1 in 5 children missing school

So interestingly, my best friend’s son is in primary school and they are having the issues with the school sending home for every little thing.

A couple of weeks ago, he was sent home because he had a rash the teachers were scared was chicken pox, despite him already having had it. His nan is also a GP surgery nurse and confirmed it wasn’t chicken pox. They asked my friend to get it confirmed by a GP. My friend refused to waste a GP’s time so the school refused to let him back for 3 days.

Then last week, her son had to be off for a genuine vommiting bug. The school had the cheek to then ring about low attendance and my friend had to had have a go at them and check how many of these days he had actually been sent home by the school. They backed down.

So this is definitely not all down to the parents.

Among teachers that I know its an opinion and only part of the problem, (I was also one!)

@FrippEnos I meant among teachers I know (I am one!)

This.

Covid just exacerbated it and taught children that they don’t have to be in school.

Mental health support is dreadful and often makes the problem worse.

Its an opinion not a consensus.

The general consensus seems to be that it’s the Covid effect, or in the words of one of my colleagues, Covid “broke the spell”. Students and parents got so used to being sent home because of bubbles being closed, lack of teachers due to Covid etc that school began to be seen as optional. Big increase in school refusers as well, certainly from what I’ve seen.

Schools are pretty shit at the moment, the whole system is collapsing - not sure why anyone is finding this a mystery?

Sadly this doesn't surprise me (I work in a primary school office and I see the daily reported absences).

Some of it of course will be due to unsupported SEN / struggles with anxiety and mental health and so on. Some will be down to genuine health issues and illnesses.

But from what I see, if our school is anything to go by, there is a growing trend for some parents (not all, of course, but there are enough of them to make a significant impact) to see school as a bit of a non-essential. Covid and home learning has exacerbated this but I think there are more and more parents who have less and less respect for schools, teachers and the education system in general and this impacts on absence figures too. There was a thread on AIBU the other day and some of the responses really showed how little respect there is from many parents for teachers and schools in the UK.

And there are, inevitably, other parents who will let their DC stay off if they even so much as complain of an ache in their left big toe. Being slightly facetious here, but these parents do exist. Some of the absence reasons reported in the school I work in are woolly to say the least. And my own DS has a friend whose attendance is dreadful - he cheerfully tells DS that he makes up illnesses to get a day off as his DM always believes him. Again, these parents might be in the minority but they are part of every school community - and their attitudes and parenting style will be impacting attendance figures too.

I in 5 frequently missing school, not 1 in 5 not at school.

Lack of funding education - so no appropriate SEN support which makes it difficult for the whole class. What happened to the covid education
catch up tzar? He resigned when the government said they wouldn’t fund the catch programme he said was needed. This means more children behind and put under additional pressure without the support needed.

My oldest will have lower attendance this year. A lot of that is medical problems with have spiralled after not been able to access timely medical help for a simple issue.