School cannot keep my dc safe

[Schoolrisk]

Hi all,

I do not know if I can bypass the official complaints process or if not what I can expect from the process and what outcome I can expect. Aibu to want to do this and ask for advice.

I don’t want this to be too long it will be long enough l, so I will stick to the facts and make it as short and concise as I possibly can.

I have two dc. A 9 year old in year 5, who is autistic, has adhd and is socially and emotionally around age 5/6. I have a 5 year old in reception class with no know additional needs.

When dc9 was in reception class (age 4 youngest in her year) she was left alone in the main part of school and was locked in the toilets. She was in there for about 1 hour until she was found because a passing member of staff heard her screaming. I was only informed of this at pick up the next day. Nothing was said about how she had not been missed by her teachers.

My dc5 was also lost 2 days into reception when the morning breakfast club staff (teachers) had been unaware that they had her despite her being with them for an hour and a half and them having her on the register. They had sent all the children out alone to find their own classes and had accompanied the younger ones. They had left my dc5 in the breakfast club room where she was waiting for instructions to her class. She had tried to walk to find her classroom but because she had only been in school a day and was at the other side of the school couldn’t find her way so was left in the main building alone until the deputy head found her crying, wandering around. Again her class teacher had not noticed her missing at register. I complained as no one informed me of this. It was dc5 herself who told me at home time and when I approached school they said the morning staff had forgotten they had her because she is so quiet. I complained officially to the head who said she had a word with them and it won’t happen again. I then paused my official complaint.

Today dc9 was supposed to leave at normal time with a friends parents. This was cancelled so I emailed, both of dc9’s teachers, the senco and the office staff to let them know she must not leave alone and was booked in after school club. I had officially booked her in last week. I rang the office 3 times too but there was no answer. I got an email back from senco to say she would sort it out and someone would let dc9 know and ensure she was cared for.

It has taken 2 years for an EHCP to be applied for despite my pushing. Up until two months ago dc9 had no additional support in school despite her needs and also being visually impaired. Her class teacher has done lots and lots for my dc off her own back and out of her own money and I cannot thank her enough but we still have the wider school issues. This also formed part of my initial complaint that I had paused as the head had asked the senco to address these issues so I agreed to wait.

I have just come home to find out dc9 had been let out at the end of school and had hung around the outside of school (main road, open fields, cliffs and woodland area) for what appears to be half an hour at the least. She was found by a member of staff from a local childcare provider not linked to school. They tired to ring school to inform them but no one answered. The childcare provider could not leave her own charges so had to send my dc9 back to school alone and hope she got there and someone could let her in ! School did not inform me she was let out and they could not find her and dc9 told me they shouted at her telling her they were worried where she was, when she got back. Yes dc9 should have gone back to school when no one collected her and I have told her this but she has sen and does not always think things through or make the right decisions. Some dc in year 5 do walk home alone but I have made it clear that this is unsafe for dc9 at this stage and I park in the school grounds because she has on 3 occasions nearly been knocked over due to her visual impairment and sometimes her behaviour.

I have emailed all those I ccd in to this mornings email and added the head teacher. I have asked for an explanation of what happened and why again no one informed me she was missing. I have asked about unpausing my official complaint.

to add dc9 has been lost 2 further times. Once she was put on the school bus even though I didn’t book it and I was waiting for her in the playground and I had to speedily follow the bus and get her off and another time when we were told to pick up early and they released dc9 without me being there and couldn’t find her for 30 mins until she came back to school. I had been searching the area as had a few teachers.

What can I expect from this complaint?
Can I bypass this given that they cannot safeguard my dc. where would I go with this?

To add info my dc9 is not disruptive in school, she is not violent and she is well behaved. She is academically bright. She is just socially behind. So day to day they can meet her needs.

thanks

This does seem like an awful lot of different things.
I would be tempted to see first what their response is. Ask for a meeting face to face. If you are not satisfied then you can complain to Ofsted. With a safeguarding issue they will do do a quick inspection based on that as quickly as possible. They have completely broken your trust here and your faith in their ability to keep your dc safe.

Omg

Ofsted won’t get involved in individual complaints if it’s about safeguarding they refer it to the local authority

that sounds more than enough times to happen so your complaint would be completely justified

has this occurred with any other children at the school that you are aware of?

I thought Ofsted would get involved if it was safeguarding? Either way tell them anyway OP, they can note it for future inspections and it's not like it's the first time they've lost a child by the sounds of it.

That’s quite scary, anything could happen to her I’d be worried sick whilst she was at School tbh my son has Asd/adhd and I’ve had similar concerns and have been very firm with school about it, they’ve been much more on it, although it’s pretty poor they don’t think keeping eyes on a child who has poor impulse control and a history of running off is a priority.
I’m not sure what you should do but please make them accountable as your child needs to be safe and you need to be confident that school won’t just let her out at the end of the day.

Ofsted do get involved. As a teacher I have known it happen from an individual complaint which led to a safeguarding inspection within days.

This is awful! I’d go through the formal complaints process, it should say in the policy how it will escalated if you are not happy with their first response. Be factual and unemotional as you have been above, with dates if you know them. Bypassing it will just end you back at square 1 as you’ll likely be directed back to the policy.

Best of luck with it, you’re absolutely right to complain.

This is horrendous and I would say you have been lucky that the kids are unharmed but honestly I would not push my luck. Can you change school? If I was you I would be calling out schools and ask if they have vacancies in respective years.

The school won't do anything unless all complaints procedures are followed. I found out that you can buy pass them but then eventually will have to go back to school to deal with it .
Steps are

1. Email or verbal complaint to head
2. Written complaint according to their complaint policy
3. Complaint to head of governors
4. Ofsted or local authority

I was told that each process needs proper investigation which is time consuming. Try calling ofsted and see if they get involved (as that would be the best an d fastest) I would still say move school. Your DC need a safer environment and as a parent we need to feel that children are safe in school too.

I reported a safeguarding concern to them once, the reply said they wouldn’t get involved in individual complaints and even stated because it was safeguarding they’d refer to la, never heard a thing from la. my son had left the school by then and i felt like I’d done my bit so that if something happened it the future it wouldn’t be on my conscience

That is appalling!
As the Head doesn't seem to be taking this seriously, I think you should contact the governors, who do have responsibility regarding safeguarding, and tell them what has happened. Also the Local authority.
The school should not be releasing a 9 year old to wander off by themselves, regardless of special needs, in any circumstances. The fact that your DD is particularly vulnerable make its worse. You've clearly done everything you can to make sure that the school knew that DD was going to ASC , and if the teacher was not sure, they should have kept hold of DD personally until they found out. Honestly, at my school this would be a sacking offence. The school are aware that she never has permission to leave the premises alone, yet they still allow her to wander off. The fact that this has happened more than once to the same child is terrible!

How do you know it was an individual complaint though, I believe they keep then on file and a pattern may trigger an inspection but an individual safeguarding complaint of the same scale as op (also have asd child) didn’t trigger anything I just got a letter saying they didn’t get involved in individual complaints

Thank you all. I do not want to over react as she is year 5 and should be sensible, safe can be sensible and appear ‘normal’ for her age but is unpredictable and it fluctuates dependent on her mood.

I also don’t want to put more pressure on the individual teachers as I do feel for them. Her class teacher is outstanding. I actually have a good relationship with the senco and school and I volunteer and get involved in all the activities, trips and activities. I don’t want to sour this.

I can’t ignore this though. My priority is the safety of my dc. Dc9 was crying about it when she got home.

She can be sensible that was meant to say. Trying to type and listen to dc’s endless ‘show’

They will sometimes do an urgent inspection if there are particular concerns about a school, and this repeated history of safeguarding failures is certainly likely to make them sit up.

It sounds like she always needs to be handed over directly to you by a member of staff (as schools do with the very little ones). It would ensure her safety, but I doubt she will like it as it will single her out. All other systems have the potential to go wrong.

You are not over reacting at all, this is absolutely appalling.

Omg this school sounds truly diabolical. I would 1,00000% (I know not a thing but just to emphasise how serious I am), complain to head teacher snd further above (ofsted or union etc) and also get those kids our of that horrifically unsafe school asap

I’m a fairly chilled parent but if I’d emailed school to ensure dc went to after school club and instead discovered they’d sent my dc out of school I would be furious. I would feel the same in Year 6 with a non sen dc.

For comparison, I dropped dtds into reception one day, they both walked through the doors and passed the teacher who said hello. As I reached the road outside the school a mum I didn’t know raced up to me out of breath telling me my daughter wasn’t in school and was looking for me. Turns out she suddenly decided she wanted an extra hug so had run after me without the teacher noticing and I’d turned the corner so she couldn’t see me. I ran back in to the playground to find upset Dd and a confused head teacher. Did cuddles and got her back into school. Class teacher was mortified and Head teacher asked what happened. Head apologised and said she wanted to look into it further.

That evening I had a full email setting out what mitigations they would put in place - part of this was for me to talk to dd to explain she mustn’t leave once in school and the rest was how the class teacher and TA would tag team so if teacher was speaking to a parent there TA would watch those in class. There were some other things about where teacher would stand in future. At no point did I get cross because they owned it and learned from it.

In your situation I’d write to the head and include the safeguarding teacher and governor.

Just found out dc had tried to go back to school but all doors were locked. It’s a decent sized primary with a number of ways in and out.
She eventually got back in because a member of staff was outside school leaving and found her and buzzed her through the locked door at one side. She then made her way to find staff. Goodness knows how long she was outside if all the doors were locked and no one could been seen inside. The office staff were gone !

Make sure you have dates and specific details logged about each event so you can't be told you are wrong. Official complaint, at this point they aren't dealing with it and should be forced for change before something serious happens. Asap OP

I have a year 5 class. I know for certain each day which children in my class are walking home alone. I send them off at the school gate and tell them individually to go straight home, be careful crossing the roads and if they are worried about anything head straight back to school. I then pair up children being collected with parents. Anyone not collected stands with me until I find out what's happening. My TA gathers up the after school club gang and accompanies them there. I don't care if they feel babied, I finish my working day knowing that every child is safe and is going to end up where they are supposed to be.

My autistic son is starting school in September and this terrifies me.

Personally I wouldn't be sending either of them to that school. I'd deregister them and home educate and copy in the school governors with your reasoning. Report it to the local authority too and let them know the children will be educated at home until suitable provision can be found. My oldest is year 5 and ASD and would most definitely not be allowed to leave school grounds without an adult. Other year 5 children do with parental consent, but my child doesn't have consent and they'd know about it if he was allowed to leave the premises alone.

This is absolutely horrifying. I would complain to the school and report to ofsted. This is clearly a series of safeguarding incidents. If ofsted decide not to deal with it, or deal with it yet that's up to them but at least you have done your part. They should also have a complaints policy in writing so you know where to complain and when to expect a response. I am also really shocked the head did not do a full investigation and put corrective measures in place, even if you did not formally purpose it.