Noone picked up my daughter and school didn't ring.

[Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar]

On Thursday my daughter was supposed to be picked up by my sister as my husband and I were both working. She finishes school at 3:20pm, she's 7 and is in year 3.

At 4pm I was on my break at work and called sister to ask how DD is.

Sister bloody FOROGT to pick her up and wasn't even in our home town. She was about an hour's drive away at her new boyfriends house.

In a panic I hung up on spluttering apologising sister and immediately rang school to find out what happened to DD. They just casually said "yeah, we've got her, she's in after school club"

At the time I was too busy arranging for someone else to pick up her with only 10 minutes left of my break and relieved she was safe to think much more on the fact that the scholl hadnt informed me so I just said thank you to the school and said someone would be there soon.

Would you complain to the school or at least mention it that noone rang me or DH to say she hadn't been picked up? If I hadn't rung sister I wouldn't have known, and what would have happened when noone arrived at 5pm when it closes?

They also charged me and I could have avoided this charge or at least got a lower charge if I'd got her picked up by 4pm.

It's basic safeguarding.

If a child is not booked into after school club and no one turns up to collect then the school should make a welfare call to check the parent is ok.

If the OP had not called then at 5pm the school would have an uncollected child and a member of staff would have to remain with the child until collection which could take an hour depending on parent location.

Oh, so you’re that mum….

No wonder schools can’t recruit anyone it must be a thankless task dealing with this level of entitlement on the regular…

Next time your have to get someone to pick up your child maybe flick them a reminder about lunchtime that day.

Well, aren't you amazingly clever and amusing?
Or just thick??

This!

Good grief. Complain about what?! The staff will have just assumed you forgot to book your daughter into after school club and taken her to the after school club - waiting for you and to charge you on parentpay or whatever software later. If anything the school staff could log on cpoms they have concerns about you forgetting to collect her.

They should have phoned the parents anyway!!

The school were probably giving parents the benefit of doubt. If they had always been reliable at picking up it seems like they were giving them some grace time rather than stressing them.

Anyway, no harm done. Nothing to complain to the school about. Hopefully sister has learned a lesson and will put an alarm on her phone for next time and the child had a fun time.

Yes, exactly.

Ffs. I just thought lack of phone call was odd and apparently I'm the reason teachers are leaving the profession.

I should have known when I posted on here tbh 😂

Spurious complaints. Sorry that you couldn't infer that notion from my statement.

You are complaining about a charge from school for doing what you should be doing - making sure your 7 year old is safe after school. Beggars belief!!!
School would have phoned you.
You should have phoned sister that afternoon to remind her - it’s what I do if we have to rely on others.

Don't be "that" parent and embarass yourself by making a complaint to the school.

The school should not assume anything when it comes to pick up for a 7 year old

Oh my goodness! This has brought back memories! I was once shopping in a nearby town and suddenly realised that my watch had stopped and it was much later than I thought. I rang my friend in a panic and she said “Don’t worry, I will pick your children up and look after them. They can stay for tea so there’s no rush”. Two hours later I was driving home and suddenly remembered that I was supposed to have been collecting my next door neighbour’s little boy as well. I can’t describe how awful and panicked I felt . My neighbour NEVER forgave me.

Did you arrange a few days before and then check with your sister again on the day?

I know you shouldn’t have to but I would always message on the day again to say “are you still ok to pick up….?” (And hope they don’t say no!)

They are at the general level of entitlement that many parents expect for their child. So many parents think teachers are there firstly on a 121 basis for their child’s particular needs, and secondly as free childcare around the hours they should be there.

The school should have rang you, what if something had happened to you & DH and had never turned up!

I would email school and ask what their policy is for uncollected DC and if they didn’t follow it ask them why they didn’t.

I'm a retired teacher. They really should have phoned the OP or the emergency number, OP could have had an accident on the way there or any number of reasons why the child had not been collected. I don't know if we had a written policy about it while I was working but the secretary would always phone if all the other children had been collected and there was still one left.

I would save my real wrath for the sister who just 'forgot' though.

I wouldn't complain - I would apologise and thank them. But I would also ask why they didn't contact you, as that is really surprising.

No, I think you should thank the school and apologise for the unannounced non-collection.

I would feel happy they took your child and cared for them. The charge would be something I would gladly pay.

As regards a phonecall- well maybe they were going to call buy were giving you the benefit of the doubt.

I know right? Unbelievable. I’d be dragging my sister over the coals and never letting my child anywhere near her again. At least the school could be bothered to look after her!

Going to asc is excellent as the child isn’t standing around worrying and feels safe and engaged. But if school were expecting you at normal pick up time, I would expect a call to ensure you were not hurt en route or something. My dad once forgot to collect mine (he was elderly and after this I never asked him agsin) and school rang me as it was then a concern for me as to where he was - thry kindly reassured me kids were fine and safe, so I could try and track down dad who wasn’t answering land line or mobile. If you have another adult collecting could you advise school in morning and ask adult to text when collected safely?

Be grateful to the school and angry with your sister. It sounds like you use lots of people to do pick ups and use after school club which is perhaps why they didn’t call, but you could email the school thanking them for putting dd in after school club and asking if it would be possible for them to call quickly if this happens again. And yes you should absolutely pay!

Wiw! You are thinking of complaining. Your sense of entitlement is huge.
You are the one that didn’t make adequate plans for your daughter to be picked up. You must know your sister can be flakey - yet somehow it’s the schools fault.
They can’t be making phone calls for every child whose carer is late. It’s perfectly reasonable for them to put her in after school club. Why should they be inconvenienced by something that’s your problem?
The school acted appropriately- if she had not been collected from after school club then I’m guessing social services would have been called. If anything you owe them an apology.

My son's school would call if hadn't been picked up within 15mins of pick up. I wouldn't complain about being charged but I think it's irresponsible of the school not to have phoned. Child wasn't down for after school club unless this happens regularly they should have assumed there was a issue.