Should I talk to school about this?

[PrinceRogersNelson]

My DD is in reception and has SN. She has a habit of wandering off a bit at times and I know at lunch time she can do this. I don't really know too many details, but I know that we need to keep an eye on her as parents so I am sure school are the same.

For boring reasons I had lunch with my DD this week and when she sat down to lunch one of the lunch time assistants put an orange bib on her as 'she wanders off and this way we can easily spot her'.

Would you be OK with this?
DD didn't seem to mind, but then she is unlikely to say if she did. I have just told two friends and they looked utterly horrified.

So I am now thinking I should be asking school not to do this and that if she wanders off what they need is more staff rather than marking her as different. Or am I being precious and they have actually found a sensible solution to a problem.

Thanks

I assume if she is wandering off, she could potentially be in danger, hurt herself etc hence having to keep a close eye on her.

I really don't see how a bib is going to prevent her from hurting herself or how a bib is going to keep her out of danger.

The wandering off isn't the problem as such, its the danger she is in when she does so and she needs an adult to prevent her from wandering off in the first place, a bib cannot do that.

Thanks. I also have a bit of an issue with marking her out so obviously as different. There were no other children with bibs on.

I may need to find out what the issue is and try to find a better solution.

Generally I am very happy with school and am really loathe to go in and complain when generally they are great. I am just worried about DD dignity.

She needs a one to one helper at times when she's at risk of wandering I would think....more than she needs a bib! Has she any one to one help at all?

No, this is not appropriate.

This will impede her social integration with the other children.

The school either need to up the staffing ratio or secure the site.

Absolutely not appropriate. What's the next step..a dog lead?!
A child with significant needs should have sufficient supervision, and I would be making it very clear that my child needs that and not something that marks her out!

Thanks everyone. I spoke to Senco who was not aware it was happening and will put a stop to it.

I did talk about dignity and the need to not stand out and she was in agreement.

Oh good! Glad she's on your side...it's not on to make a child so visibly different....and as the others say, the staff need to be aware of all of the children and where they are.

Ds was a wanderer and often went off to play on the "wrong" playground. It's very well drummed into the kids which playground different year groups should use so generally speaking a kindly year six would return him to the right playground or a less kinder soul would grass him up to the nearest teacher!

The playground should be completely secure so even if your dd wanders she should come to no harm, therefore the bib isn't for safety reasons it just makes her easier to spot. I would not be happy at all about this. If they decided each class had there own coloured bibs to wear then that would be acceptable.

The only thing for them to do is up the supervision until your dd is less of a wanderer (ds never does it now)