School Problem

Ms_Chocaholic

Hi

I'm posting this on behalf of my cousin, Nick. I wasn't sure what advice to give him so thought I'd ask here.

Nick is separated from his partner and they do not have a great relationship. They have a son with whom Nick has regular (Court ordered) contact. Unfortunately his son's mother will not share any information she gets from the school with him, school reports, school photo proofs, ticket availability for Christmas shows etc.

Nick has contacted the school to get this information. First off he asked for a report, it was sent through the post, nothing else was forthcoming. He missed parents evening so contacted the school and they arranged for him to meet with his son's teacher. He never got school photo proofs. He's asked the school on many occasions if he can receive the information but only receives it when he asks.

The school have said "we are working on it" and that's as far as he's got.

Any suggestions I can pass to him re what he can do to get the school to be more proactive.

Thanks
x

kingfisherblue

If he has parental responsibility, it might be worth reminding the school that he is allowed the information requested, and asking for a copy of the school's complaints procedure. If they then fail to keep him informed, he will have the details of how to make an official complaint. Hopefully, though, the school won't like him asking for the complaints procedure and will become more pro-active about keeping him up-to-date.

He could also ask if there is a school policy or a Local Authority policy on informing non-resident parents about progress, events, etc.

It's a shame that the school don't appreciate at he is an interested father. I wish my ex took some interest in our children's educations.

meritaten

^^^^^^^^^^^^ as above, and also, does the school have a website where parents can 'log in' with a special password and find out about these things like parent evenings, concerts, trips etc? because he has equal rights to the information and sadly they aren't taking this on board.

Ms_Chocaholic

Thanks, I agree with you both but I didn't want my view to be clouded by emotion.

Yes they keep referring him to the website. There is some information on there but not everything, ie for curiosity sake I've just checked it and the website states school photographs have been distributed and orders should be back in by Monday. The thing is, he hasn't even received the proofs so will have to chase the school yet again.

The website isn't protected by a password, there's no log in details, so information on there is fairly scant as it's available to the public. It's a primary school btw.

Also information about school performance tickets are not usually on there. School reports aren't sent out to him automatically. Everything has to be chased up.

It's a !!!! take!

meritaten

ah - my grandkids school have a page on their website that only parents can log into which gives the basic info, but is quite good as its kept up to date, and the info which is on handouts is all on there.
hmmmm sounds like the admin at that school is pretty dire.

GedlingRed

I work in a school office and if he has parental responsibility then he has every right to request updates & info.

In our office I've created a 'dad's list' where I keep all the address details for dad's who live separate to their children and have asked to be kept updated, I post out newsletters, parents evening info, school photo proofs, ticket info for performances and anything else I can think of. To be honest I decided to do it off my own back and it's creating myself extra work but I'm happy to do it as I know it's appreciated.

I suspect that whoever is in the school office or even the Head just thinks it's too much extra work to remember to do it, what I would recommend to your friend is to send into school a quantity of SAE's and a letter requesting that copies of all relevant information are sent to you and perhaps copy in the chair of Governors.

Ms_Chocaholic

Well done Gedling Red, I wish you worked at Nick's child's school and sort them all out.

There is a list of Chairs of Governors on the webpage. One of them works for the LA and it says he

"gives us sound legal guidance so that we follow the appropriate procedures"

They're having a laugh! If things don't improve I might suggest that Nick emails him.

The thing is he receives information but only because he emails/rings the school. He works full-time and hasn't the time to keep chasing the school up and even when he emails he doesn't always get a response.

Ms_Chocaholic

BTW, just to add, he does have PR.

Also his son is only 6 so he can't rely on him to tell him what's going on at school. I know he shouldn't rely on him but maybe if he was a bit older it might be easier in terms of knowing what was going on.

meritaten

well done Gedling! but, its shameful that you had to do that on your own initiative. considering how many divorced parents there are these days, it should be standard if the noncustodial parents wants to be copied the info.
but again - Well done you!

GedlingRed

meritaten wrote: »

well done Gedling! but, its shameful that you had to do that on your own initiative. considering how many divorced parents there are these days, it should be standard if the noncustodial parents wants to be copied the info.
but again - Well done you!

Thanks, it's just nice to help out those dad's who do actually care about their kids but have problems with their ex's.

meritaten

and presumably, the other way round? ex wives who don't have custody? though they do tend to be rarer.