An attendance meeting at school for 5 days off since September

I would go to the meeting (I have been to many) and explain she has been off as she has been ill. No, you haven't been to the doctors as it was a sickness bug. Likely picked up at school, due to their attendance policy.

Because it’s 5 separate incidents they’ll be looking for any patterns and any way they could support. If it’s just unfortunate number of bugs then they’ll be able to rule out anything underlying. We do the same in our workplace.

What have teachers to do with this exactly? This drive on attendance comes straight from the DoE.

But she’s 5?! she’s not a stroppy teenager who can’t be bothered to go in…OP said she had a sickness bug and the other times was too unwell to go in? You have to weigh up priorities in situations like this, and allowing the school to tick their boxes for attendance certainly isn’t one of them. The schools weren’t bothered about that during covid were they?!

You also have to think about other children and staff…just because you think your child is ‘well enough’ to attend school, doesn’t mean they couldn’t pass something nasty on.

Oh christ, it’s insane isn’t it.

I was once a Welfare AND attendance officer in a school. I would be the one sending sick kids home and then having to call their parents in for attendance meetings (I’ve posted about it on here before).

I was called a cunt by parents on many occasions. Send their kids home and then call them in to tell them attendance was shit and ask them why.

I hated it, but SLT made me do it, because.

5 days since September is an absence rate of around 8% so it will be an automatic trigger, and standard policy to request a meeting.

You just go, explain the reasons for the absence and that's it.

Maybe if parents didn't send their children into school sick, there'd be less sickness spread in schools and attendance would, overall, improve?

OP you're right, it's nonsense. You should have fun with it, though. Go to the meeting and quiz them about their infection control measures. What are they going to put in place to stop your daughter getting sick ? Better ventilation, enforced handwashing, stricter policies about sick children in school?

The more parents who agree to attend these nonsense meetings, the more schools will demand them. It's absolutely ludicrous. I agree with PPs that sending a polite email seems a good idea.

My daughter was in hospital after going to the park, a ‘scum of the earth’ raped her at age 13 and left her for dead. We’re still dealing with the trauma. Then I had a phone call regarding her not been in school and attendance during the event. She’s unwell she’s unwell, they’re been ridiculous

It comes in waves with children sometimes. My oldest has suddenly had a few days off this year but yr7/8/9 he never had a single sick day. Year R/1 he was constantly catching something but again 2/3/4/5/6 he was in (apart from when closed due to covid obviously)

Children get sick when they get sick some very rarely others seem to catch every bloody thing going. This whole box ticking over sickness is stupid.

I wouldn't take it personally for now.
Like others said, it sounds like a tick box exercise, and the school probably needs to have it down that they followed procedure when your child's attendance dropped below XX%. Which would be following it up with you and probably having a form for them to fill out re the meeting and keep on file.

My child missed SO MANY days last winter, just in 3 months, and even though he didn't seem any worse off for it with schooling I was worried about his attendance rate. He's been ill 2x this last month, so looks like it's happening again. Our area is suffering from lower than average attendance (there are posters up in public places about it!) and there have been numerous newsletters about attendance... if asked to a meeting I'd just try to be open, understanding and patient, hopefully staff would do the same!

If you asked that at one of my attendance meetings then I could honestly respond that none if our staff were absent due to strike action last year (or in all the years I’ve dealt with attendance at my school).
This is what I mean by school being treated as the enemy - we really aren’t ….

My kids have only had a handful of days off school from reception to end of secondary. They have also never been late in part as I am fastidious about punctuality and they have been blessed with good health. The one year my son had two days off for sickness and one afternoon off for brace appointment I got a call about his attendance. I was extremely offended!!! 😂 They are just following the rules I know...

Just ask them about the teachers attendance for all the strike days last year….

Authorised absence is still absence. We have to hold attendance meetings if it goes below the percentage designated by the LEA. We’ve had meetings with parents in similar situation as the OP.
Basically the meeting will consist of confirmation that you aren’t keeping DC at home for nothing more than a runny nose and that there is nothing else happening that the school can support you and / or DC with.
We are aware that it only takes a few days to bring the percentage down at this stage of the school year but if we aren’t seen to be following policy then we would be in trouble.
Please don’t see the school as the enemy in this situation - we want to work WITH our families.

Can schools actually do anything if your kids are off too much? Genuine question, my child is starting school next September and I wonder if I took her out to say go to a family funeral or for an event (I’m not from the UK, so any family event would involve travel and some time away).

My question - is there any consequence, other than obviously you child missing school which isn’t great.

@lilyandrosa sounds like OP just keeps her off for the sake of it without actually encouraging her to go in is my point

@DomesticatedHippie thanks for sharing, I'm glad you got support in the end. That's really helpful to have that link. I'll be taking that guidance with me to the next meeting. I thought there was more they should be doing for children with medical conditions as it just seems so unfair and unkind for them to receive a double punishment, as if being ill wasn't bad enough.

Hope the meeting goes well OP if you go to it. I'd be interested to know what they say.

5 days is not lot in the middle of the Autumn / Winter. I've had 4 day vomitting bugs before now. Its exactly out of the ordinary.

Its when you are likely to get ill!

Hell are they going to require an attendance meeting if your kid gets flipping chicken pox???!

In Yr2 DH ended up with 10 days off with chicken pox followed by 5 days off due to bloody covid. Yes 15 days. Half of that DS felt well enough to return but wasn't allowed to.

By Dec 9th.

Yr3 his attendance was 100%. Apart from all the fucking strikes which suddenly mean not being in school isn't important (the othr yr3 class were unaffected by strikes).

I'm sorry but its utterly utterly bonkers to be forcing these meeting on parents unless it is persistent and goes on into the spring and summer or there are other safeguarding concerns.

I'd ask if it could be a phone call instead.

Schools don't really have a say in it. When attendance hits certain levels this situation is automatically triggered and they have to show local authority, government, ofsted that they are taking it seriously.
Your daughter has had a week off, out of roughly 12 weeks so it is quite high BUT she has acceptable reasons so there's not much you or school can do about it.
I'm an ex early yrs/infant teacher and school is awful place to be if unwell and I really believe children shouldn't be sent in, young kids often catch lots, personal hygiene isn't always the best.
Have the meeting, explain the reasons (school will know, they're not having ago) and simply state that obviously your DD will be in school when healthy enough attend.

Remember schools have a responsibility to safeguard their pupils, including when they are absent. Some parents keep kids off unnecessarily, (can't be bothered) but sometimes its to cover abuse etc.School are just being diligent.

As a foster carer some of our young people have days where they just can't cope with being in school and we 'take the day'. I'm very honest with their head of year and if that means there's an attendance issue, but their mental health isn't getting battered, then thats how it is.

There's really no need to take issue with this or be defensive.
Schools, like workplaces, will have a trigger and a policy. Some schools with a history of low attendance will have earlier intervention because with some families it really works.

They have to apply that policy fairly and consistently to all.

There are lots of things they might be looking out for at such young age, especially if you don't have older siblings at school. That doesn't mean these apply to you. The school just want to check if they do.
Attendance gets worse with age, and expectations of what is "too ill" vary.
My youngest for example was younger during covid and now thinks every sneeze is a reason to be off.
At a young age they may be checking the child is happy coming to school and there is no anxiety.
But in some schools/situations they will be looking for neglect, young carers, issues with poverty...that they may be able to help with.

It's a good opportunity to discuss and agree expectations....so when to keep them off and when to send them in. And to build a relationship.

And thanks to people like you who send sick children to school with the ‘they can come home if need be policy’ I’m sat next to my poorly sons bedside on hospital for our 7th admission for a virus in 12 months as he’s vulnerable. I can’t work, I’m loosing income, and I’m daily watching him suffer more and more needles. Please consider others.

@ConflictofInterest I have been where you are and your ds’ school and LA are not allowed to treat him like that.

This is the statutory guidance for how they should be handling providing an education for children with health needs.

If he has been off or is expected to be off for 15 days or more (even if those days aren’t consecutive) your LA has the responsibility for providing him with a suitable education. That doesn’t necessarily mean full time, but can do if he’s able to work outside or school or just as many hours as he can manage. The guidance also states that pupils should not be punished or penalised for attendance related to known health issues, so he shouldn’t be missing out on trips and treats) in fact it also states that school has a responsibility to try everything possible to include him in social events and treats and ensure social links are maintained.

We had a similar situation with our ds and once I gave them a copy of this guidance, took it with me to all our meetings and impressed upon them their responsibility towards my ds’ education, things improved at lot. Ds ended up on long-term sick leave, which eventually included being tutored at home. School made arrangements for him to go in for the occasional lunch to maintain social contact with his friends, included him in all school and class photos and invited him to every special event. He wasn’t always able to attend these things, but it made him feel that he was still part of the school to be invited. Ultimately he didn’t attend at all in years 10 and 11, but he was still included in the whole school leavers photo and invited to prom (although sadly he was too unwell to attend the prom). He also won a reward for resilience for managing to carry on going in for as long as he did when he first became ill.

Part of the problem is that often the staff dealing with absence/sickness have never been properly trained and are completely unaware of the statutory guidance and school/LA’s responsibility towards pupils where health is concerned. It’s often not the staff member’s fault and is usually down to schools expecting staff to take on multiple roles and not arranging for them to receive the correct training and support. So many schools seem to think the onus is completely on parents to drag a sick child in to school and are oblivious to what they should be doing.

Interestingly, dd is now attending that school. She is usually super healthy, but after catching a virus at school, was repeatedly ill throughout the autumn term last year, culminating in her developing a secondary issue from the illness which was pretty serious and required a prolonged absence. Her attendance hit 87% before the longer absence but they didn’t harass us at all, just offered support. So it can be done. I do understand the pressure schools are under re attendance, but if they follow the statutory guidance in each case, they can justify their position and back it up when they support instead of penalising sick children.

It's because so far this term she has missed 20% of school. My DS school would not be bothered by this, but maybe your DD school has stricter attendance targets? See if you can cancel it though, it seems a bit OTT