6yo absconded from school - help?!

[KimberleyS91]

I'm looking to gain some understanding/perspective as obviously my anxiety is at an all time high right now and I'm exhausted from the last week.

Tuesday my 6yo managed to escape from school. It was a serious incident - he was missing for 30-40 minutes, walked home, met a stranger, walked back home again with the stranger, crossed multiple roads... so yeah, a LOT of risks and just pure luck nothing went wrong. The school didn't call the police when they realised he was missing.

Thankfully my son is safe and of course I am grateful for this. He is awaiting an ADHD assessment and this has all been added to his referral and they're looking at different strategies to help with his emotional regulation, etc.

Thing is, I can't understand why the perimeter of the school playground can't be secured. The gates have bolts but the main gates are open all day long. He literally walked up a set of steps and off out. No one saw him despite PSA's being "strategically placed". Access to the buildings is secure, but in theory, anyone could walk into the grounds.

I'm originally from England where I understand that primary school perimeters are secured/locked. Here in Scotland, that doesn't seem the norm? I've been told it's so the school doesn't seem "like a prison" and that there are kids and parents coming in and out at various times of the day, which makes complete sense... but based on this, how do schools that ARE locked manage?

It's been an awful week, so please be gentle with me! There have been countless meetings, conversations, emails... it's been genuinely quite traumatic but I just don't know where I go from here. Thank you.

I'm sorry this happened op and I hope you get the answers you need from school to ensure your son's safety.

Actually though, not all primary schools in England have locked gates into the playground. I know of a small village school where there is actually a public right of way through the playground. There is a sign on the gate asking people to keep close to the fence when walking through. I've not walked through it during a playtime so it is possible that they have staff watching the gate all the time then.

Bloody hell

Thank god for that wonderful stranger getting him home in one piece

I'd be forever grateful

There's no point 🤣 People clearly aren't reading or are just ignoring the comments stating that it's not a general "Scottish thing". I'm actually surprised so many people are saying their schools don't lock their gates because in my experience of many Scottish schools it's always been the opposite.

Are these gates locked both ways?. At every school I've worked at with locked gates, they're locked to prevent people getting in, but just a push button to get out.

So we trust 4 year olds in their first 2 weeks of school to stay in school because they are supposed to? (Baring in mind those children could have been 3 only 2 weeks ago)

Are you serious? I can’t believe after what happened in Dunblane, Scotland are not securing their schools. I’d be moving back to England tbh. That’s ludicrous

Yes, of course that’s the way gates and doors work in a school.
They’re designed to stop people getting in, not getting out.
Can you imagine the uproar if the children were actually locked into the building? Not to mention the fire safety implications.

Same here, and our secondary school has public footpaths and a bridleway across the playing fields. One local-ish school has multiple buildings in a busy city centre campus which children cross roads and walk along pavements to get between lessons. Not everywhere has recent build, easily-secured schools.

That's my thinking, so I'm surprised how many people are convinced their schools are locked.

Usually the exit button is placed quite high up though, so that it can only be activated by an adult.

I'm in Scotland and it's never crossed my mind that the grounds would be locked. It wouldn't have been possible in the school I went to (about 2 acres of grass and play areas surrounding the school with hedges) but the city school my daughter goes to opens onto two busy roads and has unlocked gates. There are over 200 kids in the playground at any one time. As far as I'm aware there has never been an escape! The building itself has a buzzer system.

Your school isn't going to start locking the grounds. But they should have procedures to ensure that children are accounted for and enough playground staff that kids are monitored. That's what I'd be focusing on when you speak to them.

Omg Op that's just awful! I can't believe they didn't call the police. I have just been reading your Op over and over again because I can't believe no one was keeping a close eye on such a little one. I have spent many hours supervising little ones at lunch and I just can't believe the incompetence. I would be raising hell if I were you.

The challenge here is that it sounds like your child hasn't yet got the support he needs in school and is one of the dangers of assessments and diagnosis taking far too long. I assume that without that in place, the funding isn't necessarily in place for 1:1 support if he needs it and that at 6yo there simply aren't enough adult eyes in a class of 30 to see all of them all of the time and if a bolter wants to leave they can and will. Our primary and high schools in Wales have much tighter security now than when my kids started around 15 years ago, but the biggest difference in gates and fences and sign ins happened while I was at school when the Dunblane tragedy happened.

There is more fencing, locked gates, a buzzer and intercom, digital photo sign ins for all visitors etc. Attempted escapees are still an issue in primary and sadly that's one of the reasons. The best way to address this is having more staff and enough support for the children with additional learning needs. I'd imagine that this incident will be enough to kickstart conversations around security but I would recommend a meeting with the Head and request that it's discussed at the next Governors meeting (our primary's is end of this month so could be good timing to raise it at the start of the term).

The head and SLT will I'm sure be well aware of how serious this was and my advice would be to approach it with a view to making changes to prevent it in the future, how will they mitigate the risk.

Before going down the route of moving house or having him transferred (which could be a faff with taxis if there are no more secure schools nearer), I would ask for a meeting to see what the school can do.

The school need to lock the school site down. I thought this was standard to keep dodgy people out.

We're in England and my DC's primary was locked in the day. Buzzer system to get into reception and no access to main schools corridors / playground unless given permission by reception staff.

This school obviously needs to do much more to ensure children can't leave, whatever their age.
However, in Scotland the youngest have turned 4 by the end of February to start school in August.

The word stranger should be changed to saviour.

Thank goodness he or she helped your child.

He's 6! Schools have children as young as 3 in their nurseries. Is it also up to the 3 year olds to stay in school? Not up to the school to do their fucking jobs and keep young children safe?

I’m in Scotland and have experience of a number of primary schools in our area and they are all locked during the day. At my kids school the only way out, even if for lunch, was through reception and you had to either be handed to a parent or have a parent write a letter stating who they gave permission to pick them up / they are allowed to walk home on their own.

I'm sorry this has happened OP and hope both you and your son are ok. It does sound though that the issue is the gap in the fence more than the gates. They should have noticed though so regardless of how it happened it’s not right.

If the button is up high then that is illegal under both fire and disability legislation.

This is the problem schools face - they have a range of regulations, enforced by different bodies, that they must comply with and these regulations are often contradictory.

I remember going home for lunch from my primary school in Scotland from the age of 7 and literally just walking out and going home for lunch with my sister then walking back for afternoon classes. She was 5.

So how are Scottish schools protecting pupils from the awful crime we had recently which led to all the riots. It sounds like Scotland are waiting for this to happen before they change policies

Scottish schools are shite but I didn’t think they were also so dangerous

Schools in England don't have to have locking gates but they do have an obligation to ensure that pupils are safe and contained.

At least 3 schools in our Trust do not have lockable gates round the perimeter, but all have security that contains the areas that children have access to and a duty to keep them safe.

Locked doors with high level access buttons, buzzer entry, single point entry and exit that is monitored and kept locked are all ways schools can secure their buildings and sites.

All schools in the UK have a responsibility to keep the children in their care safe and secure during the school day.

You should ask your school what they will be making having reviewed their security arrangements. My guess is that they have focused on preventing entry, rather than preventing escape.

There is no "policy" in Scotland that states primary school gates are left open. It's not a standard thing across the board. Every school I've had experience of has had the gates locked and the only way in/out of the school building is via the main office with no other access to any of the grounds either.