5 yo dismissed to strannger

[funnyfoursome]

OK I know it's the end of term and things get a bit lax but today I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to pick up (temporary traffic lights that were stuck). Parent B calls me and asks if I'm stuck. I say yes and we agree that the school will hold onto them - there's nothing we can do. Normal procedure is that after 10 mins staff take the children to the front office and we then have to sign them out (and grovel!!). Unbeknownst to me Parent B calls Parent C (scatty childminder) who I don't know and my son doesn't know (no connection with any children in the year group). So apparently teacher hands over my son and Parent B's child to Parent C and I find them in the playground. Given that we have to give a phone call or written note for anyone else to take our child home I'm not v happy. According to my son she said to the teacher 'I'm taking these two' Surely this is a safeguarding issue if any old stranger can just pick up young children, or am I in an end of term grump??!!! (Be gentle am very tired!!)

[triangulator]

The childminder wasn't approved to pick up the child. However professional/known to school/ nice she is, the school shouldn't have released him to her! Under no circumstances!! To think otherwise is foolish, though I presume you are not a teacher and thus don't have emulator safeguarding training.

[flamingomonkey]

This is appalling. I don't care if someone is a registered child minder or not if I don't know them I don't trust them and don't want my children being handed over to them. This is a huge safeguarding issue.

[T1M2N3T4]

Sorry totally missed the conclusion to my post.

Has your child gone home with child b before? If so the teacher probably thought it was ok since the parent b called the school.
In future though you should call school if you are going to be late. Pull up at the side of the road.
If you had called in advance you could have avoided the whole situation.

[Jeffers3]

Boy am I glad I teach upper Key Stage 2 and don’t have to deal with this sort of shit.

It reads like you have it in for the teacher. Yes, she’s an NQT but she’s an NQT for 2 more days. She didn’t hand him over to a stranger from the street, she handed him over to a known childminder who is also another parent of a child in her class (I’m assuming from the post). Probably on the direction of your friend.

[triangulator]

I would, in future pull over and call yes.

But there are genuine situations where contacting school isn't possible, and it's fair to assume that in your absence your child will be cared for appropriately and safeguarded. Releasing your child to a childminder they don't know is not following the correct procedure.

[sashh]

Talk to parent B and then make an appointment with the school.

Yes it is a safe guarding issue but there may be other factors eg the teacher (wrongly but possibly) allowed the children to be in the play ground with an adult who has picked up their own child where they are in full view of the school and not think they were 'discharging'.

Some of you are so ing uptight I can only conclude you are in need of a shag or a glass of wine or both - you know who you are

Allways

[Bowerbird5]

You would think so newdaylight but unfortunately it is often not the case. Then staff have to hang around and wait. After 3:30 ours go to Reception until 4 pm and if no contact with either the parent or people on the list then SS are rung. Parents get very uppity about this but if we have had no call and can't contact parents then we worry about the child. A staff member has to stay and teachers do have families, doctors app. Etc.
The childminder will be known to the teacher. Even if not used by parents in the class the teacher will very likely know who she is.

OP I think you need to check what Parent B said then work from there. The childminder didn't actually take them home but obviously said she would watch them in the playground which is a bit different.
Ideally when you got the opportunity you should have pulled over and rung school. I have done this when there has been an accident. It lets them know about your situation and Gives a reason others may not have been picked up.
I think you should have a brief word with the teacher to highlight the safe guarding without being angry. She'll probably be mortified or you may find she sought advice from another teacher who knew the childminder well. After all the childminder is DBS checked and she hadn't actually left school premises. I would buy her a bunch of flowers.

[Mindchilder]

Regardless of whether the OP should have called the school, the school clearly shouldn't have released a Reception child to another parent or on the word of another parent.

[goingthroughthemotionz]

There’s a strong possibility she may not qualify at all if the Op complains. And rightly so.

This is bread and butter stuff. It’s not a ‘whoops.’ It’s like your doctor giving you the wrong medication. It’s a serious safeguarding arseup.

[Quartz2208]

Yes seems like an office and parent b communication issues that have led to this

It is a safeguarding issue yes but why has it annoyed you so much is it because you don’t like parent c

[WowLookAtYou]

What a load of hysterical over-reaction.
And we have someone seriously suggesting that a NQT shouldn't qualify because if this? Leaving aside the vindictive nature of that suggestion, why blame the teacher when it was presumably the office that made the decision to let the children go with the Childminder?
And I'm not sure why the OP is so het up about what happened to her child when she clearly couldn't be arsed to organise anything herself.

[Labradoodliedoodoo]

Just chat to the teacher directly.

[goingthroughthemotionz]

Because it’s a serious safeguarding matter

Teachers have been dismissed for gross misconduct for this.

[Sparklyshoes16]

Wow!!! @goingthroughthemotionz you're seriously suggesting that person shouldn't be allowed to qualify? Do u know how hard a PGCE is??? It's pretty much blood sweat and tears...ask 99% of those that have done one...I was lucky and did Secondary I applaud anyone who did Primary (I was relieved when my two week placement was over in Primary) to suggest that someone doesn't graduate is quite frankly ridiculous and it's most likely that's what she was told to do as a pp has suggested!!

@funnyfoursome this is a safeguarding issue that needs flagging up ASAP with the school/safeguarding officer etc...my old school would treat this as a lessons learned sort new procedure ASAP...and any good school would see this as a red flag and review, change the procedure and implement ASAP!

As others have suggested, you should have pulled over etc...you can't have a go about not being able to use your phone then take a call!! You can get a cheap voice activated hands free £30 or a snazzy one for about £150 kit and get it installed from Halfords for £10! No need to be that rude to people, your post had conflicting parts that people picked up on!!

[Oblomov18]

You've got all uppity when people started asking specifics.

You should have stopped your car. Got out. And phoned the school. That is what you should have done. Phoned the school. And you know that.

[IStillDrinkCava]

As triangulator and mindchilder said, irrespective of whether OP could have phoned this time, school still needs a robust policy which involves not releasing 5 year olds to stramgers.

Occasionally parents are caught in situations where they genuinely can't phone. It's happened to me twice in 7 years of motorway commuting. Whether OP could have phoned this time is a moot point.

[Timeisslippingaway]

I don't need to ring the school to check as the school are in loco parentis until I collect him as I do 5 days a week. Also I couldn't call as I was in the car

Really? You don't phone the school to let them know You are running late? How are they supposed to know when You will turn up?
Also you managed tonphone your friend from the car?

[Mummyoflittledragon]

Actually it’s a good point about still being on school property. Odds on the teacher didn’t release the child.

I had a similar experience when dd was in yr1. A child did a runner and the children had just been discharged to the school. I was with dd and a ta was present watching the children hang up their stuff in the cloakroom. I told her to just go and I would stay with the children. Obviously that would have been a breach of safeguarding rules. As a result she kept the 5/6 yo child safe and my presence helped her to do that. After this she stood at the gate to stop it happening again.

I think the childminder did you a favour tbh. She kept your ds happy on school property until you turned up.

[Heratnumber7]

I'm not sure schools are "in loco parentis" actually. Would they, for example, be able to agree to medical treatment for your DC if you couldn't be contacted? Most wont even administer a spoonful of Calpol.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

Herat
Anything prescribed is fine. Calpol isn’t prescribed. They are in loco parentis. You cannot tell the school you are withdrawing them from PE for example without a doctors letter to inform them the child must not do PE.

[JeanMichelBisquiat]

Some stupid answers on this thread. Regardless of whether you should have rung the school or not (you should), there's no way in hell they should have handed over unless they have your permission. Massive safeguarding issue. Two entirely separate issues.

[Norestformrz]

"You cannot tell the school you are withdrawing them from PE for example without a doctors letter to inform them the child must not do PE." Why not?

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

Our school actually had a letter this year to sign giving school permission to administer calpol.
As for PE I was withdrawn in senior school for a few years and never had a doctors note.

[PurpleFlower1983]

Teachers are in loco parentis up until the end of the school day. After that social services can be called if the parent doesn’t show up.

This teacher made an error in judgement but I imagine if Parent B was on the list to pick the children up, the school mistakenly thought they had loco parentis over both children after school that day and therefore allowed them to go with the childminder.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

Norestform - because the school is acting as the parent, not you during school hours. This is why we have to ask permission to take our children out of school for example.

Tomorrow - perhaps there are schools still allowing this. But they don’t have to - it is discretionary and will probably depend on whether the illness is visible or not. It wasn’t with my dd when I wanted her permanently excluded from swimming on medical grounds as the school was failing to safeguard her. I sought advice and was told I could not just decide to pull her out - that is illegal. The school said they were safeguarding her but I knew otherwise as I’d witnessed the ta assigned to watch her during lessons, who did anything but watch. I had a massive battle with the head as he would not allow me to pull her from swimming but didn’t tell me to get a doctors note. Cue tons of angst and sleepless nights from me as this was a matter of life and death. The school failed my dd and acted despicably.