School will not stop DC leaving building

[Redredgreen]

My DD doesn’t like some of her classes, and skips them with her friend. I know this is bad and have obviously spoken to her about it. The school know. However, they seem to have no strategy for stopping it. They seem unable and unwilling to stop her leaving the building. I am very worried about her safety - she is 14 but looks younger. The school say the doors have to be open in case there’s a fire and they can’t keep an eye on them all, so they can’t stop the kids leaving. Outside school hours I always know where she is and I don’t know how they can be so blasé about it. I have spoken to school (guidance and Head) often about this. I hoped she/they might be better after lockdown, but no. Is this a normal school reaction to pupils wandering off? Is there anything I can try to make them take this more seriously? I’m not over-reacting, am I?

@corythatwas

Mildly surprised at the poster who claimed that the school needs high security fences because a paedophile might get in.

The OPs dd is 14: this is a secondary school. In other words, it is full of students who make their own way to and from school, and who probably go out into town after school and at the weekend.

Of course, there might be excellent reasons to have a secure gate and buzzing system, but the notion that the children must never be in the presence of random adults is not one of them.

I also agree that this school seems very lax and this is a pastoral issue that they should be dealing with. It's not that a 14yo can't look after herself to some extent: it is the combination of her not getting her education and the decided risk of her ending up in bad company during her truancy.

It’s not just about paedophiles, a school near us had a man with a knife enter the school and another had two males with Halloween types masks skulking around the school grounds. The schools near us, and possibly all high schools, now have a lockdown procedure. I can assure you that schools take the safety of pupils and staff very seriously. Do I have to mention Dunblane as another reason to keep schools safe ?

No absolutely, Fipperty, that's what I meant by other reasons for keeping schools safe. Schools are the most likely type of place to attract a certain type of violent attacker so it makes absolute sense to keep them safe.

I agree it’s my issue with the school to work out why she is doing it, but I still think the school is responsible for keeping her safe while she is in their care. I don’t think letting her go out is doing that. If as far as I know she is at school there’s not a lot I can do at that moment. If I find out she’s out I track her down if I can.
I don’t know if she has anything SEN wise, she’s always been anxious and sensitive to bright lights, noise &c. Until recently she‘a had a health issue (fingers and toes crossed it has gone) which has meant she’s probably missed about a third to a half of her total school life. I suspect truanting is a combination of not being used to a full school week and teenage badness brain with her and friend egging each other on, and just not being very interested in it. I don’t think she’s being bullied.
I do take her phone off her if she refuses to go to school, which she also sometimes does, and she’s also then grounded. But she does actually prefer staying in her room with absolutely nothing to do than going to school. So she must really, really not like going.

When I speak to her about it she’ll say she didn’t need to go to that class because they’re not doing anything much, or it’s boring, or her friend was upset.
Thanks for the advice about duty of care, I’ll say that and see what they say.
HM1984 I have emailed the Head before, will try again. Fallenmadonna I will also ask for a risk assessment to be done. Punx that sounds pretty slack of your school too. Scrap I don’t necessarily want the school to come down hard on her, I want them to do what I do, in loco parentis as they are supposed to be, and know where she is when she is in their care. Greenandcabbagelooking she has had a timeout card before but I’m not sure it helped!

I had the phone call...
Ds is not in class, we dont even know if he is in the building!
Security high fences, locked electronic gates.
He had actually had the sense to come home. (Year 11, teacher had really upset him)
Then when I tried to call school back , they left ansafone message. I spoke to ds, before trying to speak to school.
No body was available to talk!
All busy teaching/not at their desk.
They had given up looking for him.

Yes, school should be a "secure" place for children.

Unless fire or emergency, those inside should stay inside and those outside should stay out
Visitors sign in at reception.
Kids being collected by a parent (dentist etc) sign out at reception too.

Your dd school should have their policies available for parents to view. You might have to ask, or look on the school website.
There should be a policy for safeguarding .
And for non-attendance.
This is what they MUST do.
Legally.

Obviously keep talking to dd. It might be a simple solution of changing her maths class or something. Work being too easy/hard, teacher clash, having to sit next to someone she does not get in with.

Check school policies
Keep a track of when she is missing (every Wednesday at 11-12 type of thing

The school my dd goes to has a public right of way through it, and it’s often used

They can’t seal the boundaries. The school hate it, Ofsted hated it, but they can’t do anything about it. Maybe your dd’s school is like this?

@itsgettingweird I didn't say my DD has SN. Apples and oranges. We're talking about different things. If my NT DD was walking out of school with no good reason except she's being a little madam not giving a shit or not reporting any issues I would take action, whatever it took.