I am really wondering what people think of how schools have to register absences from school, (Primary) whether it be, sickness, holiday, or other reasons.
We received a letter to see an attendance officer after my sons school (he is 9) reported his attendance at 89%, obviously this being below the minimum requirement.
I am sure most school use the same system of 1 full school day = 2 possible attendances. Therefore, at the time of the letter, my son could have attended school 250 times (125 days), however he attended 222 sessions (111 days) hence 14 days when he did not attend. Now this may seem horrendeous to most parents, however, he did have that terrible australian flu in January, and was off school for 2 weeks, and the other 4 days, were the usual stomach bugs going around the class etc and me adhering to the 48hr rule. This was a one off year that he missed such a big chunk of time due to flu. The whole family had it and it was awful!
we received a letter from the headmistress, stating my sons attendance was below the required standard, and then she started mentioning unauthorised absences etc, and a potential meeting with an attendance officer. To be honest this got my hackles up! none of the absences were unauthorised, in fact it states in the Education Act 1996, that when a child is sick, and the school are informed, it is an authorised absence. Therefore, i queried the head, and asked why unauthorised has been mentioned, and her reply was that, this is the letter she is required to send as per the Education Department (GOV).
I delved a bit further, and found that again, as the per Ed Act 1996, a child is deemed to be prevented to attend school by reason of sickness, and therefore, i have argued that as my son was prevented to attend school, due to sickness, then this is not a possible attendance, day, and furthermore, as he was able to attend 222 sessions, and he attended all of these 222 sessions, then his attendance is 100%!
Now you all might be thinking that i am a dog with a bone here, but to a deeper level, if schools are having to report children as absent to the County Council and including the days which are deemed are preventable to attend, and in turn, not possible, then the schools are doing themselves an injustice in any league tables, and furthermore, had i have accepted the offer of a meeting with an attendance officer, we would have both been wasting our time, as my son was just sick, not playing hooky, or on holiday, just sick!!
I really am after trying to get some support to take this inaccurate reporting further, and to get schools to provide maybe 2 attendance reports, one for days attended out of the school term, and the other for the individual childs possible attendance.
I also appreciate schools have an incredible job to do, the teachers at my sons school are awesome, and it is this injustice to the schools that i am really questioning. The irony is that if the County Council had sent the attendance officer to meet me at my sons school, they wouldnt have had a clue whether this child with 89% attendance was tall, short, thin, fat, or any other combination, he was purely a statistic that fell below the Governments standard.
Any comments (please be kind!) would be appreciated!!
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What is classed as a possible attendance day?
66 replies
yodabo · 01/07/2018 16:08
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