Are we losing the plot re: attendance?

[BlueySchmooey]

Are we losing the plot re: attendance?

https://x.com/catinthehat/status/1840399910769672198?s=46&t=G9BWOZlYGPa11_pR7aKkbHQ

Poster is from this school:

https://www.castleview.essex.sch.uk/Pastoral___Wellbeing/Attendance/
.

Looks like this school use it https://www.castleview.essex.sch.uk/Pastoral___Wellbeing/Attendance/

The irony of it being under Wellbeing.

Can I just point out that this a Govt directive. Schools have to follow their directives - they don't have a choice.

No gov directive forces a school to use such an awful poster with phrases like "you are officially not terrible" "if you're happy with the bare minimum, accept some congratulations" and worst of all "I thought you were better than that".

That poster can absolutely fuck off. My DD has 100% attendance through pure luck. Luck she's not had an appointment to attend, luck she hasn't caught a bug, luck she doesn't have any long term conditions or disabilities, luck that her grandmother's funeral wasn't in term time. Yes, some parents don't care enough about their child's education - but as far as the child goes, that's luck as well.

No fines here in Scotland but we share the high absenteeism post lockdown as England. Teen mental health here is in crisis.

Do you mean that that thing the Op linked to isn't a spoof, joke post ?

is that seriously the sort of stuff they have in schools nowadays ? I honestly thought it was some sort of satire

You have my empathy. “A life stalled…” Yes. People who haven’t lived it cannot understand the depth of distress it causes. Easier to gaslight and blame parents, because if the root of the problem was uncovered, it would mean change, complete overhaul, money , resources etc.

They'll never catch up their colouring!!!

I suppose the answer is just to lie, same as it has been since they bought all this nonsense in.

Why do people need things sugar coated? This link was actually blurred incase a fully grown adult was upset by it!

My ds had 8 days off last year. Received a letter “warning” me to ensure he didn’t miss anymore days. I threw it away and carried on as normal. My dd receive an award for 100% attendance. She was over the moon.

If any of my children suffered being in a classroom to the point they couldn’t go to school. I’d home school them.

Last year, we drove to school with public service announcements on the radio, telling parents to send their children to school if not very sick.

This is what causes my child to be off I’ll. one of his class was very prone to tonsillitis, and therefore, everyone got it too, it’s a` staphylococcus infection!

If your child is ill, keep them off school.

That Essex school even gives prizes for attendance over 97%. I'm a teacher of the deaf. Our children have audiology appointments twice a year in many cases, plus extras if things go wrong with the aids, the moulds, they get an ear infection or settings need changing. They have no chance of getting a prize, and that's without any actual illnesses or accidents.

Oh and automatic detention if they're late to school. Let's hope there's no accidents or hold ups on the road. My DC were sometimes late because the school bus was late!

Horrific. I wonder whether the proofreader had 100% attendance…. 🤦🏻‍♀️

A kid at my DC's primary was crying and begging not to go in the other day, saying he didn't feel well. I really felt for him as the teacher marched him in. He then threw up all over the row of kids in front of him in assembly.
If they're not well, they're not well.

No it doesn't. They are just choosing not to.

I have an autistic child who struggles with school. We've had periods of EBSA and I agree with @CherryBlossom321 nobody can understand the despair you feel unless you've experienced it.

Past few years DC has been averaging about 90% by the end of each academic year and that's a HUGE bloody achievement in our eyes. Yet school still moans about his attendance all whilst offering little to no support. Nor do they see the Sunday blues, or his morning anxiety which means he's rarely able to eat breakfast, (lunch too most days). Or the post school dysregulation which means he needs to hide under his duvet for hours, or the frustration taken out on his siblings and I. Or the burnout by the end of each academic year where it takes him all summer to recover from only to start the cycle again come September. I could go on.

Instead of receiving empathy and support, on the final parents meeting we're handed a red warning letter as we enter the school snd sign in (green is excellent attendance, yellow is average). I believe it is given very publicly by the attendance officer in order to show everyone else that this childs attendance is poor as we carry it and make the walk of shame to DS's classroom.

Now we are going away in a few months which means being absent 4 days of school. He's 15 and never been abroad and I feel we all need this as a family. His struggles have taken a toll on my MH, on my other children and it's unfair to penalise us over this. But wouldn't surprise me if they issue a fine.

DS was marked unauthorised last year for vomiting because he'd already had "too many" absences due to emergency surgery and a flare of a chronic condtion that included in a 999 call to school at 9:15 one morning.

I fail to see how involving EWO could actually sort his health out. A&E did well but they're not miracle workers and it takes time to heal and time for medication to kick in.

The irony of claiming that 80% attendance is equivilent of missing x months of school... Like anyone gave a shit about the abandoned school year of 19/20 and the 2 months missing in 20/21 plus 10 days off when classmates had colds. School ignored his total disengagement and that he sobbed into my lap daily during our fruitless attempts to "learn" online and didn't even bother responding to my emails pleading for a place so he could be educated. As an extra layer of irony, just logging the computer on resulted in a 100% attendance award for the year despite learning fuck-all for months.

Then we get threatened over actual ill health. 🙄

The culture in the education system at the moment is appalling. I value education deeply, but it has really soured my relationship with the school- I used to volunteer to do things like reading and that motivation to do extra things to support the school was totally quenched by events since 2020.

Honestly I can't get too worked up about it. DD has a chronic health condition and is around 80% attendance. I am very low key about it. She catches up on work when feeling ok and is doing well. School.send us many demanding letters that I ignore.
I also make sure home is a bit boring when she is off. We have an absolute no screens during school hours (including travel time) policy. So she can read, sleep, draw, chat to me , bake but not ever watch, scroll or game. She has learnt to cook very well, reads loads, and has been creative. Also does her home work and extra catch up work. We are both happy with this.

Absolutely ridiculous to make children and their parents feel guilty for a genuine illness or other necessary absence (e.g. the bereavement mentioned by PP). I hugely value education, but this is insane. Illness is not truancy.

Oh that poor boy! It's absolute madness, it'd be workplace bullying if adults were treated that way at work 😔

Ok, I'll get no-one giving me "thanks" , but going to say it anyway....

Firstly, you're all blaming individual (your child's) schools for government (DoE) policy

To be clear, these current, strict, rules were tory legislation, although got enough support to go through parliament

Home schooling through covid was NOT your child's school's fault. It was horrible for more or less everyone. But it was doing the best everyone could.

There are SO MANY safeguarding red flags due to non attendance
Seriously. If you knew them, you'd get it. The middle-class parent who is just..... <insert reason here> is offended. Children are generally safer in school. They are.

Attendance dropped massively in covid. Understandably
It hasn't got back to pre covid levels.
The government sees those stats and has to "do something"
As a previous poster said... kids who turn up get better exam/test results. They do.

I hear you all on here. Your genuine stories.

I also see the posts about term time holidays on here. A lot.

And none of you see the dark side of non attendance.. the kid who doesn't come to school cos mum doesn't want them to see the bruises , the kid targeted for exploitation, the kid who's been up all night supporting with a long term ill relative.
We can help with all that shit if they come to school
So, yeah, schools don't like these new rules either.
And I'm sorry if you've had a shitty letter or phone call.

But the bottom line is, this is actually (personal stories aside) keeping children safe, and trying to give them better outcomes
And you'd be hard pressed to argue against that, wouldn't you.

Hate on me (or ignore this post and continue to rant) as you will

What a fucking disgraceful load of bollocks!! Totally devoid of empathy and understanding!

I am a teacher and I am fed up of no distinction being made between authorised and unauthorised absences when it comes to snotty attendance letters. My son had 6 days off school with pneumonia and literally the first day back came home with an attendance letter. The attendance officer has been avoiding me in the playground following my rather clear email about the matter...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/5176627-term-time-school-holidays

Just sayin'

@Sometimeswinning I blurred the attached image as a previous poster had mentioned they didn't want to see it.

As a parent whose autistic DC1(14) has struggled with all aspects of school to the point of currently not attending at all, and years of parent-blaming, negotiatong failure to provide support as directed in EHCP, unannounced doorstepping by local authority, coerced parenting courses, and literally thousands of hours (and £££) spent wrangling trying to uphold the most basic provision in a cash-strapped system, I understand when a fellow parent of a child with a history of low attendance feels like a poster such as the one in question will feel like too much. Unless you've lived it, I think it's probably hard to fathom just how desperate things can feel and how it permeates every aspect of your life.

Sure, I've had an attendance letter for DC2 when attendance dipped below 97% due to a bout of tonsillitis and it didn't bother me. But try having a stranger on the doorstep telling your autistic child who is too anxious to attend school due to failure to follow an EHCP, that their mum will be fined because of it, and summoned to court and sentenced to prison if they don't shape up. These are things that parents of children whose SEN or poor mental health is a barrier to attendance are subjected to every day, and the reason why many are burnt out and can feel really sensitive to some content. It's not about needing things sugar-coated, but a kind of battle-weary advocacy fatigue and overwhelm.

@Sometimeswinning I blurred the attached image as a previous poster had mentioned they didn't want to see it.

As a parent whose autistic DC1(14) has struggled with all aspects of school to the point of currently not attending at all, and years of parent-blaming, negotiatong failure to provide support as directed in EHCP, unannounced doorstepping by local authority, coerced parenting courses, and literally thousands of hours (and £££) spent wrangling trying to uphold the most basic provision in a cash-strapped system, I understand when a fellow parent of a child with a history of low attendance feels like a poster such as the one in question will feel like too much. Unless you've lived it, I think it's probably hard to fathom just how desperate things can feel and how it permeates every aspect of your life.

Sure, I've had an attendance letter for DC2 when attendance dipped below 97% due to a bout of tonsillitis and it didn't bother me. But try having a stranger on the doorstep telling your autistic child who is too anxious to attend school due to failure to follow an EHCP, that their mum will be fined because of it, and summoned to court and sentenced to prison if they don't shape up. These are things that parents of children whose SEN or poor mental health is a barrier to attendance are subjected to every day, and the reason why many are burnt out and can feel really sensitive to some content. It's not about needing things sugar-coated, but a kind of battle-weary advocacy fatigue and overwhelm.

None of that justifies unwell children being put under pressure to come into school when it will be detrimental to their well being and that of their classmates.

(And I work in safeguarding)

Yep. See this constantly on Mumsnet. As a Scottish person, it baffles me every time. Cannot wrap my head around the English attitude to school attendance.