schools and the law

Bennifred

lallysmum wrote: »

which is all well and good, but then as soon as you've driven off, they just walk out again. And it is your responsibility to ensure that your child stays on school premises not the school teachers..........
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...in which case I'd do what Britwife has suggested:beer:

kelloggs36

I find it astounding that it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that a child remains in school - by all means escort them there, then leave them in the care of the staff - they are then responsible for the child once they are in their care (in locos parentis). However, even getting older children to school can be an absolute nightmare - especially when the children are bigger than the parents! I have every sympathy with the mother - has she had a conversation with the educational welfare officer about her? What do they suggest she does?

kate1976

Hi, first off my sympathies to your friend, I know exactly how she feels as I went through this a few months ago, it got to the point where social services actually got involved and the stress was almost unbearable.

My son is 15 and after a bit of arguing and things with his friends he decided he didn't want to go to school anymore, I ended up with the education welfare at my door threatening court, huge fines and prison if I didn't ensure he attended school! My son is nearly 6ft tall and so dragging him there was not an option and as others have said as soon as he'd got there he'd just turn round and walk out again!

Social services got involved after he wasn't seen by anyone in school although they just wanted to make sure he was alive and not locked in the attic!

Anyway very long story short, after a few meetings my son agreed to go on a reduced timetable so he could choose when he would go in, building it up to normal again, he's now still not a happy chappy going to school but knows that he only has a couple of months to go before he leaves (in fact it comes to about 43 days with holidays and things)

Tell your friend to keep on at the school and education welfare asking what could be done and also do what I did and try and talk to http://www.connexions-direct.com/ as they helped a lot too!

I really hope things turn around for her.

LJM

she does need to involve the school make it seen she is making every effort and tell them that she does need help and needs others to get involved, truancy nowadays is very high and this is why the laws are being put in place. in my opinion it is the responsibility of both the parents and the school to make sure the children attend and stay on school premises

Mojisola

kelloggs36 wrote: »

I find it astounding that it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that a child remains in school - by all means escort them there, then leave them in the care of the staff - they are then responsible for the child once they are in their care (in locos parentis).

I can't understand how this ever came about. If a parent takes a child to school and hands him/her over to the staff, the responsibility for what happens until the end of the school day should rest with the school.

When the parent leaves the school, how are they expected to keep tracks on what the child is doing?

bigjluk - in order to avoid being prosecuted your friend needs to go over the top in showing that she is doing all she can to get the child to school and is asking for help and co-operating with suggestions. Get her to keep a record of all contact about her daughter, note who she speaks to and summarise any conversations. Get her to put in writing to the school, the Education Welfare Officers, Social Services, etc, that she wants to make sure her daughter attends school and asks for help in doing it.

Most parents who are prosecuted are either facilitating the truancy or not clearly doing anything to prevent it.

DCFC79

Bennifred wrote: »

I'd be personally escorting the young lady to school every morning......

and dont forget about chaining her to her desk

jess1974

can she not just say she is home educating her....

cgk1

kelloggs36 wrote: »

I find it astounding that it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that a child remains in school - by all means escort them there, then leave them in the care of the staff - they are then responsible for the child once they are in their care (in locos parentis).

I find it astonishing that some parents see school as some big child-care system and the attitude of "it's not my problem once I drop them off at the gates" is the sign of slack parenting as far as I'm concerned.

Pretty much all of the problem kids I used to deal with had parents like thought like this.

cgk1

jess1974 wrote: »

can she not just say she is home educating her....

Making false statements about Home education when none is occurring would only make the situation worse.

Mojisola

cgk1 wrote: »

I find it astonishing that some parents see school as some big child-care system and the attitude of "it's not my problem once I drop them off at the gates" is the sign of slack parenting as far as I'm concerned.

Unless the parents stay at school and shadow the child throughout the day, how can they be held responsible for whether the child stays on the school grounds or leaves?