Would your school do anything about this?

[drspouse]

Sorry to intrude but I'm not sure if anyone has had a parent communicate this or if the school was able to do anything.
Picked up DD who is in Y1, about a week ago. We spotted her classmate getting into a car outside, he was faffing about a bit so taking a while.
We noticed that he and a younger sibling didn't have car seats. I think there was also an older child or adult in the back.
Would the school put out a general notice? Speak to the family concerned? Contact the police? Or nothing?
I just wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning, as if I ask parents for their experiences they won't know what the school did.

I guess you could report it to the school in case there are general safeguarding concerns about the children,but really the school's responsibility for children does stop once they are with parents.

What would you do if you saw the same family outside Tescos or outside their house? Would you still feel school was the right avenue?

I would be concerned, too FWIW but don't think I'd report to school. Police potentially.

Safeguarding responsibilities don’t end at the school gate. I’m secondary not primary but for this sort of level of concern someone from the pastoral team would just have a quiet word with the family.

But we are in loco parentis, not actual parents. This is a safety , not safeguarding issue.

As a secondary safeguarding person, I would only raise this with a family (or with Soc services) if there were prior concerns about safeguarding. However, this issue would only ever be primary.

I guess I might wander out and pretend to be on duty and find a reason to speak to them.

But there is no reason why a member of the public can't deal with this themselves. If dealt with by the school, it then becomes the school's responsibility to keep checking...

Sadly, lots and lots of motorists do not use car seats for children.

I have to disagree. It isn’t a child protection issue but is a safeguarding concern IMO. Safeguarding includes ensuring that children have care that keeps them safe. On its own it isn’t going to meet any thresholds or triggers but we would 100% document a safety concern and call the parents to tell them that it has been reported and that they need to address it to keep their children safe.
I live very close to my school and have reported when I’ve seen students who are out late at night in year 7 and 8 and our HOYs have rung home to say that they need earlier curfews for their children for their safety. Likewise we have called home where students have reported parents locking them in when they go out, which is a fire safety risk.

If they were getting into a taxi then legally they don’t need a car seat...

God, I would never deal with parents directly about what time their children are out!!

I have always referred families of concern via social service and CiN meetings.

I do agree this one is a grey area but I still don't get why a member of the public can't report direct to soc services (which in fact they can).
That said, they'd probably get referred back to the school!

The curfew thing may depend on area and demographic. Sadly a significant number of our students fall victim to criminal exploitation. Gangs are very active in our area and they target kids around 10-13 in particular and get them involved in drug offences and violent crime. And we’re a girls school... the nearby boys schools have even larger numbers! Kids getting stabbed at night is a realistic concern. Some of the local boys schools have had multiple students stabbed in the last few years.

I would mention it to school as a piece of information purely because it happened just out the school gates. It's something the school would log, but not something they'd automatically action.

I wouldn't speak to the family directly. In general concerns out of school are best passed to the social services hub line. Any member of the public can raise concerns.

I do know school have a role in all this but I have been teaching a veeeery long time and the biggest single difference I have seen is the movement (reinforced by successive governemnts) that schools have moved from having a peripheral role in guiding children to make correct choices and advising parents, to having a responsibility, to prevent and even sometimes to take blame.

I would imagine school might put something in a newsletter. Our local one is forever posting stuff about parking and road safety.

You can phone the police yourself about this.

Thanks all. I think I will have a quick word with school.