Why would school refuse a call and insist on a meeting

[Insistingonit]

My dd is in year 5. Attendance hasn’t been good due to frequent illness. Once she got to 90% the school insisted on a GP appt to verify Illness each time which we did. We already supply the appt letters for appts in school time.

She is now at 88% . We have continued to provide proof of illness. They are insisting on speaking to us we agreed and said we will arrange a phone or video call. They said it has to be in person. Why? We are happy to discuss but don’t see the difference?

Ridiculous demands from senior management are also a big issue, along with endless meetings, long hours and marking, but the tales I hear from teacher friends and incidents that happened when my DD was at school would try anyone's patience to the limit - 'Could you keep a special eye on my (15 year-old) child because they had a bad night's sleep?'; 'No, I won't collect my 11-year old and take him home because he lay down on a zebra crossing and blocked the traffic in a Peak District village because I've paid '.

What a sorry state of affairs our education system has become.

Get rid of these ridiculous attendance figures, they are meaningless. With the huge issue of EBSA currently, schools should be celebrating 88% attendance. If the government put even half as much effort into recruiting and retaining high quality teaching staff than they do with nonsense attendance stats, our education would be a much better place.

There's also ridiculous demands from government agencies of course. Like "doing something" about attendance even when they know full well why this particular child has been absent and that she's well on top of academics. Resulting in generating resentment from families who are already at the end of their tether with the number of bugs coming home from school. Maybe due to school pressuring other ill children to not stay home, due to the pressure put on them to improve attendance stats...

I completely agree with all of this. The ‘rules’ around this sort of thing are bureaucratic in nature and there is no common sense.

The same thing happened to my dd when she was at senior school, even 8 years ago. School sent her home for vomiting. Then wanted proof of why she was at home. Effing ridiculous.

Nobody can tell me that these stupid rules exist for the good of the children involved - they are box-ticking exercises of a nanny state.

The meeting is for us (parents) only dd would not be there

That is not a normal level of illness to have had in one school year when it's only just March!! Most kids would probably only have had 1 bout of illness in that time that would actually have required a day or two off school. They might have had a couple of coughs/colds on top that didn't actually involve missing school.

No way did a doctor tell you that it's total normal to have had multiple infections like tonsillitis, ear infections and sinus infections since sept!!

Did your DD require antibiotics for each of these infections as that's an awful lot of antibiotics to have taken in just a few months.

Over the whole year, an 88% attendance means missing something like 21 days of school, that's not a small number it's absolutely loads.

That is exactly what the GP said ! I had to push to be referred for blood tests.

For the tonsillitis and ear and sinus infections yes she needed antibiotics.

It's March though so 88% isn't over a whole school year.

The problem the school may face is that their policy may say that if attendance drops below 90% a f2f meeting is held with the parents. If they don’t do that, if it turns out there was a major safeguarding issue they will be found to be at fault (to be clear I am not saying there is a safeguarding issue in the OPs case).

The problem the school may face is that their policy may say that if attendance drops below 90% a f2f meeting is held with the parents.

If that's their policy then surely they need to accommodate the parent' they wish to see?

they even wanted verification for 2 of the d and v episodes ones she was sent home after vomiting

I'd be tempted to send in a really gross photo of the vomit.

Complain to the governors. They sound ableist

I agree with this lady - I am a very senior Mental Health Nurse- the OP’s responses & attitude to this would raise red flags & I would also be involving Social services if they didn’t attend in person

Why can't you compromise - have a short f2f meeting at drop off or pick up time so it's very little time off work, if any.

Schools do their best to safeguard kids with no resource and confrontational parents who think the rules should only apply to everyone else.

They have safeguarding in place for all pupils and they become meaningless when they make exceptions.

Go in, have the meeting, get on with your day.

They’re entitled to request a f2f meeting, you’re entitled to refuse. In your situation, if I had to take time off work, I’d refuse and tell them I’m available for Zoom or on pick up. There’s no reason they can’t have this meeting at a time that is convenient for you. Pointing out that you yourself will have an absence issue with your own employer if you take any more time off.
People on here need to calm down, it’s not that unusual to have a bad run of bugs/illness. Chicken pox alone is usually 1-2 weeks off. D&V is a minimum of 3 due to the 48 hr rule. Tonsillitis is nasty and can easily be a week.
You’ve Been more than responsible by engaging this far and providing drs notes. I wouldn’t be prepared to provide any more drs notes for things that you wouldn’t usually see a dr for. It is what is is, children are unwell. I say this as the wife of a head teacher and ex school governor. Zoom mtgs/in-person at a time if your convenience is more then adequate. They’re welcome to do a home visit when she’s next ill. In fact, I think I’d insist on it if they’re going to be difficult.

They’re entitled to request a f2f meeting, you’re entitled to refuse. In your situation, if I had to take time off work, I’d refuse and tell them I’m available for Zoom or on pick up. There’s no reason they can’t have this meeting at a time that is convenient for you. Pointing out that you yourself will have an absence issue with your own employer if you take any more time off.
People on here need to calm down, it’s not that unusual to have a bad run of bugs/illness. Chicken pox alone is usually 1-2 weeks off. D&V is a minimum of 3 due to the 48 hr rule. Tonsillitis is nasty and can easily be a week.
You’ve Been more than responsible by engaging this far and providing drs notes. I wouldn’t be prepared to provide any more drs notes for things that you wouldn’t usually see a dr for. It is what is is, children are unwell. I say this as the wife of a head teacher and ex school governor. Zoom mtgs/in-person at a time if your convenience is more then adequate. They’re welcome to do a home visit when she’s next ill. In fact, I think I’d insist on it if they’re going to be difficult.

They’re entitled to request a f2f meeting, you’re entitled to refuse. In your situation, if I had to take time off work, I’d refuse and tell them I’m available for Zoom or on pick up. There’s no reason they can’t have this meeting at a time that is convenient for you. Pointing out that you yourself will have an absence issue with your own employer if you take any more time off.
People on here need to calm down, it’s not that unusual to have a bad run of bugs/illness. Chicken pox alone is usually 1-2 weeks off. D&V is a minimum of 3 due to the 48 hr rule. Tonsillitis is nasty and can easily be a week.
You’ve Been more than responsible by engaging this far and providing drs notes. I wouldn’t be prepared to provide any more drs notes for things that you wouldn’t usually see a dr for. It is what is is, children are unwell. I say this as the wife of a head teacher and ex school governor. Zoom mtgs/in-person at a time if your convenience is more then adequate. They’re welcome to do a home visit when she’s next ill. In fact, I think I’d insist on it if they’re going to be difficult.

They’re entitled to request a f2f meeting, you’re entitled to refuse. In your situation, if I had to take time off work, I’d refuse and tell them I’m available for Zoom or on pick up. There’s no reason they can’t have this meeting at a time that is convenient for you. Pointing out that you yourself will have an absence issue with your own employer if you take any more time off.
People on here need to calm down, it’s not that unusual to have a bad run of bugs/illness. Chicken pox alone is usually 1-2 weeks off. D&V is a minimum of 3 due to the 48 hr rule. Tonsillitis is nasty and can easily be a week.
You’ve Been more than responsible by engaging this far and providing drs notes. I wouldn’t be prepared to provide any more drs notes for things that you wouldn’t usually see a dr for. It is what is is, children are unwell. I say this as the wife of a head teacher and ex school governor. Zoom mtgs/in-person at a time if your convenience is more then adequate. They’re welcome to do a home visit when she’s next ill. In fact, I think I’d insist on it if they’re going to be difficult.

I’d say you’re happy to meet but would prefer online. I work in a school and we would be happy doing this. They do have to address low attendance so need to meet with you, we would be doing so in a supportive capacity. You’re doing everything they ask regarding evidence of appointments and as there is still a fair chunk of the school year left, hopefully attendance will pick up so it is higher by the end of the year. Engage, but in my view an online meeting is fine especially as you pick up and drop off each day. But if not, and they insist, try and do it just before pick up or after drop off if you can so you don’t have to take much time off.

Why though ? They asked for proof and I’ve submitted that - what more can we do and how can a meeting in person change the outcomes when the cause is beyond our control?

Lots of people have given ideas on why. We won’t know until you attend the meeting.

so what you going to do?

the thread is just going around in circles. You clearly don’t want to attend the meeting. So don’t. Job done. Then see what happens.

The issue with this is the reason for the OPs child's absence is completely out of their control as she has genuinely been unwell. No amount of either support or threatening legal action will stop a child from being poorly frequently. It's not as if they're just taking the P or struggling to get her into school or taking holidays. If a kid is ill, they're ill. I'm not really sure what schools expect parents to do about that.

The governors will support the school if the school is following its policy eg f2f meeting with parent if attendance drops below 90%

How rude. Sometimes children do get this amount of illnesses. I have 4 kids. It’s not every year but some years you can be that unlucky.