Are schools asking for medical evidence now if child off school sick now?

[whatisgoingonandwhy]

Family I know had a teenage daughter reported as sick by parent. Parent said school turned up their door and took her into school even though dad had proof she had been seen by the GP. Is this normal practice?

So how do you protect yourself from accusations from a child? Which seems more likely if the kids are being brought unwillingly.

You're on your own with a child in an enclosed space. It does not seem sensible and wouldn't be allowed in many professions.

Yeah that never happened 🤣🤣

So what happens when a student needs to get to A&E quickly?

Ambulance

Yes if attendance is a concern and it appears there might be educational neglect at play.

Does everything have to be a safeguarding concern these days?

Did you take all six children as a group of singularly? Did you have police presence? What legitimate proof do you carry to identify yourself? Do you personally decide if a child is ill? Are you medically qualified?

If my child was poorly enough for me to decide they should stay at home, no teacher would even get across the threshold. They'd get short shrift from me. Who the hell do they think they are?

I am the parent. I know my ds best. I decide.

End of.

If you work alone with children, then yes it does! It protects both the child and the adult.

Did you seriously need to ask that? Being alone on your own with a child, puts both the adult and the child in a vulnerable position.

Except they didn’t really did they?

You do realise there’s more to OP’s story than “meany teachers kidnapped my kid” right?

And what memeber of staff would agree to drive to the home of a poorly child and then repeat the journey back to school with the germ filled, potentially vomiting/ pooping child in their own car.Perfect was to add to the number of sick people in a school

I’ve heard of schools picking up children who are repeatedly late or absent without good reason in a mini bus.
Not sick children though.

Visited 6 individual homes average 20-40 visits a week.
No police presence why would I need it? I take my school ID in 18 months noones ever asked to see it. Only had 2 people who wouldn't let me in the house.
This week had 1 pupil who told Mum too ill to come in told me it was a friendship issue and came into school with me, probably bring her in every other week.
Year 11 boy told Mum he was too ill with migraine to come in them told me 'I just cant be arsed' put his uniform on and came in with me.
Tuesday i reported a safeguarding concern after bringing a pupil in was told by DSL no more 1:1 visits had to take a second member of staff. When this was reported to the social worker we were told 'its pathetic if I visited alone why cant you!'

Yes, but I wouldn't put it past my ds' last primary head, who was obsessed with having perfect attendance figures, and once spent three weeks rudely demanding a doctor's note for my ds being off for a week.

If the stupid woman had used her eyes, the fact ds had gone from noisy boisterous 6yo to pale skinny waif with huge eyes and no energy, in that week, would have told her all she needed to know.

The last time the school rang, I told them I'd already provided a detailed note, we'd discussed it several times and I didn't expect to discuss it again.

Most teachers are brilliant but there's always the odd one or two.

You can pay for additional insurance as a teacher, presumably if this was part of that role they would do that. I and many staff are also insured to drive the school minibus so that's an option at all.

I've heard of this before but usually it's for persistent school refusal where often the staff can convince the child where the parents are unable to for example in a family where the parent had addiction issues and didn't do a lot of parenting.

I've also heard of schools doing home visits or being a bit more persistent about proof when the child is off the week before half term and their mates have all been laughing about how they are on holiday and not really sick.

Have you ever called an ambulance to a secondary school? Unless they have had an MI, anaphylaxis etc, you will wait hours. Even when a child was knocked out as he fell, having a seizure, we were told the wait time was 6 hours. The same when a student had a full knee dislocation out on the field, the same when a pupil had said they took 3 boxes of paracetamol….

There will be more to this story.

The previous school I worked at took the school mini bus round to a pupils house as they were frequently 'ill'. The mum struggled to persuade the child to go to school and couldn't drive them in due to other siblings so would just call in sick as it was easier.

Unless there was a history here a school would not just turn up!

There's always two sides to every story. Sometimes its quite amusing seeing what a parent says (usually told by their child) when you know what actually happened.

Look I get it. However , unless you have staff that is highly trained in first aid AND have the extra insurance to drive pupils around, plus ideally an extra member of staff to go with them for support/observe , they are at risk of being blamed if anything goes wrong. School staff often put the job/the kids above themselves, and most of the times it all ends well. Not always though, and then they’re the ones getting the blame.

I work in a school. Sounds like a garbled story about a family whose child has been persistently absent. There are probably significant safe guarding concerns re the family.

Not if your a DHS checked teacher!

They don’t turn up at your house for the first issue…

I agree with other posters that there will be more to this story. A GP appointment could be for any reason and doesn’t automatically require absence from school.

Sad reality is that a lot of kids are safer at school than they are at home.