Fine/ prosecution threat over 5 yr old lateness

[Pullingmyselftogether]

A new head has just stared at my son’s school- he’s 5. Was 3 when pandemic hit so most of school life has been in and out of lockdowns. He’s never settled in school (would cry at gates etc even before pandemic).

Post pandemic, it just got worse - every morning kicking and screaming and crying from the moment he woke. So talked to school and we came up with a plan, which involved things like arriving through a different, quiet part of school to calm him etc and school was understanding.

The first correspondence we get from the new head this week is a shitty, impersonal letter stating how many times he’s been late (loads, I admit) and that we may be fined/ prosecuted if he’s late in the future. He’s 5!! And just come out of a pandemic!!

anyone else experienced anything similar post covid? Any advice? Didn’t respond as I wanted to calm down...

@HairyBum But there isn't the funding there or the specialist provision. Why is it now the job of schools to sort mental health issues on top of everything else they do?

We can long debate the ideal curriculum but while academic attainment is what schools are judged by, that is what they will teach.

Again- totally get what you’re saying about funding. But how can you separate the well being of pupils from academic attainment? surely if their well being/ mental health is compromised, then that will impede negatively on their academic achievement. It’s not for teachers to sort out mental health, but to work with parents, health care professionals and families in an understanding way. That dialogue and support shuts down the moment you threaten and alienate parents/ carers.
But, absolutely, systems are broken and it’s not always the teachers that are to blame, but in our particular circumstance, I believe it was handled insensitively and aggressively.

The point is there are very few health care professionals. Instead it is being left to teachers to deal with. CAHMS is on its knees. People talk like schools should be sorting out MH issues. Fact is, try as we might, we aren't professionals in MH and our support is limited. Neither are we all things to all students, it would be impossible. Understanding needs to come from both sides. No one is totally wrong. You have one child to focus on, schools have hundreds.

I feel for you with the letter. Just bin it and move on. The school have to be like that. It will have been printed using a report function on a computer system. To individualise each letter would take too long and not be worth the benefit.

Your right its not up to the schools to sort mental health issues unless they are the cause

However

I do feel that there should be flexibility when a child has a mental health problem rather than threats perhaps an acknowledgement that childhood mental health services are fucking rare and in many cases useless IF you can get an appointment which takes forever BTW the schools should be able to flex before going to a fine because if a child is refusing school because of physical mental or financial need what the fuck is a fine going to do but put more pressure on a bad situation

Then your issue is with the law, not the individual school enforcing the attendance law.

I’m not from the UK but here in Australia schools, teachers etc have a legal Duty of Care towards the children in their care. Of course the children’s health, safety and well-being is the responsibility of the teachers and head teachers of schools. Otherwise it might not be safe to leave your children in their care unsupervised by the parent.

Do not the schools, teachers, head teachers etc. in the UK have a Duty of Care towards their students?

In which case do they not have to be supportive of children experiencing anxiety, distress etc at school and be prepared to assist that child rather than making it worse with aggressive, punitive threats?