schools responsibility???or IRRESPONSIBILITY today?

jonnywc

just wondering if anyone has any insight or clarification to an incident that happened today...

my (just turned)7 year old son, is in first class ...
Parent teacher meetings were scheduled in his school for today and tomorrow.

i went to pick my son for 14.40 (his usual finishing time) . when i entered the school and went round to his class room door , which is accessible from the main school yard, i found him on his own locked outside the classroom door in a flood of tears!. he told me the class had got off 15 Min's early today.

We were notified about his own parent teacher meeting scheduled for tomorrow at 16.00, but as my son had been off school sick with the vomiting bug,around the time of notifications being sent home to parents of possible amendments in school closing times for these 2 days of p/t meetings a few weeks back,are unsure as yet as to whether we received any home !.

now if its found that there WAS notification sent home , then obviously the mistake for being late to pick him up 15 mins earlier was totally MY fault.

However, due to the fact no one was there to pick him up, he was let out of the class with the rest, locked out of the classroom in the yard and left to do what he wanted... bearing in mind the schoolyard gates are wide open for him to leave, or ANYONE to stroll in and , stroll right back out with him!!

The school has contact numbers for both of us,and the school made no effort in trying to contact either of us, i feel, unless im corrected, the school has a duty of care for children whilst on the premises, until that duty of care is relieved by a parent collecting the child , and once off school property!

I am OUTRAGED at the school just letting him out of the class and leaving him to his own devices, instead of even bringing him to sit outside the principles/Secretarys office, and at least making a small effort to contact either of us to inform us what was happening!

anyone any thoughts/ insights into whether the school failed in its duty of care in their actions or rather, the fact they just locked him out and left him too it?

ShamoBuc

Sorry to hear you found your son in tears, I can only imagine how you felt.

Notification is normally given out a week or two before these meetings and it is quite possible that this coincided with your sons illness. I would normally write the names of any children absent on a note and they would then get it when they returned.

When the teacher lead the class to the yard for collection, did your son go with them ( normal practice ) - if so the teacher should wait till the last one is collected or if time is dragging by ( which is a common occurance ) bring them in to wait by the secretaries office. Did you ask him how he got back to the classroom door? Was he told to wait there?

Maybe he was told to go to the office but he went to the room instead - to go to the toilet and found it was locked?. Or maybe the teacher is at fault. Ask him a few questions to see what happened and it might become clearer. Ask the teacher tomorrow if you are not satisfied - there might be a reason why....mis-communication possibly.

jonnywc

what happened today, as per usual , is the classroom door is opened at end of class and the class filters out to the yard in turn,to their respective parents.. my son told me he walked outside , noticed i wasnt there, turned round to walk back into the classroom , and found the door locked!! and was left outside..!!

i would be of the understanding his teacher should have MADE SURE all children have been met by their parents before they absolve themselves of responsibility or duty of care!?

ShamoBuc

It would be common/good practice for a teacher to lead the class out. If they use the filter at the door, then a child does not leave the class unless they ( or the teacher) say they can see the person collecting them.

Personally, ( 2nd class) I lead the class to the yard in 2 lines. 1 line is for those who walk out the gate themselves as per arrangement with their parents - they might live close or their parents park in the same place. The rest ( majority) stand next to me until they are collected - they are not allowed outside the gate until I tell them they can go.

Differerent schools manage home time differently for different reasons - size etc.

From what you have said, I would be going into the teacher and asking the question on how this happened.

byhookorbycrook

If teachers waited for every single parent, it would be a long day!!In our school the children from first up do not wait inside until they are collected but they all know that if there is no-one to collect them ,they come back in .

It's a pity your son was so upset,but the teacher had meetings scheduled and you were late.

jonnywc

Well again the p/t meeting is tomorrow... and i will certainly be having a word with both the teacher and princable, as collection routine has never differed from myself or his mother collecting him at the door ,and have never made any other arrangement aside from this.... i cant understand for a moment how this happened other than his teacher not bothering to see if he was met leaving the class... it'd be different if we lived local , but we live 5 miles away from the school , and have always told our son never to leave the school if we are late, with unexpected traffic delays etc etc, .
im just wondering again clarification on the fact we, never authorized the school to let him leave by himself, and B, irrespective of a possible mix up in communication on what time he was due to be off, surly its not right to let a 7 year old out of the class at the end of the day before checking a parent is there to collect him ??

byhookorbycrook

Many of our first class children go on a bus, so yes, they leave without a parent.I'd certainly mention it to the class teacher, but technically,you were late and she/he probably had a line of parents already waiting.

jonnywc

i understand the school is NOT a babysitting service, but how could my son get back in, WHEN HE WAS LOCKED OUT?!? , he only stood outside the door and the teacher locked it behind him WITHOUT checking!!!

i appreciate i was late....unsure as yet if it was my fault or not.... nevertheless...i should have been contacted by the school no?

jonnywc

what has the first class children leaving on a bus got to do with it.... thats a PRE ARRANGEMENT with the parents and school!. i have no pre arrangement for my son to walk 5 miles home !?

Ddad

I'd say the school and the teacher failed in their duty of care. Through unforeseen circumstances parents can be delayed, the schools duty of care doesn't have a cut off at a certain time and to he'll with the child. If the child isn't picked up at he appointed time in our school the teacher makes sure they go to the secretaries or principals office. I don't think it's acceptable for a child of that age to be cut loose unsupervised. In addition, if parents are consistently late in my children's school they are taken aside and let know that it isn't acceptable.

If the teacher had a line of parents waiting so be it, the safety of the children in their care is paramount. Op you were late, it's happened to me as we'll, I was mortified and happy that the school had done the right thing and cared for my children despite the fact I fecked up.

jonnywc

Ddad wrote: »

I'd say the school and the teacher failed in their duty of care. Through unforeseen circumstances parents can be delayed, the schools duty of care doesn't have a cut off at a certain time and to he'll with the child. If the child isn't picked up at he appointed time in our school the teacher makes sure they go to the secretaries or principals office. I don't think it's acceptable for a child of that age to be cut loose unsupervised. In addition, if parents are consistently late in my children's school they are taken aside and let know that it isn't acceptable.

If the teacher had a line of parents waiting so be it, the safety of the children in their care is paramount. Op you were late, it's happened to me as we'll, I was mortified and happy that the school had done the right thing and cared for my children despite the fact I fecked up.

im thinking along the same lines, like i said all i wanted was a quick call, and for him to be kept supervised in some form .. bearing in mind the school was still occupied with P/T meetings about to commence!.. Secretarys/princables office etc

byhookorbycrook

Ddad wrote: »

I'd say the school and the teacher failed in their duty of care. Through unforeseen circumstances parents can be delayed, the schools duty of care doesn't have a cut off at a certain time and to he'll with the child.

Legally, actually, it does.

The classroom door was locked, did you ascertain that the main door was locked at the time too?

Ddad

Well there's legality and morality at play here. If all teachers followed the letter of the law as regards their obligations there wouldn't be any extra curricular activities and many of the children that are given a little extra care or nurturing might not get it. There are a lot of exceptional people in the teaching profession. in a court of law the school mightn't be at fault. However if you leave a small child unattended because it isn't really your problem you've failed morally IMHO.

Mrs ddad coaches children's soccer( which is a glorified babysitting service for some parents) and despite the fact some parents are always late she wouldn't dream of leaving for home after training without all of the children back safely with their parents. She has a duty of care to the lads, duty being the operative word. Legalities shouldn't really come into it.

byhookorbycrook

I often waited at least 90 mins for a child to be picked up from football matches and wouldn't knowingly ever see a child left,nor would any of the staff.

Moral and legal are two different things.The teacher did not walk off and leave the child in the middle of the road. The child left, as usual, and the parent wasn't there. Teacher wasn't to know child hadn't been collected.

My point about going on the bus in first class is that the class teacher doesn't wait until all kids are collected from the door. The teachers walk to the yard with them and they all go their seperate ways. The infants are collected by parents/minders, by first kids know that they go to the gate/bus/wherever and if no-one comes or they miss the bus, they know to come back in the MAIN door, not the door they go out.

aisher

I think you need to ascertain what are the pick up arrangements in the school are for the kids. When my kids were in the Junior school the teacher brought them to the door but if the parent were late the kids were told to wait inside the door at the secretary's office - has your child been told the same? It seems like a genuine mistake happened today in that the class were let out 15 mins early in order that the teacher would be ready for the first parent in for the meeting - it would seem your son was not aware of what he should do in the event that a parent is not there - instead of looking to blame someone it might be more helpful to let the school know and see what better arrangements can be put in place so that it wont happen again.

Big Bag of Chips

From first class our kids are left to their own devices. The infants get walked to the gate and the teacher waits until every child is collected, or if a parent is late the child is brought back in to wait.

From 1st class on it is understood that the kids know the score. If someone is collecting them, they wait in the yard. Otherwise they walk/get bus whatever. I have often arrived to collect my son, to see his teacher driving off. Other teachers would still be on the premises though.

Your son was still on school property, while the school was still occupied by teachers/secretaries etc. So he was ok. He wasn't left standing in the yard while all the teachers drove off and left him there.

In your situation, I'd guess the tears were more because he thought nobody was coming for him (15 mins can seem very long to a child when everyone else has been collected) rather than nobody was supervising him.

I think nobody is 'in the wrong' here, just a case of miscommunication. Tell your son, if anything like that ever happens in future to go to the office. Sometimes they need to be told obvious things that others would automatically do.

Kathnora

Well said, Big Bag of Chips! Sensible words without losing the head over a mis communication. And, please O.P. its PRINCIPAL....just in case you are writing that big letter of complaint!