"Alarm bells" were said to be ringing after 13-year-old Amber Peat, had confided in the school over her alleged hellish home life.
One of her teachers added that Amber had mentioned a "big secret" that she wasn't allowed to talk about – which turned out to be her stepdad had been jailed for 16 months over £120,000 tax fraud.
An inquest in Nottingham heard Daniel Peat and an accomplice admitted to attempting to falsely claim more than £200,000 in tax rebates.
Amber's body was found in June 2015 after she went missing in the early evening of May 30.
Her body was found three days after she walked out of the home she lived at with her mum Kelly, stepdad Daniel and two younger siblings.
This one is ringing alarm bells. It just does not feel right
Concerns about Amber were called in to a safeguarding team, Nottingham County Council's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), by Amber's former vice principal.
When referring Amber to the council's safeguarding unit she said: "This one is ringing alarm bells. It just does not feel right. My gut instinct is there is something not right here and I can't put my finger on it."
Amber had told teachers that she was woken up by her stepdad at 11.30pm and was ordered to clean the floor of their Mansfield home.
Her form tutor Rebecca Beard told the hearing Amber said she had to carry her belongings in a plastic carrier bag as a punishment for bad behaviour.
She said that she became concerned for Amber's welfare after she came in "devastated" while wearing ill-fitting grey jogging bottoms one day in March 2015.
Ms Beard told the court: "The other children in the classroom thought that she had actually wet herself, because it was so unusual that someone would be wearing something like that."
Amber allegedly told Ms Beard that she had been forced to wear them by Mr Peat because of her bad behaviour over the weekend.
The other children in the classroom thought that she had actually wet herself
The court heard her parents waited almost eight hours before they reported her missing in the early hours of the morning.
On the seventh day of the hearing Vice Principal Karen Green said Amber and her family had moved around quite a bit, that once people started to work with them they would move on.
Coroner Laurinda Bower was was told that two calls were made from Amber's school – Queen Elizabeth School in Mansfield – one to MASH before her death in September 2014 and another six months later.
During the calls a worker took information from the callers, a key worker at the school and a Karen Green, and handed it to a social worker.
However the court heard how the case didn't pass a "threshold" that would have triggered an intervention.
MASH officer Elizabeth Fisher, who took the call from the vice principal, said that the information provided was "limited" and "without context", thus not ticking boxes for a full social services review.
The school was advised to carry out an "Early Help" assessment, something it failed to do.
Ms Bower suggested that Mrs Fisher should have asked more questions to gain a wider idea of the situation.
'EMOTIONALLY ABUSED'
Sharon Clay, a school key worker, called the MASH team in March 2015, two months before Amber's death.
She reported concerns over Amber wearing tracksuit bottoms to school, which the inquest has previously heard she was made to do by Mr Peat after failing to put her normal trousers in the wash, and bringing her items in a cheap plastic bag.
She also said how she thought Amber was being "emotionally abused" by her stepdad.
She added that Amber was "always hungry" and losing weight.
MASH worker Joanna Shephard, who took the call, said: "You would need more incidents over a period of time." She also said that she was not aware of the bigger picture at surrounding Amber.
She advised Ms Clay that the school should discuss the matter with Amber's mum, Kelly Peat.
The inquest continues.
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