To be concerned I didn't get a call from school today

[Eggandbeans2025]

My dd is in s2 ( I think that's yr 8 in England) And she wasn't at school today due to a injury on her foot ( she can't walk at all on it).

I was under the impression dh would call her school today to let them know she wouldn't be in. He was under the impression I would call them. We fucked up with the lack of communication this morning. The school hasn't called me or dh to let us know she wasn't at school.

She travels for an hr on public transport to get to school ( like most of the school)

I'm i being unreasonable to now be concerned about it. We should've called them this morning but she wasn't at school today without any explanation. Anything could've been wrong and it would only be when she didn't return home we would be aware.

How odd. I remember school rang me thinking DD wasn’t in. I was very confused as DH drive DCs to the bus stop en route to work - it was a school bus that went in to the grounds of the school. Turned out they’d been an admin error - but it’s good they checked.

If you're supposed to get an automated call, definitely let the school know, because that sounds like something isn't working, and the school may not know there's something to be fixed unless you tell them.

I think I'd drop them an e-mail or give them a quick ring to say that you are really sorry you hadn't let them know - explain you both thought the other had - and you are sorry for that, but thought they might like to know that neither of you had received the auto-alert you should have, so it seems the system isn't working.
If no-one tells the school, they won't know there is an issue.

I'm a teacher in Australia, this sort of 'hand holding' system came in here after a student in first year of high school was murdered. The police search didn't start until late afternoon, when she didn't return from school. It was only then it was found out that she never made it to school.

It has come in due to safeguarding, not hand holding.

Except it isn't working for your child so you need to let them know. Even it they do have a full time attendance mentor, following up every absent child who's parent forgets to ring in will take them time. The idea of the app is so that there's a quick alert to parents if they do think their child is at school. The attendance mentor will be busy and will need to focus on children who need some support.

Its safeguarding and they should be contacting you normally via text or email or both. The app is irrelevant.

Please contact them to discuss. This is my area of work and I would want to know that my processes weren't working. It could just be that someone was off di k in the office and it wasn't done properly.

Pupils are tracked lesson by lesson too. Its an absolute pain the arse but 100% necessary and worthwhile. Teachers accurately taking registers is really important.

Ours sends a text to both parents and an email, if you fail to call them they will call you.

My DD started S1 in August and missed the first few days due to being poorly with covid. I rang them at 8am. I had 3 missed calls from them rang them to tell them I’d phoned at 8am. Her dad also had missed calls from them too. I get it was her first day but between us we had 6 calls cause she wasn’t in class that was still after I’d spoke to them twice xx

What have the school said about it?

I work in Attendance and we send automated calls. You should have definitely received some kind of message from the school. I would call to check your contact details are correct or if there was another problem. It is possible she was marked present by a teacher and sometimes the next teacher follows on with a present mark. Not ideal but human error does happen especially new year new classes. Also we constantly have issues with our automated call system and often have to raise tickets about things like this. Our calls comes from a 0800 number so parents doesn’t answer and then block the number so don’t receive calls. It is frustrating for everyone.

I'm going to call the school office tomorrow and more or less say this. They were closed by the time I realised no one called this morning.

We have had very positive experiences with her high school so far. So I'm happy to accept this is a blip.

Not every parent can check the app consistently throughout the day. Some have jobs where this isn’t possible.

I agree that as you and DH miscommunicated too you just contact school and say it came to light you both failed to ring in thinking the other did but you’re concerned that no call was made when she didn’t appear either!

I hope DD heals soon.

but surely it's parents responsibility to check their own child is at school, not for the school to have to inform them?

The school is not keeping track of the children after the day either, it's up to parents to know if they are coming home or not, same thing.

if you can't check an app, you can't take a phone call to tell you your child is not there, so what difference does it make

My kids school doesn't have an app but they also don't phone

You give the school the contact details which are useable during the hours of work, for an emergency. Like when there's no sign of your kid when there has been no call to explain their absence.

Twice I received emails (not a text or a phone call) to tell me my child was not at school (when they were, all along).

On one occasion I ended up walking to the school to be told by the receptionist that it never happens that children are marked absent when they are in fact, in school. I knew this was a lie because I knew a couple of other parents had the same thing happen and started a search party. Sons phone location was in school. Husband ended up arriving as well. It was terrifying.

He was there, at school, all the time. He had gone into a different class but been marked absent a 9am and again mid-morning.

I am 53 and registration was a really serious thing when I was in school. There had to be silence and teacher took the register very slowly and carefully. It seems t be this does not happen now (or it didn't in the schools my son attended).

I would let the school know, OP. This has happened with children who have actually gone missing in the past. Andrew Gosden (school called an incorrect number and left a voicemail if I recall correctly so I guess a genuine error but still) and a young man in New York, Etan Patz. The school didn't inform his parents that he had not arrived at school.

It just seems to me that registration should be taken very seriously, more seriously than it is at the schools my sons attended, anyway!

now that's mean 😂

Well, at secondary school age, once you've waved them off, you don't know they will arrive safely. Of course, overwhelmingly they do, but even if it saves a tiny fraction of 1% of pupils, it has to be a good thing.

This safeguarding system was introduced after pupils didn't turn up for school. Parents assumed they were there. School didn't know they weren't ill and not supposed to be there. Police didn't get involved until many hours after they were actually abducted.

Yes you can take a phone call.

I can’t check my phone as it’s locked away in my classroom and I can’t have it out but school can ring my school (which is the contact number) and leave a message and in this sort of instance they would come up and pass it on straight away because my school also contact parents if students don’t turn up.

I would be worried about this too!
I wonder if she is a pupil in the school I work in... we are having the computers upgraded this week and no official registers can be taken

It’s a safeguarding measure brought in after a specific child case. I can’t remember the exact case but it used to get mentioned during safeguarding meetings as the reason why this rule was brought in.

It’s to ensure the best chance of finding the child if they don’t arrive. Otherwise, by the time anyone realises, it would be the end of the school day and 6 hours have passed where anything could have happened.

@CalmHiker if you can’t routinely pick up your phone at work then school should have a contact number for someone who can. What if there was an emergency with your child at school then school would need a number where someone can pick up.

Every school should have a system where they check if a child doesn’t turn up in a morning where there has been no notification of absence from parents. Check your school’s attendance or safeguarding policies

I contacted the school yesterday. They were very concerned why I didn't receive a call/txt yesterday. If you don't reply to the automatic message, a member of staff is supposed to contact you. My daughter was marked as absent yesterday so they are really concerned why nothing was sent. I'm more then happy with their response and id rather a fault happen to us. Rather then another child who needs support when not at school.