Batshit attendance policies

[sunhasgotthis]

Hmmm WTAF?!

x.com/trumpetlill/status/1825815386085859379?s=46&t=G9BWOZlYGPa1_pR7aKkbHQ

Why is it batshit?

Oh ffs, it’s very clearly bat shit. I say that as both a school governor and a parent of two teens who get attendance awards most years.

i’m not opposed for home visits for persistent absenteeism but day 2 of illness for all illnesses is ridiculous. The whole tone is set based on an implied assumption that a majority of parents reporting their child sick will be lying.

Its utterly batshit. There is not a chance that I would be allowing a visiting officer on day 2 of a sickness.

A standard self certification/parental discretion period needs to apply.

Love to know what they'd do if you refuse to let them see the child! Stand on the doorstep looking confused and wondering what to do next probably.

I really, really hope a head teacher somewhere wrote that because they need to cover their arse dealing with a minority of families in very challenging circumstances. I hope they are not a despot expecting to need to use it for the average child.

The list of illnesses and the time off is ridiculous. They are not doctors and this is going too far in my view. I am sure many parents would refuse to answer the door!

What's the legal position around school staff making home visits - I thought even social workers needed police to attend if entering a home without consent?

The whole approach is dreadful.

It says home visit on day two for every family.

Call the police and request a welfare check would be my guess.

Call the police and request a welfare check would be my guess.

They'd be lucky if the police made it out before the child was back at school anyway 😆

'All UK bats feed on insects, so their droppings are made up of dried insect remains. Bat droppings can sometimes be mistaken for mouse droppings but unlike mouse droppings they do not contain any moisture and therefore will crumble easily (and look slightly sparkly when crumbled).'

(They also taste a bit more acidic.)

NHS guidelines have alway been to remain off work for 48 hours after last episode of D&V so I would be sticking to that. Getting kids back in a crowded environment 24 hours earlier as a box tick exercise will ensure D&V will spread like wildfire through classes and actually worsen the attendance statistics

The police don't have time to follow up on time wasting like this.

It isn't a welfare check, the school has no reason to assume the child is at risk if with a parent.

There's simply no welfare justification.

Those exclusion periods aren't even right - chickenpox 5 days? Chickenpox is until the spots have crusted over. I appreciate that that is often about 5 days, but my youngest was still getting new spots at day 5.

It cannot be the most efficient use of the already stretched time the staff have to be visiting all children on day 2 of an absence.

Those poor staff are going to be off sick more than any other staff after visiting all the sick children. What a ridiculous policy.

Most parents keep their child off when they are sick, most of us don't want the kids home for longer as it effects work etc....... you can see why more and more people are home schooling though with this and uniform policies. It is absurd.

Agreed. 24 hours with young children who probably aren't the most fastidious hand washers is just asking for it to be spread around more, and have more kids off in the long run.

The petty fucker in me would want to do it and hope all the staff catch it. I wouldn't do it due to vulnerable people, but I would like to.

I am not sure that many GPs will have the time or be willing to provide proof of the second day of a temperature or covid . I can’t even make an appointment for my son within 2 weeks . I am a teacher and find this policy crazy . A teacher does not have the right to pop around and demand to see your child on day 2 of an illness . How many visiting teachers will they need ? I certainly would not be letting them in .

Is this just one ‘rule happy’ school? Not across the board surely? I don’t agree with keeping children off school for no good reason but if my children are genuinely sick and a member of the school showed up at my door I would be irritated, patronised and feel under suspicion. I wouldn’t let them in.

This.

This policy has gone viral on Facebook and people are going to contact the school to ask why they are going against NHS guidance.

Also if someone came to my house on day 2 no one can make me open the door or show them the child.

We had about 10 kids off in reception at one point last year. They would never have the capabilities to do it.

A lot of seems to be unenforceable rubbish. School staff can't demand access to your home or to see your child. They will have an attendance team who do the visits but parents don't have to allow them in the house.

They can ask you for evidence of illness but that evidence could surely be a photo of a thermometer or a receipt for paracetamol. It doesn't say the evidence has to be a doctors note.

And then at the bottom there's a bit about trying to arrange hospital appointments so that the child can come in, be marked present at registration, and then go.

So they don't actually care at all whether the child is in school learning or not. Just that the boxes have been ticked.

This is a massive overreach on the part of the school.

They are only responsible for the child when they are in their environs.

Otherwise the parent is responsible for all aspects of their child's life - including education (they choose to delegate this to the school)

I would absolutely refuse to co-operate with any of this and would be happy to see them in court if it took that.

They are assuming parents are liars, which is not a great way to get parents on board.

It is up to the parents to make the decision of whether a child is well enough for school or not.

If the school has serious concerns about the child they can contact social services and they can take if from there.

I would be contacting the school immediately and letting them know this - but my children's schools soon figured out that I would not tolerate any of this nonsense and that I made the decisions about my children's health - they do not have any rights to be given medical information unless it is necessary for the safety of the children in school (public health type issues) or if I deem it useful.

We have a similar policy at my school. The reality is that for a very small percentage of children who are off ‘sick’, they’ll have been kept off because they have injuries which need to be hidden. Hence why the child needs to be seen. If a child is genuinely ill that’s fine, but sadly there are some children where that isn’t the case.