a parent's right to decide on their child's education is enshrined. .

Been working in schools for more than 15 years. Never heard of this happening. I have only known a member of SLT not a teacher visit a home in extreme circumstances, like a long term absence without adequate explanation and even then the home visit was for a child that was previously monitored.

it is a safeguarding check
Totally normal

Are teachers really trained to do safeguarding checks?

What's worrying is how varied the policy is - some posters are aware of it, others have never heard of it.

Based on the majority being in the UK, you would have to hope there would be some consistency in this practice, decided via central government. Not individual authorities or even schools.

Safeguarding works both ways. A random person turning up unannounced purporting to be a teacher and wanting to see your child in their underwear when there has been no communication from school that this is a policy isn’t on at all. I recall a criminal case where someone had been impersonating a hv to get access to children - they’d undressed a baby before parent got suspicious.

Had 4 kids lots of different schools one still in primary and one in secondary, never heard of this at all. Perhaps check your particular schools policy?

Having a random person turn up at their door will definitely motivate people not to have their kids off school. Which I guess is the point. Whenever my kids get sent home from school I’ll I feel simultaneously guilty for sending them in sick and guilty for having them off sick. You can’t win.

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.

Presumably you'd contacted the school telling them it;s chicken pox?

This is bullshit from the school.
There is no necessity - & no legal requirement - for them to send a teacher to your home to 'view' your child's chicken pox.

What does "have to do this in this day & age" mean?
Do the school think you are inventing chicken pox?

@TheOrigRights

I assume that you are not keeping your children off school when they are perfectly able to attend then. I can't see how you would be able to argue with an attendance officer that you wanted to keep your healthy child off school. Not w/o triggering some subsequent action from the school any way.

Assume anything you like. The choice is and always has been mine.

Fortunately I don't live in England when this kind of thing has been normalised. Every day there are posts from people scared to keep their sick child off school for fear of some sort of repercussion.

As a parent I am the only person qualified to decide whether my child should be in school or not.

As it happens I took one of them out and home ed her because school was not meeting her needs. On the outside she was 'perfectly able to attend' - internally she was breaking down slowly.

Fuck this acceptance of schools lording it over parents. The kid has chicken pox and no other issues with attending, absolutely ridiculous to be seeing someone to the door.

However the comment I was referring to in to thing you quoted was about a teacher and attendance officer rounding children up on a bloody mini bus. Fuck that. Literally. Neither one is qualified to make the decision as to whether a child is eligible ell enough for school. Not only do they not have any medical qualifications but they haven't been present with the child either, juts turned up at the door for a quick look. Why on earth is that normalised?

If that happened to us, I wouldn't let the teacher in as I'd consider it a safeguarding concern that she was randomly turning up asking to see my child outside school. I'd call the school and raise it as a safeguarding concern.

I was going from the part that said "taking them to school on a mini bus if they were miraculously better."

School has terrible attendance record and suspects children are either pulling a fast one over their parents, or the child has reported their absence (pretending to be the parent), the parents are allowing their child to play truant, or the parents don't know the child didn't make it to school. I'm talking about secondary school or older primary.

Suddenly they're better when the attendance officer turns up and 'luckily' they just happen to have a minibus with them.

This.
What was the teachers supposed to be deciding as she/he is not medically qualified.
Im shocked at the attitude and rules that UK schools have, they seem so controlling. So glad we lived abroad.

This is why the OP needs to find out the school policy. You'd look a bit of a dick if you raise it as a safeguarding concern and then they 'refer you to rule 4 of the school rules'.

Exactly. It was a Tony Blair policy, the policing families and rounding children up. Awful.
It's perfectly legal to home school, unfortunately difficult for people who aren't wealthy or who can't stay at home to do home ed for whatever reason.
Having said that, safeguarding is vital and checking homes can be necessary. Just not teachers randomly leaving teaching to look at a child with chicken pox!

Secondary age could very well be home poorly alone. Mum goes to work tells child not to open door to anyone. Adult turns up saying there are from school puts child in a horrible position.

Do you have any social work involvement or other safeguarding concerns?

This can be known as an 'eyes on the child check' where if a there are already concerns for welfare of a child and they haven't been seen by a professional in a while, they check-in to make sure child is okay and not a risk.

This would be very unusual if there were not any other concerns about the child or family.

As it happens I took one of them out and home ed her because school was not meeting her needs. On the outside she was 'perfectly able to attend' - internally she was breaking down slowly.

I very, very much doubt a mini bus would turn up and round up this child to go to school. I think you're getting ahead of yourself a bit.

NO ONE is saying that a mini bus is driving around rounding up home educated children!

That sounds unusual I've never had that happen. Maybe past experience with other children might be the reason. If you have nothing to hide why worry. But if the school being so observant saves one child from an abusive or neglectful homelife I don't see what the issue is.

Depending how long the child has been off it's to check the child is okay. How do the school know one if the parents havnt lost their temper and harmed the child? It's a safeguarding thing and I dont see anything wrong with it,