My 8 year old was sat on the step waiting at 1pm

[Mosman]

Today, misunderstood that there was not a half day - end of term. DD told the teacher she was going home at lunchtime as at her school in the UK the last day of term was always non uniform and a half day. Here in Australia it was non uniform but my nanny arrived at 1pm back at the house with my younger child to find my 8 year old had been let go with her class teachers permission and walked herself home.
The nanny called the school to say I have DD don't worry - they weren't in the slightest.
How do I follow up on the fact that they've taken an eight year olds word she is to leave at lunchtime and let her leave without an adult collecting her ?
DD and I have had words I know she's not blameless here but would you be cross ?

I'd be quite angry that they'd allowed an eight year old to walk home by herself with only her word for it. Yes.

At age 8 in the uk many children are allowed to walk home from school (at the end of the school day) without an adult meeting them. At our school if a child wants to leave school at lunch time then a parent/guardian must collect after notifying the school in the morning.

You have to be calm and find out who let your child leave school without permission, it wasn't a half day? I am glad she is okay.

I would be angry if the school had done this, especially since my ds has sn and has a complicated road to cross (blind bend from one direction, and a sort of not quite cross road). Plus you might not have been home, the more I think about it, the more concerned I would get, but I would still just try and write a calm letter to the school asking why it happened and what they will do to ensure it doesn't happen again!

I wasn't home, neither was my childcare if anything had happened to her I feel the school would be to blame.
They are so bloody relaxed here, I needed to drop something into class earlier in the week and walked freely unchallenged around the classrooms.

I think it's just the Australian way. Our school is totally open. It has a path through the grounds leading into bush. There are no fences. People walk through all the time.

I'm a supply teacher in Melbourne and I hardly ever have to do the register in the afternoon. Children are always coming or going. People would think you were mad if you said "no you can't pick John up, I don't know you". Every school I have ever been to, the bell goes and the children go out the door. There's no making sure they are picked up. Not that I can help myself but that's just because of my British habits.

I have been talking to my dds teacher about all of this as she is going to London to teach.

I had a child la st week come in and say "I'm going fishing with my dad today so I won't be in". Fortunately it was team teaching the other teacher just told him to have a nice time.

I did wonder but then my nanny is an ex secondary school teacher and she was surprised. I'm sure the head will do f' all but I'm wondering whether it's my civic duty to point out that if I send my child to school that's where I expect her to stay until she is collected by a responsible adult.

She's an Aussie ex teacher I should say

Savoy, that sounds like my experience from Scandinavia as well. Probably true of most of the continent too. An 8yo who got home too early and didn't have a key would just have to sit and wait and get bored: I don't think anyone would be particularly upset by that. Hard as an outsider to impose your own views, really. (I bite my tongue very hard before speaking to dc's schools about their un-Scandinavian ways)

My ds3 is 6 and if he says he is going home for lunch he is allowed to go, but then he wouldn't say that unless we had arranged it. From the second week of P1 the children are let out of the classroom when the bell rings. They are not "handed over" to anyone. We are in Scotland.

I'd be surprised if such a thing happened in an English school because I know the expectation here is that children will be collected by an adult and supervised at all times.

But in a more laid-back culture it would not seem inappropriate to release a child on her own say-so. I'd be delighted if my children were trusted in this way, having been annoyed by what I felt was "overprotectiveness" on the part of my dd's English school. Unless the child has significant learning difficulties (which the school should be made aware of), an eight year old who has been brought up with more freedom and responsibility will know what he or she is supposed to do and have a plan to cope with an unexpected hitch, e.g. by going to a neighbour or the library, waiting on the step or returning to school.

Is there an Aussie version of MN where you can ask whether people consider the school's actions OK? If it turns out that everyone there thinks it is no big deal, perhaps you just need to give your dd a bit more coaching about what she can do in such situations. She'll get the hang of it soon.

I had a German child in my class last year (5 yo), and the mum asked if she was allowed to come and go to school on her own because that's what children do in Germany. So clearly from the brief exchanges here, it's the UK that is OTT protective. My school lets juniors out on their own, but we hand infants to a known adult. When I was 8, I used to walk home with a friend through an area of common land and a field.

Depends what the school rules are, and if they were broken.
You may have been surprised, but if they didn't do anything wrong you have no grounds for complaint, just grounds to check and ask them to make a special arrangement for your daughter.

Quite a few children in ds3's class (P2) have been walking home alone for some time. If ds3 is coming home for lunch I meet him half way and take him half way back afterwards so that I can see him running in the school gate, but i'm considered to be a bit precious. The back gate of the school is open at home time and i meet him there. By the time he's 8 I would imagine he will walk home alone as ds's 1&2 did. Very few 8 year olds are collected at our school.