School absence rules are super powering the spread of flu

No one has said it can’t be serious. Of course it can, it kills thousands of people a year.

But that doesn’t mean it’s always horrendous.

What do you mean? In Scotland we take our kids out whenever we want to. I took the OP as meaning the English way is a problem. No one forces the kids to be in but you’re fined if you keep your kids off or have too many absences. It’s not something we do in Scotland, and children can be off for any reason and can go on holiday at any time of year during term time if the parents choose to. No one stresses about attendance rates here if their child needs to be off due to illness.

I have no idea,made me feel like I was doing the wrong thing keeping him off school,he hasn’t missed a day or even been late!

I don’t get why you are so adamant it has to only be a serious illness?

...because it is a serious illness. It kills people, including the young as well as the elderly. That's why we vaccinate the most vulnerable.

Thankfully, most people have never had flu, because it's is considerably less infectious than colds and covid and most people when they have the real thing are too ill to go out spreading it.

Colds can be anything from a bit of cough and sniffles that you can easily work through to nasty illnesses that can make you ill for a couple of weeks. Colds can be dangerous for people who are very frail or who have compromised immunity, but otherwise cause no long-term harm.

In a nutshell: If you think your child is too poorly for school, keep them at home.

If your child has a high temp, keep them at home.

If child is bouncing off the walls, normal temperature, eating fine, not in pain but has a bit of a snotty nose, send them in.

Don’t stress over attendance figures.

if your school has teachers working whilst carrying sick bags to vomit into, you need to report them and change schools. not that I believe this isn't hyperbole tho

so you want the teacher in making your kid sick so they miss their exams? or sacked and replaced cos she got ill?

it's shit but you can't stop lots of children getting an education because they need be off for every cough and sniffle to protect another child. if a child is so medically vulnerable that they can't risk being around kids with typical sniffles, they need a suitable alternative offer

I agree.

I think OP is correct in saying that sometimes school policies do encourage viruses to spread eg the PP who said they were told “send your child in when ill and we will decide whether they should be ill”. But I am confused by parents who take any notice of such nonsense.

so if it's normal to have days of whenever you fancy, why do you think parents are forced to send in ill kids?

It is quite shocking how many people have absolutely no understanding of the science behind disease, no understanding how viruses work, etc and make very sweeping statements based on complete ignorance.

The influenza virus is not like the Ebola virus. It doesn’t wipe out everyone infected - that is why it spreads so effectively. Many people will feel terrible but will still go to work, school etc. Similar to Covid. Some people get very ill.

A letter you can chuck in the bin though. I wouldn’t keep my child off unless she was too ill to go in, and if that authorised absence brought her attendance down, I really wouldn’t care. Especially if it was a letter generated by a system that is unable to take into account how far through the term you are - 2 days off in week 1 puts you immediately at 60%, but it’s clearly not remotely a problem.
60% attendance by the end of the year would be a problem, but it would mainly be one I’d be taking to the GP to find out why my child was ill so often (unless there was a medical cause that I knew about already).

that's awful. as if it isn't hard enough having a chronically ill child. I hope she's on the mend soon

I just didn’t send me kid when he had it. He was poorly

Exactly. It's not a binary choice between lockdown and making obviously idiotic claims about flu.

Well there is a test. You can buy it at boots.

But I’d agree that there’s no need to keep mildly ill children off school. I think only the OP has suggested it really.

@EatingHealthy maybe it would by the end but DS has had a 2 day illness last half term and 8 days with this and his attendance is at 83% so yes at a concerning amount and one you get a letter

Accepting what you say about flu coming in all different guises, I have reverted to the thrust of the thread. If you don’t know someone has flu, it’s hard to expect them to segregate to avoid spreading it. And if someone feels fine, you can’t know they have flu. Unlike COVID, there’s no ‘test’.

She didn’t say that. Or anything close to that. It’s just a fact that flu can be mild. And it’s annoying when people continue to (incorrectly) insist that if you are capable of even weakly lifting your head off the pillow there is no way you could have “proper” flu.

Counted for what? The schools I know would count being absent due to flu as an authorised absence so it won't count adversely for anything. What schools punish children for being off with flu?

Yes, it will contribute to their attendance percentage, but a child could have a whole two weeks off due to flu and still be at 95% attendance. It would only bring their attendance to a concerning level if they're having time off for other reasons too - which should be looked into. Children obviously shouldn't be taking time off for holidays and even more so if they've missed two weeks off schooling due to illness - their parents should realise they will need all the time possible in school then to make up for what they missed.

If they're missing more school due to further illness then, whilst if it's genuine it shouldn't result in any kind of adverse consequences, it should be looked into because it could be an indicator of neglect etc.

This. Shall we just go the whole hog and go into lockdown ?

Is OP a lil school child hacking into mommy's mn account posting this puerile nonsense while off school with sniffles?

So we should just keep kids off school ‘just in case’ they have it, even if they feel perfectly well?

How many times? 🤦🏻‍♀️ It is possible to have MILD flu.

Punishing? Who is punishing children or being sick?

I am SO sick of these idiotic rage baits. Super classless.