School non-disclosure of mental health concerns

[Up74]

My 13 year old daughter told me she was self harming and the school knew about it. When I asked the school why they hadn't informed me of this, they said that my daughter had asked for confidentiality. The school also said they had no concerns about my daughter (as it is very common for children to do this) and could only break confidentiality if they did. Is this true and can schools do this and surely if a child is self-harming that is a serious concern, regardless of how common it is?

It would be really unusual for them not to disclose this to parents or other professionals. They can keep disclosures confidential if the child is not at risk of harm. I wouldn’t want to be the teacher keeping self-harm confidential.

Thank you that is re-assuring.

What form is the self harm taking? I can imagine that one that didn't have the potential for longer term damage (hair pulling for instance) could be more effectively managed by a plan leading towards disclosing to you with dc's agreement in a planned way, rather than potentially alienating them. But that would need to involve very careful consideration and risk assessment.