How many unauthorised absences can school fine for ?

[Quarterofacenturynow]

Dd has 85% due to health issues . She was off last week with a virus and high temperature (we didn’t need to see the gp) now the school are saying without a gp letter it is unacceptable and unauthorised and we will potentially get a fine . The previous week she had d and v at the weekend but had the mon and Tues off due to the 48 hr rule

It was 3 days off for virus. 48 hours off for d and v neither of which we saw the gp for. How many sessions is that and how many to qualify for a fine?

6 sessions missed in the first absence, 4 in the second.
It depends what your LA decide. Ours said it's at their discretion to issue fines for absences that are shorter than the threshold of 10 sessions.

So do they add them together to make the 10 sessions or is it just separate that both absence periods are under 10 sessions ? It’s just giving us so much added stress and pressure

Have GP to tell school NOT to ask for letters then child doesn't need medical attention just need to stay home.

No they don't add them together, unless I suppose she was off Wednesday to Friday of one week, then Monday and Tuesday the next?

No it wasn’t consecutive days so hopefully it will be ok

None of this should be unauthorised, it's crazy!
Does the school have a 48 rule for D&V? If not, in future just send them in.

There are new rules about 10 sessions that are non consecutive, not sure when they come into force.

We got an email from school before the September term started, setting out what the new rules were going to be for absence. Can you check back and see if you got something similar that might help reassure you, or if it's discretionary like ours is?

It isn't reasonable for them to fine for sickness at all.

I would worry less about counting the number of days and concentrate instead on fighting against the posting of this as unauthorised absence.

I can’t as there is a child in dd class with a compromised immune system and I just couldn’t have that on my conscience so stick to the 48hr rule

Unless they have proof they will not authorise anymore but dd has gynae issues (which they are aware of) and when she has her period she is in severe pain and even faints but we don’t need to see the gp every month she just needs the first 2 days off if they fall on a weekday. We are waiting for appt for a mirena under GA (dd also had ASD) they know this and know we are waiting and can’t get it sorted any quicker

If we go to the GP for cough cold, period issues , d and v I think they’d be quite annoyed at us wasting medical appts !

I’m confused as to what proof they would have wanted for d and v especially!!!

Schools annoy me so much with their attendance rules. It’s completely fair and fine that they can’t take holidays, but punishing for sickness is another level. They treat children like robots these days. My child gets unwell a lot (and had to have a stay in hospital at one point) Attendance was roughly the same as your child’s. We were told she was not allowed to have any sickness days for the rest of the year as we would be fined.

I'm sorry, it's totally shit that they've left you in this situation, but that's for the school to manage if they're going to fine you money over it. You can send your child in and notify the school. Maybe it will get them to rethink their batshit policy if they keep having to keep that child away from other children or other children away from that child.

Don't set yourself on fire to keep others warm.

It’s ridiculous isn’t it ! Do they think we can communicate with bacteria and viruses to be able to make sure our dc stay well??!!!!

Since the new rules came in in August, it’s 10 sessions missed (so five days) within a ten week period for us. Is yours the same?

Thankfully none here in central Scotland, seems so unfair your schools have the authority to fine for any of this. I agree with other comments on here saying push back against this kind of thing. I hope your child is doing ok.

Looks like it’s a nationwide thing actually.

Looking on the LA website yes that seems to be the case so this will give us 10 unauthorised so I am expecting maybe they will try to fine

It's now 10 sessions over a rolling 10 week period.

But I wouldn't be accepting this from the school, she's ill. I'd be having serious words.

I understand that totally.

I despair completely that it has come to this with schools.

We got this info from our school in September.
They do, however, authorise reasonable sickness absence.

You're only allowed 10 days off in 3 years.
I work in a school and it doesn't matter if it's consecutive....once the unauthorised days mount up then a fine will be given.

If they are saying you need a gp letter now it means they likely don't believe you or need proof cause without that then it's offstead who will come down on the school loke a ton of bricks. If you want to cover your tracks then the attendance officer will recommend photos as proof and they do recieve everything tou can think of from photos of sick, fever sticks...the lot.