To have refused to sign this parenting contract about attendance

Taking into account the chronic health conditions, I’d be tempted to go down the route of ‘I’ll absolutely sign a contract to work on increasing her participation in education, once there’s an appropriate ECHP in place. With the amount you’re raising her attendance, you clearly see it as a significant issue that’s impacting her education - and as the medical
professionals have stated on multiple occasions this is a result of her conditions.’

(Key word being participation rather than attendance. Some good quality remote learning provision may be actually useful for you and her).

Agree, I consider myself being unwell if I get to 37, because I usually run much cooler!

This, 100%.

If you sign it, you're indicating that past absences were in some way avoidable. They weren't. You have been providing evidence of her medical appointments and condition. Your Dd clearly needs support in her situation, not harassment.

Complaints process time. I'd ask them to acknowledge your evidence to put a stop to the inappropriate dishonestly insinuation, then work with you to help your Dd recover her learning.

I don't accept that schools have to send these letters out. We're the adults here and admin need to act like it.

Nope! Then they are in charge of timescales and could drag it out. Do it yourself then you have more control. IPSEA website is very helpful.

Have you engaged with the school nurse? Does your DD have a care plan (not an EHCP), a plan purely for health? Have the school offered home tuition? Have you spoken with the pastoral lead?

I think it’s important to support her being in school more, and it’s not all just tickboxes, it’s about the welfare of the child.

I think you should perhaps be a little more open minded about the concerns. They clearly don’t believe the reasons for all the absences and are worried about it.

Maybe a referral for further help would be good for you and your DD? It sounds as though there are ongoing issues.

What “therapies” have been tried? Maybe some outside input would help your dd to cope with school and get her back to be with her peers

Fwiw the setting of a temperature threshold is ridiculous - I have a very low basic body temperature (below 36) and a health condition, so 38° is a really bad fever for me, I feel shit at 37.5. My normal temp is so low that I got odd looks from shop staff with forehead temp readers during covid...

Please do what you can for your daughter under Equality Law.

That make sense, I think that’s often the case. The whole system needs an overhaul. It’s a horrible to feel challenged and criticised.

I think some aspects they do have to be curious about because some children DO miss school for reasons relating to parenting or the parent’s needs, sometimes becomes a safeguarding issue, so some questioning is needed but it’s also about how that’s delivered.

I highly doubt you would be fined and I would try to not worry about that. I’ve been in court where a parent who really was at fault and the child’s absences were almost wholly due to parenting issues, and she got off. I cannot imagine where there is medical evidence, a court would not see this as legitimate.

Are you getting the sense they actually don’t believe you, or they do but feel their hands are tied and they have to follow this process?

Because the latter is the stance I am seeing from schools a lot (work in health but work closely with schools). Most the staff i speak to also don’t agree but there is so much pressure from above, that they feel forced to enforce these procedures.

The school are being ridiculous.

Op have you heard of these? www.noisolation.com/uk

You mentioned your dd doing homework in bed and the school could try and organise one of these robots, it will appease their attendance figures and your dd can still access lessons.

You shouldn’t have to provide a medical letter every time she is unwell with a chronic illness and agree this is a ridiculous waste of resources.

Are the conditions disclosed to the school? Will they accept one letter which outlines her conditions and how they are expected to affect her attendance?

Can you engage with someone further up in the school and/or is there a school nurse you could make an appointment with to discuss the situation. There should be one even if they may cover several schools.

On the days she is unwell can she manage her condition so she can go in later?

Regardless of the situation you face, you were being asked to sign something you did not feel able to do, and so chose to be honest. I hope things for your DD can change for the better.

Lying is not something you should be teaching anyone.

Basically all of this!!

Its hard to say really when you haven't been willing to share what these multiple medical conditions are
I have a feeling your the poster from a previous thread where the multiple medical conditions were anxiety and very painful periods, but you didnt want her to try the pill to alleviate things.

Sorry 37.8°!

A temp of 38.7 can be really debilitating for some with LT health issues.

My ds temp has been known to drop as low as 33° when he's Ill (usually it's in the 34-35 range when poorly).

I wouldn't be sending him in because it's not reached 38°!!!

I would let them refer you to Social Services. They will look at your situation and how well you look after your child and tell the school to back off. It's also quite handy should your child need support post-school because you're already in the system.

Not 100% the same but I was asked to sign something where I used to work to improve my attendance and punctuality. I have a stomach ulcer, fibromyalgia and colitis. I have flare ups of my fibromyalgia and colitis and either can’t walk or can’t get off the toilet. I had flexible working agreed in the event of a flare up with my fibromyalgia as it affected my mobility and not the ability to answer the phone. Obviously with colitis I didn’t have this as you can’t realistically answer the phone to a customer while sitting on the toilet with the explosive shits. I didn’t want to disclose the colitis originally but after the first couple of flare ups I had to. HR were fine but the head of department was vile about it. He insisted I provide medical evidence of a flare up every time I had one.

if your son doesn’t want to disclose it to the school that’s his choice but it makes it harder to argue he has a medical condition which causes low attendance if the school aren’t aware of it