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

Exactly. Schools aren't chasing up poor attendance for fun. They are fulfilling their duty of care for the child.

Persistent absence can be down to the fact that a child is just unusually sickly, but it can also be an indicator for other issues, such as abuse. It is entirely right that they should check.

I'd agree if there was a streamlined protocol for schools and parents to follow. But parents can get stuck between schools who demand evidence and medical professionals who refuse to spend time giving evidence.

Parents are told not to take their children to school when they suffer D&V. Then doctors say that D&V isn't a reason to visit a doctor. Meanwhile, schools ask for evidence of a GP visit.

For those children with Emotionally Based School Avoidance, the schools want evidence that CAMHS are involved, and CAMHS thresholds are now so high that even suicidal children are prioritised by how suicidal they may be.

What are parents to do?

I tried to ring GP this morning. I was on hold for around 20 mins and got cut off I called again and was on hold for 1hr amd 10 mins .I had to hang up in the end. Not much I can do . I will send school an email just thinking what to say.

What kind of trouble could you possibly get into? They're not YOUR teachers.

As someone above says it could mess up any positive relationship with the school. It could get their backs up. I have never had a fine. It could push them to heading that way.

I did send them am email just a moment ago though. One of the things I said short of sending you a picture of her vomit I'm not sure what i cam do.

School never replied to my email

Lougle
I don't disagree with you and there's a huge problem getting support for children with EBSA and CAMHS access.

With S&D is that most schools won't routinely ask for medical evidence, because the guidance rightly says there's no need to routinely request evidence, so a couple of absences with vomiting is unlikely to be an issue for most families. If a pupil is unfortunately unwell a couple of times in the autumn term, their attendance might drop below a threshold but if the overall picture is reliable attendance then few attendance leads are going to do much about it. In these situations good attendance in the spring term works things out over time.

The problem arises when someone has persistent absences and then they have an instance of S&D. The school probably wouldn't ask for medical evidence if the child's attendance was otherwise good, but if there's a history of absences then school might ask for evidence.

Flossy1989
I'd not be expecting a same day reply. Staff will have teaching/pastoral/multi-agency commitments/other appointments with parents. They're not spending all day sitting waiting for emails.

I am one of those people.

I have an undergraduate degree in economics and an undergraduate degree in mathematics.

One of the things I learnt was that correlation is not causation.

I thought it would be from admin or school attendance team . It's not overly important not like im going anywhere.

Just for example if dd had say 10 days of . I have given medical evidence for say 7of them days . Sure they should not be asking for medical evidence for the other 3 days? As I say this is an example...

I have asked the school to send me the days that have been authorised and the days that have not . So I can work it out more clearly.

The issue is the amount of absences, not just says but periods of absence are raising concerns with the school.

the question your constantly ignoring is what are you doing to tackle the issues leading to her being off so much?

Do you have any suggestions ?

Move to Scotland. None of this ridiculousness. Jesus. Stop bowing down to this madness. Why on earth does anyone allow a school to dictate how they parent. I’d go straight above their heads to governors. I’d kick up a stink.
her attendance is fine, you don’t need to work with the school to get her in, you need to continue what you are doing and take care of her when she is sick.

Is is definitely a stomach bug or has she only been sick a couple of times? When I was a teen I used to throw up from bad period pain until I upgraded paracetamol to ibuprofen. Period diarrhoea is also a thing too.

As for medical evidence, I work in a school and we are happy to accept e-consult emails, photos of prescription medicine, and "proof of attendance" forms from the receptionist at our local urgent care. Can you do an e-consult asking for advice on the period issues?

With the stomach bug. I think it was an actual bug. I don't think it was linked to her period as she was not due on.

The medical evidence only works. If you actually see/talk to someone though. There's no reason for keeping to contact a gp over a bug or simlar things. I'm just wasting GP time. I tried to contact GP today i think I was on the phone for 90 mins and never got through I called because of the email I had from school.

Well for a start work with her so she takes prescribed medication to help.

talk to the school, meet with them with her to discuss her health issues and how she can be supported.

work with school not against them.

I’d ask for a full print out of your daughter’s abscence record. Whether it’s authorised or not doesn’t matter. Your daughter is having a significant amount of time of due to illness - are you not worried about that?

Look at the data and see if there are any patterns you can discern. Is it hormonal? Why is she experiencing so much sickness and diarrhoea? You need to look into her health, this is not normal. She’s at high school not nursery why is having so many bouts of stomach bugs? Is she not washing her hands properly or frequently?

Honestly you seem to be fixatated on the wrong points - the school is worried about your daughter’s sickness record are you not?

So force her to take something that she's worried about that will make her out on weight? One of the biggest things teens worry about? Also she's only ever had 2 days due to her period.

My Daughters school is exactly the Sam's,she does lose quite a bit of school in winter due to asthma complications and wanting medical evidence all the time is just ridiculous.

You are the one that said that was the issue.

if that’s not the problem something else is. For a child without underlying medical conditions her attendance is low. You can surely see why school are concerned? Surely your also concerned?

Teenagers shouldn't worry about putting on weight

They do though

I'm not going to reply anymore I feel like your just playing games with me
Maybe im wrong but it comes across like that . So I'm stepping away from your replies.

I'd separately really go after the school for closing the toilets, which is disability and sex discrimination under the EA 2010, and further point out that their breach of the EA is now putting you at risk of fines, according to their own communications.

Frankly I'm hugely surprised these schools closing their loos aren't already seeing a significant corresponding reduction in girls' attendance records. I recall at school in the late 90s/early 00s fundraising for loos in Africa, to enable girls there to receive a full education. It isn't rocket science to figure that teenage girls on their period are unlikely to easily go 7+ hours without access to the toilet. I have heavy periods, flood and did from my first first period. If I couldn't go quickly between lessons, I would have leaked and subsequently avoided school on the first 3 days of each period.

OP, politely quote the guidance already shared and ask for their reasons as to why they think you're deceiving them. I would also ask for their Privacy Policy and details of retention of any information you do send, since medical data is sensitive personal data under the UK GDPR and they had better be on top of their obligations.

Don't be afraid of kicking up a bit of a fuss, as they are not afraid of upsetting you. Rather flies in the face of engaging (rather than alientating) parents as per Ofsted requirements ...

I thought it would be from admin or school attendance team . It's not overly important not like im going anywhere
Dealing with specific cases of persistent absenteeism wouldn't be something that's dealt with by admin where I've worked. Our admin staff would deal with phonecalls on the morning but wouldn't do parental follow ups.

In my experience the staff with attendance in their role have other parts of their job and I've also known schools have someone whose primary role is attendance, but that's usually where there's a whole school need for such a role. In those circumstances they're often a busy member of the pastoral team because to respond to attendance issues is quite complex.

I'd give it 2-3 working days and then follow up.

Can't stand when people come on and say this. It's not "extremely" low. Extremely low would be 50%.

My son's has been lower than this before. All due to genuine illness which he was far too ill to attend school with. Illnesses he caught AT school.