School asking for medical evidence.

[Flossy1989]

DD attendance is not the best it's 89.6 she's off now with sickness abd and the poops. The school is asking for medical evidence. I mentioned this some time ago to the gp. Gp said they should not be demanding medical evidence. Also I don't take my children to the gp over a tummy bug. It's not needed and it's wasting GP time.

I'm tempted to send them a picture of her vomit. I won't. It just really pisses me off gp is not impressed either from what he said before.

I'm on hold to gp /reception now doubt I will get anywhere. Caller number 15

Brilliant 🤣🤣

Curlew Kate, if you are going to join the pile on on the OP then at least get your bloody maths right. It's one day a FORTNIGHT, not one a week, and that's the second time you've said that. (Once I was prepared to ignore). You (and others) owe the OP an apology.

OP, ignore all the bullies on here who think that enjoying good health equates to moral virtue - it doesn't. I was horribly ill and off school a LOT throughout my school career due to undiagnosed Coeliac Disease, and I still achieved the best damn exam results the school had ever achieved.

Speaking of Coeliac Disease, all this sounds a bit suspect - has this ever been discussed with the GP? Seriously I'd suggest this.

Also their ridiculous toilet policy is highly discriminating against menstruating young women, and I wouldn't have been happy going into school on heavy days either.

As long as you are being honest, this situation is not your fault. Shame on the school and others for adding to your worries.

The average of one day a fortnight or what ever it may makes it seem worse to me. It could be they had 48hrs of but then was at school for several weeks then another day or 2 off . Plus on top of that the days that I definitely had medical evidence for
Means I have already answered to some of that percentage that's been of absent.

I don't mean it literally before anyone comes for me. With the but its not just a day or 2 is it

@Flossy1989 another one saying that the school are discriminating by refusing toilet access with heavy periods. As she has meds (even if she isn't taking them) I would get a letter from the GP and insist on toilet access. I'd also be asking the Board of Governors for their equality policy and how they address this.

As to the rest, send the d&v photos. They asked for evidence.

And FWIW, I too went through a 1.5 year period where my attendance hit somewhere around 30% (1980s) due to a combination of illness / bullying & home situation and pulled through to get bloody good exam results & a 30-yr career at middle / senior mgt level. One year does not reflect an entire school career.

Good luck.

Every single time I read one of these threads I am so glad my kids go to school in Scotland. We don't have this nonsense here at all.

Tell them the GP has said they cannot any information from a medical record. If they keep pushing send a picture of the vomit/poo.

I had a problem with a teacher years ago, overseas. DD1 was signed off with swine flu when the WHO were saying anyone diagnosed should stay home. HT was fine with this but when DD returned a teacher made her miss lunch to sit three tests she’d missed, because she didn’t believe me. After that I always took both DDs into school regardless of the illness and put the onus on the teacher to decide if they should stay or be collected.

If they insist, send it, they are being ridiculous, as are all schools these days.
As is the latest radio advert, telling people to send their children to school even if they are sick.
Quite ludicrous

I assume that pupils at Private/ Public schools don’t get this nonsense either.

@Flossy1989 I apologise for getting my maths wrong🤗

But poor attendance has a proven impact on attainment- and this is a crap time for your dd to be missing school. Have I missed that you've had a meeting with the attendance officer at school? They might get be able to do something about her being able to go to the loo-do they know that's an issue for her?

How heavy is a "heavy" period? If it's bad enough to keep her off school, she needs to see a doctor

1 day every 2 weeks is bad. That needs to be sorted, especially if she's a teen. A work place wouldn't stand for that sort of illness record

Indeed, something is very wrong and school is right to be concerned.

Children build up immunity as they get ill, and should not have such low attendance unless something is VERY wrong.

I have not mentioned anything about attendance officer sp not sure where you get that from ?

She does not have one day of every 2 weeks

I would send 2 pictures, one image at a distance and another would be a close up.

I would do this with absolutely no shame and then remind them the images are evidence as the .jpg ( jpeg) file is dated. I would also tell them I would be happy to let them have the used tissues so they can enjoy the smell.

There is a point where schools have to develope some common sense as a lesson they need to learn, and give these poor kids and parents a break.

My school attendance was often in single digits and yet I now have a PhD. It really shouldn't be such an issue unless the parents are neglectful. Kids get sick, they don't always need a doctor so it is unfair to ask for evidence.

Poor attendance does not have a proven impact on attainment.

There is a correlation,

That is not the same thing.

If she's having the equivalent of a day off a fortnight with digestive illnesses, perhaps she does need to see a GP. She may have IBS or similar.

Equally if she is getting every bug going, then she may have a vitamin deficiency or another issue weakening her immune system.

If she hasn't seen the doctor at all, I would take her because most teenagers aren't unwell this often and there may be an underlying cause which can be improved. It also shows the school you're taking this seriously.

That's the equivalent of her attendance though, 90% attendance is the equivalent of missing a day every fortnight. So she is actually missing slightly more than this.

I get what you mean by the equivalent. But it just makes it sounds like she's having every other Thursday of or something. Also as i said in other posts. Some of that percentage I have already ready given evidence for.

My doctors printed a letter for my son last year and was reluctant to do so, said under no circumstances am I allowed the school to have the letter or make a copy of it as it's a breech in GDPR as will have my sons medical information on it. They can read it but not keep it.
I recently took my daughter to the doctors who refused to write a letter at the schools request. Said they would normally charge for one IF she was happy to do one and they would charge the school not me as it's not me requesting it. As a back up those she did text a a brief report of what happened during the appointment that the teacher accepted as a note so maybe see if that is possible?

She needs to take the medication for a few months.

If the cause is like quite a few other women then may not work anyway or cause bad side effects. (Putting on weight is excluded unless she eats everything in the house.)

However if she doesn't take the medication then she can't go back to the GP and say it doesn't work so she can try something else.

Authorised or not though it’s still a lot of school to miss.

you seem to be missing that key fact. Are you working with school to help improve things? Are you working with her and the GP to tackle the issues, she has meds to take so she needs to play her part in trying to solve the issue.

So for example this research study seems to show that if you miss 1 day of education at age 10 you are o.24 of a percentage point more likely to get no qualifications in leaving school.

This would seem to imply you should send your child in whether they are ill or not but we all know the children can be too ill to learn.

So in practice even the education system itself says that children should stay at home in some circumstances (highly contagious diseases, serious illnesses like cancer etc) because in these situations either the kid will pass it on to others and knock out their learning or is fundamentally too ill to be in school.

Sorry, study

https://pure.strath.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/155044825/DrageretallEdArXiv20233Thelonggtermconsequencessofearlyyschoolabsencessforeducationall_attainment.pdf

Her attendance is very low. I agree with not wasting NHS time, but would it be worth talking to your GP anyway about why she is so unhealthy?

Her poor immunity could be the symptom of some sort of underlying condition that might need to be addressed? Or she might be deficient in something? I don't think it's typical for a healthy child to be sick so frequently so I would want to get it checked out, personally.