School not letting my child from the school

[Kutika]

I have read numerous discussions where people mention that schools cannot legally prevent a child from leaving, yet I find myself in this exact situation. The school is refusing to allow my child to leave, despite my clear instructions. I've sent an email, filed a complaint with the trust, and even contacted the police, but to my surprise, none of these actions have resolved the issue. I was told by the head teacher that the law does not apply to them. Any ideas on who to contact?

But it's become increasingly clear that the child will be home alone.

I don't think the OP is suggesting wilful disobedience. Asking for a policy to be shown, and if there is one for it to be changed given defined reasons is not wilful disobedience.

I assume you live in an area with a certain type of police force such as South Yorkshire (their failings did not start and end at Hillsborough) or Gloucestershire (whose blind eye turning approach emboldened the Wests). Any police force worth their salt would have had a quiet polite conversation with the school to get them to be reasonable.

And working from home does not mean stopping work for 20 minutes necessarily. I have no child to collect, but twice a week at a minimum have project meetings at school finish times.

They absolutely could and should leave it to parents' discretion.

They could release the child if parents had written consent on file, an "opt in" with a default of "someone will accompany the child home." That is how it's done where I live.

What reason would I possibly have to lie? It’s hardly the most glamorous job in the world. 😂😂

I’d like you to explain to me like what you think is wrong about what I said.

Parents with parental responsibility are allowed to make decisions like this about their children. In order to override that parental responsibility you need need a court order or an emergency police protection order, which is temporary and lasts only 72 hours to allow time for a family court to hear the case.

Please explain to me any piece of relevant legislation that you think allows a school to hold a child against the parents’ wishes and charge a parent a fee because the parent has made a parenting decision that they disagree with. I’ve never come across it.

I never said he can't pick her up; I mentioned that he is sometimes in meetings and cannot leave. He usually finishes work around the same time as my other children arrive home. When he is available, he does pick her up. However, the main issue here is that the school is not allowing the child to leave and come home.

I've just filled in a form today for my year 5 DS to let school know how they are getting home, the options to choose from were, parent picking up from the yard, afterschool club or child walking home alone. obviously I don't know your school or the area but that does seem excessive.

Who is the adult at home? I’ve read all of the updates and the OP doesn’t say where she is just that dh and older child arrive home around the same time, what time is the child getting picked up from asc? If they were picking up minutes after the end of the day - what are they being charged for and this could prove their case the child is not alone.

Why can't they have policies that, say, children who live within a defined walking distance can walk home? It's perfectly sensible and logical.

@Takoneko I'm not saying you're lying, I'm sure you're what you say you are.

I'm sure you're right and the school are acting illegally. What would you advise to OP to do to force the school to comply with their wishes and allow their child to walk home? Is there a particular turn of phrase that would do the trick? What's the process they should follow, given what they've done so far?

@ClockwiseHoneysuckle because then parents start to ask for leniency. Like it or lump it.

This is ridiculous. The DD is 10 next month. Why will the rest of her class be able to walk home from April, when some of them won’t be 10 till August.

Absolutely bonkers. I would usually ask why English parents put up with this sort of shit when there is none of it in Scotland, kids here aged almost 10 would take themselves home no questions asked, but this is clearly what happens when parents challenge it.

Again. Totally unhinged.

Because of the daylight hours and the fact that they will all be 6 months older than now, so nearly 10 instead of just turned 9.

Why dont you just ask another parent to pick her up if you live so close anyway? Save you all this headache.
And the safeguarding etc.. well you live close but can you trust your child everyday will follow and not go somewhere else is what I'm thinking the consern is.

I think there is way more to the OP’s family set up than she is going to put on here…. The school are safeguarding the child in my opinion.

But some of the kids will be still 9 years old.

I’ve just read all the OPs posts again in case I’d missed it. She doesn’t say that at all she says there will be an adult at home because DH finishes about that time. She doesn’t say where either she or he works. It would be very easy yo say DH works at home or she dies, but she doesn’t. If DH WFH why does his finish t8me matter to whether anyone is there?

I had a similar thing with my kids school. We live very near the school no roads etc.
They have a blanket rule of when a child is deemed old enough to walk alone, if your child is younger you have to submit a request with your reasonings. If it's declined and you insist the school can get s/s involved.
I remember being sick and unable to collect my kids one day, it was agreed with the office I would stand in my front garden so I could see them coming out of the school gates 🤣.
Anyhow I would re write a formal request putting a diagram etc of where you live, her route and how long it would take. The school are just not looking outside the box. The next step is to have a chat with the head.

Safeguarding from what, exactly? No explanation has been provided. All we hear is that the school will not allow the child to leave until April, with no further clarification

It's really irrelevant what the precise policy is, there will always be edge cases. And sometimes those edge cases will want to try to push the boundary for their edge case.

Schools are a collective situation not an individualised one. They are required to deal with everyone as a group, and so that means policies that may not fit every individual how they would like. If the policy is actually not helpful for a significant number or even a majority then, yes, push for change. Schools have processes for this.

@DelilahRay but there isn't a rule or a policy in place. This is the material point. A parent has made the decision to allow their child to walk home. If school have an issue with this they are meant to contact social services not prevent the child from leaving. FFS. We have a safeguard lead on here telling everyone this.