Can I have advice on this incident plz?

[arsenelupin]

I'm still trembling from this - I drove past DD's infants school at 9.15 this morning and one of her classmates (just turned 5) was running down the road crying. His teacher was only just leaving the building to look for him once he was going back up the stairs, and it had taken a good 5 minutes for me and a dad to calm him down and persuade him to go back with us. So - he had been missing at most 10 minutes despite having been very upset this morning and saying he wanted his mummy. Logic?
As (incredible, bad) luck would have it, both myself and the dad have been trying to force the school to improve its lax security since September.
The headmistress told me on the phone that the boy's mother was more concerned about why he had left than about the security issue involved. She has no intention of doing anything and argued that it must have been some parent who left a main door (in fact, 2 heavy main doors) open. She didn't consider the fact that he probably slipped out of the door on his corridor, which is not locked until later on, and got out the side entrance. This would mean he escaped about 4 minutes before I spotted him in the street, and it's a big school site. I'm apalled.

That sounds dreadful. He could have easily been run over, being distraught and with nobody watching him.

If she has no intention of doing anything, I think you have two options - raise it to the LEA, or raise it to local media ...

Speak to the head again , the Governors and Ofsted might be interested even if she isn't

That's awful. And I'm sorry, I know these things happen, but it's really lazy to blame random parents for leaving doors open.

At ds's infants school, the two sets of doors where the children go in are staffed until after all the children are in their classroom and then they are locked (ie you can't get in from the outside without ringing the bell). The member of staff then goes outside and checks the playground gates are all shut with the catches down. It's not hard.

you can report this to ofsted if you are concerned. you can do it anonymously if you wish. the number is on their website. i would be concerned too.

good luck and hth.

This is appalling. It isn't hard for staff to man doors and gates and then check that all the doors/gates are shut securely once the pupils are all in from the playground. I would have thought that this was compulsory at a primary school!

Just wondering who was looking after the rest of the class while the teacher went out looking as well?

Thank you, all. NQC, he was heading for a busy main road, and it was foggy weather. It could have been a tragedy. I hadn't thought of going to Ofsted. The school is self-governing and an LEA site inspection a month ago (requested by a parent) 'ticked all the boxes' so nothing can be done further. I think I may go either to my local councillor or to my MP, given the history. The headmistress seems confused - she resents parents complaining but can't make the effort to see why they do so, and told me 'the systems are fine, but today they failed'. Surely if a system fails, it's not fine? Apparently the school staff often say, 'the problem in this school isn't the kids, it's the parents.' And there I was thinking that was funny...

Shocked and horrified. The head is mad! I'd write to the chair of the governors and the LEA - have you spoken to the parent governor? Often things are swept under the carpet and forgotten - you mustn't let her away with this

The exterior door at our school (small, outdated victorian building on busy main road so not a school with lots of mod cons) is very secure in itself. Children cannot open it accidently as they need to press a buzzer - this is operated by the school secretary's office and is located high up on the door, beyond the reach of the younger children at the school. The door swings shut quickly so cannot be left open accidently.

The design of the door helps keep children safely inside - I thought all schools had similar doors tbh. If this school has the sort of exterior door that can be left open accidently, that to me is an unacceptable safety risk and should be reported - let alone the other stuff you say.

I've emailed OfSTED and they've sent it onto their compliance section. Thank you very much for this advice. The good news today is that the head has stated she will have the matter investigated by the parent governors, and will change the lock on the main door to a self-locking system (total cost under 10 quid?). The bad news is that she's thought nothing of this door being left propped open, many times recently. I don't trust her and am writing to the parent governors myself. The other parent who helped rescue the boy is taking his son out for good.