when do you get primary school pack and when do the teachers come to your house

[Fizzypop001]

just that really would like to no when people got theirs and how long until the teachers come thanks

Only know of one school here who do visits. My friend's Dd goes to this school. She had the teacher and two TA's round. It was only a 15 minute thing so the child recognised them on the first day.
At our school we go into a presentation with the Head while the children play in the classroom usually mid-June.

Our school used to do home visits but luckily scrapped them last year so we didn't have one.

"It's intended to be less formal and more relaxed,
and finally teachers are trained CP ...in all contexts"

No mrz, they're not- I know, I am one!

Whilst teachers of course receive CP training, they are certainly not trained to spot signs of neglect and abuse in the home. This needs to be done by specialist CP social workers.

You may as well ask a social worker to level a child's written work- they will see obvious signs that something may be wrong, but will be unable to accurately assess and may miss important clues.

It was certainly part of my CP training tethersend

but as I said earlier that is not the purpose of home visits

Mrz, I'm sure you received some training- but you must concede that a report written by you, or any teacher is not enough to take to court and remove a child. This is because a CP SW's specialist knowledge and training is required in order to do an accurate assessment.

Surely you can't mean that a teachers' assessment of the home situation is as accurate as a SW's? As a teacher, I wouldn't feel skilled enough to make decisions about a child's home life; my role is (or was when I was school based) to report any concerns I have to trained professionals via the CP officer. A teacher, like any other professional, will make mistakes if they try to do something they are not trained to do.

And many parents feel very judged by home visits, whether or not they are the purpose of them.

Why can't the visits take place once parents and children have been 'invited' into school, and a relationship has been established? This would go some way to addressing this issue IMO.

tethersend have you ever attended a Child Protection Conference?

No home visit here but ds's reception teacher did visit him at his nursery. Found out later that that was only because she wanted to have a good look at the nursery as she was thinking of sending her dc there!

mrz, teacher's evidence is admissible in CP conferences but it does not form evidence strong enough on its own to take to court in order to remove a child.

Oh, and yes, if you were genuinely asking and I've misunderstood.

*Teachers' evidence

Not the place for poor grammar

If you have attended a CP conference you will know that evidence from a 10 minute home visit, regardless of the agency submitting the report, would in itself be enough to consider the removal of a child.

Enough to consider, yes. Can be, yes. In extreme cases, enough evidence for removal even. None of which make teachers qualified to carry out home assessments- just that some evidence is so obvious any professional can see it

If abuse or neglect is extreme enough that a teacher's evidence alone is enough to remove a child into care, that is testament to the extent of the abuse and not the skills of the teacher.

I cannot think of any circumstances in which this evidence would not be followed up by SW assessment, either before or after removal.

A teacher's evidence carries equal weight as that of other professionals at a CP conference just as a teacher's recommendation carries equal weight IMHE

I'd also have thought only in the extreme cases. Don't want to alarm people, mrz.

dont think i want a home visit now lol

I'm not trying to alarm anyone ... I'm actually trying to point out to tethersend that a 10 minute home visit has nothing to do with looking for evidence for CP issues.

er yes it is ... just not in the context used by the OP

"I'm actually trying to point out to tethersend that a 10 minute home visit has nothing to do with looking for evidence for CP issues."

Really? I cant see where you've said that. Perhaps I've misunderstood- I thought you were asserting that teachers were qualified and trained to conduct home assessments. If you were actually trying to say the above, then that's different, and I'd hope you were right; however, I still assert that a large part of the purpose of a home visit is to judge the background of the child, for good or for bad. This is certainly how they come across to many parents, and can potentially create an unequal relationship.

Judging a child's background certainly doesn't feature in our home visits and are for the reason I mentioned earlier. It is also the reason why your suggestion of having home visits after school visits would be less successful ...I imagine catchment plays an important part in what works where.

We had a home visit when the eldest child started but it was the headteacher and member of the clergy NOT the class teacher! I declined the other invites as we had already had all the info needed and knew the staff and school very well. Sometimes in church schools the vicar comes to tell you about church services etc.

We had a home visit when DD started primary school. Teacher and TA. They sat and talked to her and asked her to draw them a picture. She drew them one and put her name and the date on it as well, which I think caught them by surprise hmm, low expectations

I wonder if they sometimes do home visits in schools which are popular, to make sure the child actually lives at that address and it's not Grandma's or a rented place. One does hear of such things

No home visits here, can't believe that really happens.

We have home visits. Can't see the problem with them really. It forces me to have a proper tidy up and the teacher gets to see my kids behaving badly in their home environment.

They do them in the first 2 weeks of term here.