School asking for medical evidence.

[Sickdayz]

Dd was sick at school on Monday. 3 different members of staff know she was sick they did not send her home told her to sit on the chair near office. So she's not been to school since then. She's been vomiting could not keep water or food down. She's now OK with water. But can't keep food down still. She's had a temp and sleeping alot. But that's got less .so she is going in the right direction. I have not taken her to the gp because I don't take my children to the gp over bugs /sickness for something that needs paracetamol a bucket and rest . I have also contacted the gp in the past and he's told me the school should not be asking for evidence and he was pretty angry

The school has send me this .(copy and paste)

Thank you for notifying us regarding your child's absence today.
Please note that I will require supporting evidence for this absence. The absence will be logged as unauthorised if supporting evidence is not received. Some examples of evidence that will be accepted are copies of: Prescriptions, Appointment/Consultation Notes, Doctor’s Notes, Hospital Letters. Please kindly send over any medical evidence you may have or can obtain.

I feel tempted to send the school a picture of dd sick .

Tell them your GP doesnt exist to manage their absence policy and people are -in general- encouraged to manage minor self limiting viral illnesses at home.

No.

As long as you don't send them a sample of it.

So Many headteachers seem to be unaware of the actual legal requirements, not just about this, but anything.

as an ex teacher yes to sending in a picture of vomit as its the only medical evidence that you will be able to get.
and yes to a letter saying that a medical letter is wasting the Drs time.

Yes, send them a bloody picture of the sick. Then tell them you are her parent and if you are telling them she is poorly, then she is bloody well poorly!!!

48 hours vomit free has always been the rule at my DC school

I imagine it's an automatic email that's sent out

Just write back and say you are following school policy of a 48h exclusion period after vomiting and will not take DC to GP. It is probably sent out automatically tbh.

When my son was at the same school. They told me secondary dint do the 48hr absence after sickness

Definitely send them a picture.

Dd has long-term ongoing health problems so I'm regularly in the doghouse about her attendance.

Their latest trick when she becomes ill at school is to keep her in reception until 1.01pm, sign the register for the afternoon then send her home sick, to please the ofsted gods. Fucking nonsense. I'm counting the months until she leaves.

I sent them an email with a pic of the sick. But put that it's a sensitive image. And also the gp link that was posted up thread.

"Thank you for your email. I do not consent to sharing my child's personal and private medical information. I will inform you of when my child is next fit to return to school."

Your child has a right to dignity. Sharing their health issues with every single update is not appropriate and gives unnecessary information to total strangers.

Continue to ignore the theory of unauthorised. The power has absolutely gone to their heads.

That’s what I would have done.
And I know many other parents have done before.

What else are you suppose to do??

My GP doesn’t want to see vomit kids.

Write a request to GP online portal. Say school is asking for Dr note about vomit bug & you didn’t bring child in. Name school & ask Can they offer advice?

I can't use the portal because I need I'd to use it. Which I don't have . I did ask for a GP call back once though. I told him why. And he was pissed

I'm this close to sending this to DD's school over something similar:

She is worried that she’ll be in trouble, as tutor groups are apparently being told that they need a doctor’s note if they’re ill. Obviously adults know that getting a doctor’s appointment let alone a note is not appropriate for her type of illness and many other situations where young people are not well enough to attend school. I’d appreciate it if this kind of misinformation, which young people have no control over and don’t understand, does not form the basis of conversations about wellbeing.

I wonder what there response will be to the photo? Some schools are just ridiculous.

We are in Wales. My DD was off Sick today with Impetigo. Left the message on the school answer machine this morning(this is the normal protocol) and that'll be it, no more will be said. I won't need to show them that she went to the docs and got cream for it. They take our word for it.

Dear overreaching attendance officer

Thank you for your email.

According to the document 'Working together to improve attendance' medical evidence should not be required in this case. (see below)

62. Medical evidence for recording absences should only be needed in a minority of cases (see Code I). Where a pupil’s health need means they need reasonable adjustments or support because it is complex or long term, schools can seek medical evidence to better understand the needs of the pupil and identify the most suitable provision

The document above emphasises the need to build positive relationships with parents. Your request for unnecessary medical evidence was couched in terms that caused distress and seemed to deny my personal responsibility as a parent to make the decision on whether my child is well enough to attend school.

Kind regards

Irritated parent

Most GPs are clear - they will not provide letters for this purpose and schools have been made aware of this.

Thank you . I will use that one if they reply and are still asking.

Can you send in a bag of sick? I’d be tempted.

I've sent a photo of vomit and diarea when asked for proof.
My dc had 100% attendance prior so wasn't as if they were regularly off.
I had a reply saying it wasn't necessary , I simply replied they were the one who wanted evidence, I wasn't going to take dc to the doctors for d&v as wasn't necessary so what proof was there to give.
I continued each day to send the proof.

Funnily enough when my other dc caught it they didn't ask for evidence

This point is also relevant :

365. Schools are not expected to routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness absences. Schools should only request reasonable medical evidence in cases where they need clarification to accurately record absence in the attendance register – i.e. making a decision that code I is the absence code that accurately describes the reason the pupil is not in school for the session in question. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend school will be that evidence and can be accepted without question or concern. Only where the school has genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence.

That is awful!

You can't send bodily fluids by post except in biohazard bag however you can arrange to have a face-to-face meeting and bring a sample with you.

Take pictures of the sick. Take a video of the back of your child’s head while they’re being sick. Double bag a sample of the sick. Ask them if they wish one, two or three pieces of evidence?
Also, look at your medical centre website for their policy on sickness certificates and send them a copy (ie you self certify for the first week or something like that).
FFS, this stuff gives me the rage.
I hope your child is feeling better now (which is all that anyone should bloody well care about) 😤

Given it was 6 months ago ...