Missed a call from your child's school? What to do

What to do straight away

Don't wait for the school to ring again.

1. Ring the school office back. Use the number on the school's website or letters, as well as the one in your call list, because the call may not have come from the main line.
2. Check for a message. Listen to your voicemail, then look at your texts, email and any app the school uses. Some schools text before they ring: Calderdale's safeguarding children partnership recommends that, when a primary pupil is absent without a reason, the school texts the first contact within half an hour of the start of the day and starts ringing within 45 minutes.
3. Ring the other people on your child's contact list. If a school can't reach the first person, its procedure may be to ring the next. One Croydon primary school's contact form says that if it can't reach the first emergency contact, the second "will be the next person we contact".
4. If you still can't get through, leave a message. Say you've seen the missed call and give the best number to reach you. Keep your phone on loud until you've spoken to someone.

Why the number might not look like the school's

Don't rule a call out because you didn't recognise the number. Some schools have told parents that staff calls can show as "Withheld" or "No Caller ID". A County Durham nursery school said so when staff couldn't use the nursery's own phone, and a primary school in Scotland said the same about teachers' calls for a parents' evening held by phone. If a withheld or unfamiliar call came in during the school day and you're not sure, ring the school office and ask.

How to find the missed call and any voicemail

On an iPhone. Open the Phone app. Your calls are under Recents in the Classic layout, or under Calls in the Unified layout. Tap the Filter button, then Missed. Voicemails are under Voicemail in the Classic layout, or through the Filter button in the Unified layout.

Two settings can tuck a school's call out of sight. If Screen Unknown Callers is set to Silence (in Settings, Apps, Phone), calls from numbers that aren't saved in your contacts are silenced and sent to voicemail. If the Unknown Callers filter is on, missed calls and voicemails from unknown numbers are moved to a separate Unknown Callers list, which you open with the same Filter button.

On an Android phone. In Google's Phone app, your call history is on the Home tab, with an icon marking missed calls. To hear voicemail, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the voicemail notification, or open the dialpad and touch and hold 1. Settings can vary by phone.

Let the school's calls ring through next time

These settings are free and take a few minutes. Start by saving every number the school uses in your contacts. Apple's own advice is to add important numbers, including your child's school, so that you always see those calls. Google's Phone app lets you add a number to your contacts straight from your call history.

• iPhone, Focus and Do Not Disturb: open Settings, tap Focus, choose a Focus such as Do Not Disturb, Sleep or Work, tap People, then add the school under Allow Notifications From. You can also allow repeated calls, which Apple defines as two or more calls from the same person within three minutes.
• iPhone, Emergency Bypass: open Contacts, choose the school, tap Edit, tap Ringtone and turn on Emergency Bypass. Apple says this lets sounds and vibrations from that contact come through even when your iPhone or notifications are silenced.
• Android: on Android 14 and later, open Settings, tap Modes, choose Do Not Disturb, and under Notification filters use People to allow calls. Turning on Allow repeat callers lets a call through if the same person calls twice in 15 minutes.
• Samsung Galaxy: Samsung's UK help page (last updated in 2020) describes Settings, Notifications, Do not disturb, Allow exceptions, where Calls from can be set to contacts or favourite contacts, and Repeat callers lets through a number that calls more than once in 15 minutes. Menu names may differ on newer software.

What the school does if it can't reach you

In England, the Department for Education's Keeping children safe in education 2026 says that, where reasonably possible, schools and colleges should hold more than one emergency contact number for each pupil. It notes this goes beyond the legal minimum. Its attendance guidance, Working together to improve school attendance (July 2026), expects schools to have a way of contacting parents on the first day of an absence when no reason has been given.

Local procedures fill in the detail. Calderdale's model for primary schools has the school ring down the contact list until someone replies, and tell the headteacher or designated safeguarding lead if nobody has been reached within an hour. If there's still no reply, the steps go on to a second text and email and a home visit. Devon County Council's guide for schools says that when a school doesn't know why a child is off and can't reach the parent, "this is a worry for the school", and its safeguarding process could include home visits or asking the police for a welfare check.

Make it less likely next time

• Give the school more than one contact. Calderdale's example emergency contact form asks for at least one contact who doesn't live at the same address as the child.
• Keep your details up to date. Tell the school as soon as a number changes. The Croydon school's form says it can be used at any point to update the details.
• Tell the school when you'll be hard to reach. If you'll be somewhere you can't answer, such as a shift with your phone in a locker, let the office know and say who to ring first.
• Tell your other contacts. Check the people on the list know they're on it, and ask them to save the school's numbers too.

Where MyCirCall fits

If you're often somewhere you can't answer, MyCirCall gives you one UK mobile number to give the school. When it's called, your own mobile and the phones of a small circle of people you trust (your CirCall) ring at the same time, and the first person to answer and press 5 takes the call. It can't make anyone answer, so keep the school's contact list up to date and use the free settings above as well.

MyCirCall is not an emergency service. In an emergency, always call 999 or 112.

Sources

• Department for Education, Keeping children safe in education 2026: statutory guidance for schools and colleges (September 2026)
• Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance: statutory guidance (July 2026)
• Calderdale Safeguarding Children Partnership, Schools Emergency Contact Form and First Day Calling Procedures (2024)
• Devon County Council, One minute guide: first-day phone calls for non-attendance (updated 14 November 2023)
• St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School, Croydon, Emergency contact information form (7 October 2024)
• Horden Nursery School, Phone calls to say Hi (1 April 2020)
• Catrine Primary School, Parents' Day/Evening (1 November 2021)
• Apple Support (UK), View and delete your call history on iPhone
• Apple Support (UK), Set up Voicemail on iPhone
• Apple Support (UK), Manage unknown callers on iPhone (17 September 2026)
• Apple Support (UK), Allow or silence notifications for a Focus on iPhone
• Google, Phone app Help: Manage call history and do a reverse phone number look-up
• Google, Phone app Help: How to check your voicemail
• Google, Android Help: Limit interruptions with modes and Do Not Disturb on Android
• Samsung UK, How do I use the do not disturb feature? (updated 18 December 2020)

Sources checked on 17 October 2026. Each organisation's own guidance can change, so check with your school, care home or hospital for how they work.