Absconding Policy There are occasions when pupils will leave the sc - PDF document

Absconding Policy There are occasions when pupils will leave the school grounds without permission for a variety of reasons, e.g. they have been unduly teased and/or bullied; they are angry and upset about some incident which has occurred or they may leave the school grounds for totally trivial reasons. Whatever the circumstances the following points should be borne in mind: If the school is advised at the initial risk assessment that a child has a tendency to abscond then the person undertaking the risk assessment must complete the ÒProtocol for Known Absconding StudentsÓ this can be found on the System under Company Documents, Procedures and Policies. Once this has been completed a copy must be issued to the child tutor and the reception office. All staff must be notified on the childÕs first day at school via briefing. 1. If a child is seen to leave the school grounds without permission then in no way should staff chase after them, nor should they ask any other boy or groups of boys to pursue them. Experience shows that this often exacerbates the situation since it is often the case that a pupil will go no further than outside the park gates and after a short period of time will return of their own volition. Active pursuit may encourage the child to leave the immediate vicinity of the school and may also cause the pupil to panic and possibly put himself at risk by, for example, running onto a busy road. If, however, a pupil is deemed to be a high risk to himself or other people then staff should adhere to the Positive Handling Policy with reference to holding the pupil (this does not mean that staff should chase after a child in order to hold him). 2. There may be occasions when a pupil has left the immediate vicinity of the school and it is felt to be appropriate by the members of staff dealing with the situation to engage in a local search. If the pupil upon seeing the staff continues to run away then active pursuit must not be undertaken since this course of action could also cause the child to panic and put himself at further risk. may decide to do nothing except to monitor the pupilÕs whereabouts on a regular basis in the expectation that the need to be informed as soon as possible of the pupilÕs return to school. d) Upon their return to school the pupil must be seen by their tutor or SMT Absconding whilst being transport to and from school by the local authorities transport providers. a) It is the cab drivers or escorts responsibility to notify the Childs parent / carer, local authority and the school that the child they are transporting has absconded on route to and from school. The LA should also contact the parents / carer and school to confirm that their absconding procedures have been implemented. The school will liaise directly with the parents / carers to ascertain whereabouts of child and if they