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Hallo,
Having just been informed of the school my 5 year old son started attending in September, I wish to write to them, as the non-resident parent, informing them that I wish to be fully informed about my son's educational development.
Is there a template for a letter or email that I can send to the school, along with evidence of my legal parental responsibility (which in this case amounts to being named as the biological father on my son's birth certificate)?
Many thanks.
Hi
Having recently contacted a school myself, I would suggest rather than initially making it too formal via a template letter, to just contact the school office, have a chat and request 2 things, to be added to the children's school records that you are the father and wish to be kept updated (my school has a system where I know get all emails and text messages in addition to social media etc) and to request a call from child's teacher to have an initial chat and catch up on how the year has gone. I was advised this would be done promptly and I requested an email address so that I could send in an email confirming my details and reiterated my request for a call. I didnt have to provide proof of PR, I believe they may have asked my ex. Within 72 hours I started to recieve updates and received a call from all the teachers for my kids.
Schools will have a specific process for separated parents and calling the office to have a chat and enquire about the process and request updates would be my advice.
All the best.
Hi @Daddyup
That seems like really thoughtful, well considered advice - thank you. It's half term at the moment, so although I did try ringing my son's school on the off-chance of an answer, I've sent them an informal email instead, asking for the things that you suggested. Hopefully I'll get a call back, or at least an email reply, sometime next week.
Thanks again 👍
No problem at all.
I would also suggest giving them 3 or 4 days into next week before you get a response and then a polite follow up by phone if you haven't heard anything with an appreciation that it's been half term and they are probably still catching up on emails.
The advice Ive picked up on this forum is that whilst sometimes we have to go in hard to fight for our rights, initially we may be able to achieve quite a lot without being too formal or coming across as a father denied they're rights..
On the other hand, if the school mess you about (hopefully they don't) then you may need to escalate to the head of year or headmaster or whoever overseas the process re separated parents to understand why you have been messed around and how things can be resolved.
Hope it goes well..
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