Question about absence please?

[devilsavacado]

My DS who is 7 has had a number of absences form school connected with his constipation issues.
Althrough half term after an x ray at the hospital he was put on an emergancy dose of movivcol up to 12 sachets a day and decreasing for the foreseeable future until the problem is solved.

At least since the x ray we know why DS has been having issues with toileting but the school in the past have always put it down to laziness.

His absence has been an issue in the past and the school make me feel guilty for keeping him off when he is unwell because they say it reflects badly on the ofstead report.

What I wanted to ask was he has a statement of 22 hours a week and if he is off school for medical reasons does his absence get recorded as anothers child or is it recorded differently?

[cory]

We had exactly the same problems with dd who has a painful joint disorder. At that time, I let myself be pushed around by the headteacher and more or less apologised for dd's poor attendance record. Never again!

Yes, his abences will go down as normal authorised absences. Yes, the overall attendance will matter for the Ofsted report. On the other hand, the school can recoup themselves by being really supportive of you, so you can make appreciative comments to the Ofsted inspector.

When dd's new school was Ofsteded, we filled in the parents' questionnaire and made a big deal of how inclusive they were and how supportive of our disabled child, and Ofsted were so impressed that they quoted us verbatim in the report.

Whatever happens, you must not allow yourself to be made to feel guilty about your son's medical problems. Get your ds's doctor to write to the school and explain.

If he is statemented, in other words has a disability, and they treat him in any way unfavourably due to problems connected with same disability (e.g. punishing him for absences connected with disability) then that is discrimination and they are acting illegally.

[devilsavacado]

Thank you cory for your reply,that is very helpful.

On a report which was given to us after our last meeting it said

Strong links should be made with the school making it very clear the reasons why (my sons name) is absent and most especailly if (my daughters name)is away at the same time.
Thi scauses concern as schools are under huge pressure from the education authority to reduce time that children are absent.
Therefore schools may become very stressed if children appear to be taking time off unecessilarily.

there have been times when my DD had been off with DS but when they have had a virus,fever at the same time,not that unusual as they live together.

My DS has selective mutism and a phonological disorder and sensory issues and is in reciept of DLA.

the school alwats make a big issue out of absence and make me feel so guilty and as that report implies that I am keeping him unecessilarily.

[devilsavacado]

DS still not well this morning so have kept him off and rang the school and left a message.

Just hope the school is understanding.

[TotalChaos]

sorry you are going through this, I'm in a similar position with school - it's bloody unfair. Sorry I can't offer anything more helpful than moral support or any killer advice. Hope that you can get a doctor to bollock the school make the situation crystal clear to the school.

[devilsavacado]

TotalChaos-thanks for your reply.

I have a report from the paed which I will take into the school.

It is so unfair,why do they make everything so bloody stressful,as if we don't have enough on our plate!!!

[cory]

Yeah, they did the same thing about the sibling with us: rang up ds's infant school to see what his attendance record looked like. And as the attendance record is only per halfterm and that was the halfterm he had chickenpox...

What got us out of this horribly stressful situation was dd's headteacher taking early retirement- for health reasons

Dd is now at secondary school where they are totally supportive of her. She did have to attend a meeting with the attendance officer but they made it clear that it was a mere formality.