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.

I think you're trying to deflect the blame here.

The school kept your child safe and yes, you will have to pay for the after school club as that's where she had to go because she wasn't collected.

What on earth was your sister thinking? At her new boyfriend's house while your niece waits at school. She is not reliable enough to trust with your child.

I'd suggest you apologise to the school, pay your bill and between your husband and yourself sort out better childcare.

No, school should attempt to contact parents. Someone may have dropped the ball here on duty of care. I worked in a school office for years and it’s not how it’s done. School should at least attempt to make contact with the parent.

OP needs to accept the afterschool charge though, as it is what it is - the child HAS to go to the club as it’s not practical to wait anywhere else.

Finding the posts that affirm your ridiculous position rather than reflecting on your poor attitude is the most classic response imaginable.

Well yes, that would have been a huge coincidence if that's what had happened.

This. Pay, say thank you to them and be grateful she was looked after.

That's what I thought? And I wouldn't complain about being charged, I would just be thankful.

I'm a teacher and would say it's very strange they didn't call you. I wouldn’t complain, but find out why they didn't. I don't think you can be angry at the charge though (well, angry at your sister). When my kids used after school clubs, you would be charged for the session even if they were there for five minutes.

I work in a school, and the complaints we get from parents make me incredulous. It’s fascinating to get an insight into one as petty as “my family forgot to pick up my daughter, how can I blame the school despite them caring for her?” as I often wonder what on earth is going through their heads when they complain about some things.
If you couldn’t ring your sister until your break, how would you have picked up the message any earlier?

This is ridiculous. School should not assume anything. They failed to follow their basic processes and of course they should be alerted to that.

I think you would have some cheek to complain to the school .
You do know that after 15 minutes the next step for a school is to call social work ?
would you have preferred that?
How long before your sister was ment to pick up your dd had you spoken about the arrangement for her to collect dd ?
Shouldn't you be upset at her or yourself ?

I am absolutely accepting the charge. Not only do I think I should, I have no choice because my account is now overdrawn and I need to book DD in for early morning club on Monday. I've already topped up my account and paid the charge.
But if they'd called me I could have had her picked up earlier and the charge would have been smaller

You should thank the school and apologise. Honestly, they kept her safe.

I’m a teacher. I wouldn’t complain but would query why no one phoned. The parents could’ve been in an accident or been taken ill at home etc. Sending the child to after school club isn’t a problem but they also needed to know what the issue was, so they could plan accordingly. Their policy needs reviewing.

This !

They could have called my husband or the two emergency contacts which are both of DD's grandmothers.

You’re going to complain that they kept your child safe because your sister is a moron? Presumably they would have called you when the after school club finishes if you still weren’t there.

Be grateful they didn’t give you a hard time ffs. The teacher probably stood with her well past home time waiting before she was taken to after school club. You should be apologising not complaining.

No, I wouldn't complain. They put her in ASC not chucked her out on the road.

For every parent that would want a reminder call at 3.25pm there will be one, stuck in traffic a few miles away, who would just rather the school would do what this one did. Schools can never please everyone.

The fact that you didn't know your dd hadn't been collected is your sisters fault, not the schools.

It had only been 40 minutes from usual pick up time. I'd imagine the class teacher waited until all the other kids in her class had been collected before taking your DD to ASC, it could easily have been half an hour later by the time she actually got there. Some other parents might have been 5-10 mins late, and some parents might have hung around to chat to the teacher about something, the teacher then might have given it another 5 minutes to see if anyone was going to show for your DD before finally taking her to ASC, I highly doubt she was immediately taken there at 3.20 whilst they greedily rubbed their hands together at the chance of charging you for an extra session. Once at the ASC club then presumably the teacher would have gone on to the school office and asked the staff there to contact you, they might have had other parents of non collected children to call, they might have been busy in the exact moment dealing with something else so it was entirely possible that they were just about to call you anyway, 40 minutes isn't that long if you consider all of the above. It feels like you are misdirecting your anger at the school because the person you're really angry with is your sister.

Sometimes in school there are a number of kids that need sorting at the end of the day, parents that need to see the teacher and other teachers on gate duties etc and it takes a while to find a phone number and make a call. They hadn't called you yet but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have called shortly. Your daughter was safe.

This 🤣😅

Do not blame the school. Your sister chose dick over her niece, be mad at her.

It happens! I’m sure it was a one off and the sister is mortified. These things do happen.

You do know that after 15 minutes the next step for a school is to call social work ?
No it isn't, it's to call the parents then the emergency contacts. That's the whole point, OP is wondering why they didn't do that.
I wouldn't complain OP but I would ask.

Better just to ask reliable people isn't it? Someone who would change their mind on the day or forget is not reliable.

You do know that after 15 minutes the next step for a school is to call social work ?

Social care are very unlikely to respond to a one off late pick up. Can you imagine if they actually dealt with parents who got stuck in traffic etc! The first question social care would ask is ‘have you managed to make contact?’