To tell you the school does not decide when your child can walk home alone

[Itisuptoyou]

I keep seeing this on threads and I don’t want to derail what the thread is about.

But the school cannot decide this. You do as parent. It may be you are broadly in agreement with the school and I am but this is your choice and not the schools.

It irrationally annoys me when people claim ‘the schools don’t allow …’ Not up to the school!

@cantkeepawayforever , if you are a teacher surely you know what the correct procedure is.

What you don’t / can’t do is say ‘you aren’t going because of my opinion.’

There is a requirement to keep a child safe while investigating a potential safeguarding issue - wanting a child to walk home alone is not by itself a safeguarding issue but it can be part of one.

The usual procedure is to keep the child in school while a decision is sought from social work / safeguarding teams outside the school. Once resolved one way or another, the child may be collected (probably most usual); may walk home alone after everything has been resolved, or may be picked up by someone approved by social services (rare but not unknown). The child remains in school - a known and safe place. - until the decision is reached.

Ultimately, the initial decision to report a safeguarding concern about release to walk home IS my opinion - a trained opinion, and one then passed to a safeguarding lead and from them to the wider safeguarding team. I am required to have professional curiousity, and I am required to act on my observation/ opinion through reporting it.

The insistence of people on here to compare extreme examples - 3 year olds in nursery, alcoholic neglectful parents etc - to the rest of the school population really isn’t enhancing the argument in the way you think it is.

it’s just daft.

@cantkeepawayforever agreed you need to keep child safe until decision reached but you must admit that SS will only consider the safe guarding risk they will not consider that the headteachers school tule / preferred option is no child in y4 can go home alone regardless of risk even if they live nextdoor

The usual procedure is to keep the child in school while a decision is sought from social work / safeguarding teams outside the school.

99% of the time it doesn’t even get that far.

In 20 years I’ve seen the “rule” challenged at least a dozen times I can think of off the top of my head. Only twice was social work contacted.

Once because it was part of a wider pattern. And once again when the school was over ruled and told it was absolutely fine.

Every other time the school had the parents sign a form and the child walked as the parents wished.

You absolutely can!

You say “sorry John, I can’t let you go home until I know you are safe. Come get a biscuit in my office until I try and get a hold of someone”

Then you call family to come for John. If someone comes, great. If they don’t come, you phone social work for guidance.

If someone eventually does come collect John, you may still give social work a call, but that would be done at a time when John is already at home.

You can’t let a child leave when they are at risk of “immediate harm” (ie suspected abuse/neglect which could endanger life, and so on) but you can let them leave and still report if you feel a child’s needs aren’t being met outwith the scope of immediate harm (ie emotional neglect without abuse)

Whether John is being put at risk of immediate harm would very much depend on the specific circumstances of him walking home alone.

@cantkeepawayforever of course and rightly so

but it isn’t down to the opinion of the teacher. A teacher may say ‘I am concerned that jake is not going to be safe at home’ and the DSO would follow set procedure then. This isn’t really the same though.

Well, properly speaking it’s ‘I’m not letting you go for a few minutes because I just have something I would quickly like to check with Ms X [designated safeguarding lead]’ ( because in my professional opinion there is something that needs investigating ).

Which is sort of ‘I’m not letting you go because of my opinion’, but in a rather mire procedural form.

@GneissGuysFinishLast if a school really thought John would be at risk of serious harm if he walked home alone then yes they could involve SS.

assuming John is over the age of seven SS will probably agree unwise but not in their remit.

which concludes it.

not the schools call. Which is all I’ve been saying 😂

In a way but it isn’t ongoing is it? What you mean is hang on, I’m not letting you go yet!

THIS! This is what’s stopped me. That and that I’m friends with staff at school and don’t want to put them in a horrible position.

No a SW won’t be interested in a child being allowed to walk home alone without any other issues, but the school can and will keep the child there over ‘safeguarding’ - while they wait for a decision. This decision can take hours as SS departments are busy. That’s my worry.

Sure so you made a decision in the best interests of your child. But it was YOUR decision.

I agree that there are a number of extreme positions being adopted here.

In fact, the pragmatic ‘most children, by the age of 9 or so - ie Y5/6 - are cognitively and emotionally ready to go home alone to an occupied house, unless there are pressing reasons why this is a risk’ approach seems to be acceptable to most on here.

So a general guideline that Y5/6 children may walk home alone after permission has been given, which is varied by exception (ie sone younger children nay get permission and some Y5/6 children may not or this permission may be challenged in the light of circumstances) seems reasonably acceptable to all?

Well, properly speaking it’s ‘I’m not letting you go for a few minutes because I just have something I would quickly like to check with Ms X [designated safeguarding lead]’ ( because in my professional opinion there is something that needs investigating ).

Sorry, you’d do that for every child under the age of X whose parents gave permission to walk home from school if it didn’t fit with the schools arbitrary rule? In the absence of any other concern?

Of course it’s not the schools call. It’s ultimately social works call. But it’s the schools role to act on any suspicions and pass any concerns onto social work.

And honestly, I don’t think age really comes into it. If I let my neurotypical, rule following 7 year old walk home, half a mile, through a nice area, with no roads to cross (I wouldn’t, but if I did) then it’s probably not a safeguarding concern. However, not all 7 year olds are like that. Not all children have as easy a journey home.

Here, there isn’t a specific policy of who can/can’t walk home.

DDs old school even refused to allow DD to leave school when her 16 year old brother went to collect her as he wasn't deemed an adult. Fucking stupid. He'd gone there for year 6 so knew his age and he was/is extremely responsible. We had to write a letter explaining he was responsible for collecting his 6 year old sister and we were happy for him to do so!!

No. I would do it if there was a safeguarding concern - my post was in response to one saying that children should ALWAYS be allowed to walk home if that was the wish of a parent.

If there is permission on file for a child to walk home alone - in my places of work this permission is automatically granted for Y5/6 with no other concerns, and for younger children by exception after discussion of the journey etc etc - then I would let them go in the absence if other concerns.

How was the initial request to pick up sent? Most schools ime ask for written notification of anyone new picking up (a list of normal collectors is provided as part of enrolment). We also keep details of eg anyone who us NOT allowed to pick up under details of court orders etc.

Both her brother and sister were on the original form but hadn't collected before. I told them upon drop off her brother would be collecting her, they knew she had older siblings.

"Benign neglect" to not want your kid to walk home alone?! 🤣🤣

Comparing it to lockdowns.

Keep going, keep going! What's next?

I don’t think there is anything next, is there?

It is a matter of opinion when a child walks home alone. The opinion that overrides is the parents. Obviously if the parents’ opinion are likely to lead a child to harm further intervention happens but that won’t be the case most of the time and anyway, it still isn’t decided by the school.

Why that’s proved so contentious I am not sure! 😂

It was my understanding that we were discussing primary aged children here, so don't be silly.

the thing is the school knows in most cases ( not all) whether it truly is a safeguarding concern. When John parents write in after Easter holidays saying now John is 9 he'll be walking back and forwards to school on his own as we live on a safe route very close to the school. We intend to start this in 2 weeks time on Monday the 15th may. Generally speaking the school know that ringing SS on monday 15th may when john is not collected is a futile exercise as SS will not have a problem but because they don't want to alter their rule of Y4 not being allowed home alone they tell John's parents they will call SS hoping John's parents will back down, this probably succeeds most of the time but if John's parents insist in most cases the school will have to back down as they know SS in this case will not support them as there is in this case no safeguarding risk at all in sensible John walking a short distance home

Not so where I am and my eldest is 27.