Can the HTTP status be set with the redirect tag Although undocumented, according to this answer How do I force a 301 http status code using the redirect tag? adding a 301 parameter to the redirect tag should change the status. I am using this but am still getting a 302 status.

{% redirect entry.getChildren().first().url 301 %}


Should this work to create a 301?
That should work fine.  I just did a test in a simple template with:

{% redirect "http://google.com" 301 %}


And I can see it's a proper 301 redirect.  Try clearing your browser's cache?