OFSTED spoke to DD alone

[Ineedsleepnotsugar]

Why the need to speak to her on her own in a separate room? How is this justified? I dont see the need for it and it matthews me feel uncomfortable.
Dd is 6.
She said the inspector asked her to read a book to her and then asked her time table as. And also asked her if she liked her school.

Maybe im annoyed that OFSTED think that 'rules' don't apply to them. ( school staff would not put themselves in 1:1 situation with a child in a closed room).

Well who says the 'rules' do apply to them?

Well we tell our kids not to talk to strangers so….. YANBU OP.

Ok, so the pupils I'll have in my new classes in September had better not talk to me then . And no, we don't have to tell our children not to talk to strangers, actually. The whole 'stranger danger' thing is misguided - it is well known that the vast majority of abuse etc is carried out by someone the child knows.

You'll probably explode when the year 1 phonics test takes place.

I genuinely don't know where to start with this.

The whole purpose of schools having visible safeguarding protocols, particularly use of lanyards and official visitor stickers, is to show children from a very young age the adults that they can trust in the building.

Some of you are going to have to have some strange conversations when the school rings you to discuss why your child won't speak to the supply teacher.

YANBU - 1) You're right that 6 is too young to 'consent' to anything. 2) I'd ask some more probing questions of your DD, like, what room was it in, was there anyone else there, what questions did they ask, what did you think of the questioner? Then ask similar questions of the school and compare. 3)as a parent you should have been told ahead of time and given the option to opt out if you're uncomfortable - exposing your kids to unknown adults without even your knowledge is not ok.

Finally, as a former police officer I can say, all the posters saying you're overreacting are naive. If you are the kind of parent who sets clear boundaries and isn't afraid to rock the boat, then your child is much less likely to be exploited. All those who would say, 'but it's OFSTED, they're CRB checked etc', these things are irrelevant to your child's safety. If you are known as 'that parent' who is willing to ask uncomfortable questions, it sends a message to anyone who knows your child that they will be subject to scrutiny if their behaviour toward your child pushes the envelope of appropriateness.

Stick to your guns OP!!

Yes, it doesn't change that it needs to be done with permission. The school and OFSTED cannot overrule the previous rule, they needed to ask OP first.

Doesn’t it say refuse permission not give permission, so if parent doesn’t say anything then an inspector can speak to a child

@Ineedsleepnotsugar are you sure she was alone?
My kids school got ofsteded last week and they talked to kids in groups of 2/3

Only if they know about it. The fact that a parent is allowed to refuse permission implies that permission will be sought.

You have a right to refuse permission for me to read your medical notes. If I don't tell you I'm going to read them does that mean I can go ahead and read them as you haven't, not, given me permission...?

I am sorry to split hairs but there is nothing in that document or in the inspection handbook which states that parental consent needs to be explicitly sought, only that they can refuse permission. This tends to happen in certain faith communities and faith schools and this is what is referred to in the guidance you linked. It was made explicit in the guidance updates after the Trojan Horse cases and several other inspections of fundamentalist Christian and Orthodox Jewish schools.

Ofsted do not routinely directly contact parents to request their consent to speak to their child. When you send your child to a state school you implicitly consent to school staff speaking to or working with your child and this extends to official inspectors of the regulatory system which oversees the whole sector.

Agree, it's an opt out rather than opt in situation.

Ofsted send a letter to parents the afternoon before they arrive. That outlines their protocols. The LAST thing thr school have time for in those precious hours after the call is getting consent from parents to read with children. I'm also certain that it would have been done in a fairly open communal area.

OP please do ask your child a little more about the room if you are that uncomfortable. I think you'll probably sind that this 5 page thread is largely a moot point.

id be surprised if the door was shut. Normally it’s a side room or a quiet edge of a library or something. To protect the inspector as much as the child.

There are security system in place to guard against an unauthorised person accessing your medical notes. To access medical notes without proper authorisation is unlawful.

When you attend a medical appointment or you are admitted to hospital and consent to treatment you are implicitly consenting to any properly authorised member of staff accessing your notes when it is necessary to provide you with care.

Sounds like the need it.

This thread is mental.

Some parents must be very clueless about how modern schools work. There will be certain staff, volunteers, therapists, supply teachers etc that aren’t based in one school. They may be in a different school each day. Sometimes one school in the morning, one in the afternoon. But they are still members of the school “team” that is teaching children.
There will be many teachers and staff within a school that the 6 year olds in Year 1 have never met because they don’t go upstairs where the Year 6 classrooms are and use a different playground to the big kids.
But sometimes - if the Year 1 teacher has an emergency or something the Year 6 teacher might be roped in to teach the little ones for an afternoon.
Is this a “stranger”? The little 6 year olds have never met Mrs Smith the Year 6 teacher from upstairs. They don’t know who she is. This is a random adult to them.
But they will be told - “This is Mrs Smith. She’s going to be teaching you all this afternoon because Mrs Jones has to go to the dentist. Yes Billy, poor Mrs Jones. She broke her tooth. Yes Sally, I am sure the tooth fairy will visit her. Now lets show Mrs Smith what a lovely behaved class you are”.
Should these children now not speak to Mrs Smith because she is a stranger ?
No. Of course not.

Exactly - and because Mrs. Smith is wearing an official school lanyard with photo ID this signals to the children that she is a trusted adult within the institution.

What guns? What weapon does she have? Nothing happened and the child wasn’t upset. I’m not clear what she’d be complaining about.

And people wonder why teachers are leaving the profession.

A vetted Ofsted inspector, probably an ex teacher, listens to a child read and asks them a few questions somewhere quiet, with full knowledge of the class teacher, and this is an issue?

Most children at primary are used to popping out to read or do other tasks. Sometimes with an adult they don't really know. It wouldn't be intimidating or scary for most children. Presumably if the class teacher thought the child would be upset they would say 'Can you pick someone other than Jemima please she is scared of strangers'.

Non issue.

That's a poor example. If you accessed @toomuchlaundry's medical notes without proper authorisation you would be breaking the law and could be prosecuted.

Quite possibly. But as you have the right to refuse, I would say that implies that you would be notified. If you are unaware of something happening that you have a right to refuse, they are removing that right by keeping you in the dark.

On the other hand, OP may want to have a look at whether the school letter about the inspectors mentioned that they might speak to children alone, many parents don't read letters from the school. A letter may have mentioned an opt out. I disagree with opt out in principal due to situations like this, so maybe OP could bring that up with the school and have them lean towards an opt in in future.

Or maybe nobody bothered, used to happen all the time at my kids' schools with various things.

Secondary is going to be a massive shock

Who's going to tell her about MFL speaking exams?

Or
•talk to the child in a small group
•with another adult
•not in a closed room
•on a corridor
•even outside
I’m with you OP it’s not good practice.

OP, in my school 350 individual music lessons take place each week in small rooms 1:1. All the rooms have windows and the doors also have windows. I have worked there for 20+ years and there has never been an allegation of anything untoward in this situation from pupils, parents or teachers. These teachers are not employed by the school but have had a DBS done by them.

We have music exams happening soon. Again, students go into a room on their own with an examiner. Again, there are lots of windows and doors with glazed panels. All examiners for the main music exam boards are DBS checked. I fail to see the issue.

I think it's clearly important that ofsted should be able to hear a child's view without any othet influence.

From a safeguarding perspective, I would expect that the room they were in had a glass door panel etc so that the conversation could be totally private but not so private that anything inappropriate could happen. Safeguarding policies don't usually completely forbid a 1:1 adult to child alone - sometimes this is totally appropriate. Where it is a guideline it's as much for the protection of the adult, to ensure there's no opportunity for malicious accusations.

I would think being alone in a room outnumbered by 2 stranger adults would be way more intimidating and upsetting for a 6yo than a 1:1.

My DS (5) is regularly alone with teachers in a closed room at school, WTF is this pish? Ofstead also spoke to teen DD individually and did the same with three other students.