Advice needed please - 4 year old let out of school alone

upsadaisy

I am a teacher. As you have spoken to the teacher already and she said she would look into it, I'd advise you follow this up.

You don't actually know how he got out yet. Just the other day one of my pupils stepped out the door as she thought I called her name, I hadn't, but had called another child who's name sounds similar. (I did notice immediately and sent her back in).

Parents can be really rude and inconsiderate at the end of the day. I've had parents try to call their child out of the class while I am dismissing, bang on my door because they want their child early, demand to speak to me while I'm dismissing, let their toddlers run inside, stare at me without telling me who they are collecting etc. In the morning I've had parents call their child back out for one more kiss/cuddle, or say bye bye to the baby etc.

I'm sure your child's teacher feel guilty and is very worried and will be vigilant now. However, if you don't see an improvement in the dismissal at the end of the day after a chat with the teacher then do go and speak to the head teacher. But also go in armed with some suggestions rather than anger.

My own children's school let out the Early Years Children 5 minutes early to allow parents to pick up older siblings easier, so this could be why the door was open early. (Although parents don't have to come early -the option is there)

Fluffyfluff

upsadaisy wrote: »

I am a teacher. As you have spoken to the teacher already and she said she would look into it, I'd advise you follow this up.

You don't actually know how he got out yet.

And if I did know how he got out would it make it ok? Its not HOW its WHY. And something I should hope will NEVER happen again.

Just the other day one of my pupils stepped out the door as she thought I called her name, I hadn't, but had called another child who's name sounds similar. (I did notice immediately and sent her back in). And a good job that you did notice unlike my sons teachers.

Parents can be really rude and inconsiderate at the end of the day. I've had parents try to call their child out of the class while I am dismissing, bang on my door because they want their child early, demand to speak to me while I'm dismissing, let their toddlers run inside, stare at me without telling me who they are collecting etc. In the morning I've had parents call their child back out for one more kiss/cuddle, or say bye bye to the baby etc. I find it quite worrying that teachers on this forum are trying to justify what happened and blame it on the parents? Also, I wasn't there at the point that my child was let out of school so wasn't being inconsiderate was I?

I'm sure your child's teacher feel guilty and is very worried and will be vigilant now. However, if you don't see an improvement in the dismissal at the end of the day after a chat with the teacher then do go and speak to the head teacher. But also go in armed with some suggestions rather than anger.

My own children's school let out the Early Years Children 5 minutes early to allow parents to pick up older siblings easier, so this could be why the door was open early. (Although parents don't have to come early -the option is there)

Seeing as I only got to speak to one of his teachers and not all 3 and I haven't be reassured I will most certainly be going to the appointment I have with the headteacher tomorrow. I'm sure she'd like to be informed that there was an incident such as this in her school and something she can address. Its as if all you teachers are wanting me to leave it with the teachers now so as not to worry them incase the headteacher takes it up with them!

upsadaisy

I did not say you were being inconsiderate, what I was doing was giving you some perspective. I did give you sound advice to speak to the headteacher if you were still concerned and to make further contact with the teacher. As likely the head will direct her to speak to you anyway!

Soapy955

How did the meeting with the headteacher go?
Did she have an idea of what it was about so's she could ask the teachers their side of events first?
I hope they have been able to put your mind at rest that it won't happen again. If anything they'll probably be watching your little boy like a hawk at hometime now!

Soapy955

D'oh, just realised that the last post being yesterday... and mine being just after midnight, you wouldn't have had the meeting yet! Sorry!!

Fluffyfluff

Hi I had the appointment this morning and I feel a little more reassured. She explained that the current procedure at hometime is definitely not suitable for children of their age. They were lining the children up inside the door and letting them out one by one to their parents, if their parents weren't there they would stand that child to the left outside the door. She explained that whilst my son was standing to the left of the door outside he must have wandered off thinking he has seen me and the teachers haven't noticed when they have turned to bring another child out.

They are now going back to the procedure from nursery where the children sit on the mat in the classroom and the parents line up outside and the children are called one by one. This is what I was hoping for as I never had any problems in nursery.

I am going to speak to my son and try to get him to understand that when I'm not there, his safest place is inside school or next to a teacher and that I will always pick him up.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Mindless_Clone

Good result OP, thanks for updating us. That's still how they do it in my DS's class (he's just started year 1), although they sit at their tables not a mat until called.

Glad you're feeling more reassured and I hope it's the last time you have cause to complain.

neonlights

Fluffyfluff wrote: »

Seeing as I only got to speak to one of his teachers and not all 3 and I haven't be reassured I will most certainly be going to the appointment I have with the headteacher tomorrow. I'm sure she'd like to be informed that there was an incident such as this in her school and something she can address. Its as if all you teachers are wanting me to leave it with the teachers now so as not to worry them incase the headteacher takes it up with them!

That statement has kind of annoyed me because you clearly said in your initial post that you've spoken to a teacher and weren't satisfied with the response. The next obvious step is to talk to the head, deputy head or EYFS leader, which people (including myself, a teacher!) have advised you to do. If there is a problem, then you need to pass the information along, not "all [us] teachers" want you to just leave it.

GM43

I've only just picked up this thread - I'm pleased you got this sorted out - it sounds like they took your concerns seriously which is great - it must have been very upsetting to think they weren't looking after your child with the same care and attention that you do. I was interested to see someone said something about volunteering in the school - I started doing this when my son was in yr1 - I had time and thought I would do it. It's only with school fairs and christmas partys and things like that. I've really enjoyed doing it and have been pleased to 'give back' something to the school but not only that it's also had a very postive effect with my relationship with his school and I feel much more comfortable approaching them with any praise or concerns I may have with his education/happiness at school. I was just mentioning it because before this I was really green about approaching them about things and used to worry and wonder if I was over reacting to things and it just really helped me to get to them better as something other than 'the teachers' or 'the school' and it probably helped them as they know a little more about me as well.