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?

Blimey! Most of us would be outraged if the school went straight to social services in this type of situation without even trying to support the family first. But I guess it takes all sorts!

I dont understand why you want to fight the school. Just go for the meeting. Your child has SATs next year then moves onto high school. Dont fall out with them over something that is simply protocol, attendance guidelines are set by governments not the school. Ofsted will query low attendance and 88% is very low. They need to show not only evidence but a plan of improving this attendance.

Surely you can see if she continues to miss so much over illness she will be missing a big proportion of her education? It doesnt matter whose "fault" it is the fact remains shes missed a lot. Great shes not behind yet but she might be if it carries on.
Have you tried Sambucol and other vitamins etc to boost her immune system? And checked her water bottles for mould? That can make kids sick.
Unusual for a child in y5 to have such poor immunity assuming shes been at that school since reception. Has rest of house been ill/younger siblings etc?

That sounds very patronising @OneShyQuail
You really should read the thread.

Did your attendance ever drop to 88%?

Don’t you think a more reasonable and effective way of gauging the situation would be for a member of staff to do a home visit when the child is sick?

Don’t you trust the word of a doctor?

I understand it may be frustrating or difficult to go to the school for a meeting in person but this is life as a working parent. Nothing is ever going to be perfectly slotted around your job when you have kids.
I am an employer and if one of my staff came to me and said this I’d encourage them to engage with the school, assure them there’s no underlying issues and this is just shit luck in the health lottery this term!

No. The work I did in the office and the work I did at home always exceeded the number of contracted hours. However, the time I spent in the office would have shown an attendance of below 88% some weeks.

I’m a teacher and the fact you don’t want to go in gives me a concern.

A concern about what?

It's a punishment, OP. The school are trying to insist on a meeting so that it costs you more to have your DC off school and you'll be more reluctant to keep her off.

They cannot insist on it and they cannot insist on a doctors note for every bout of illness, even after going below 10%. I'm surprised the Dr. is prepared to do that, mine kicked up a fuss and wrote to the school saying it was an abuse of the NHS when our school tried to implement a no sickness without a Dr.'s note rule.

If you don't jump through hoops they may refuse to authorise sickness and you'll end up in court - which would be stressful and costly itself, so it may be prudent to play ball as much as you can. But I share your anger at the school policies here. They aren't in your DD's best interests.

But it’s not have 1 day off per fortnight
It’s having chickenpox and d&V which the school sent her home having witnessed one episode (that by your statistics equates to a months absence) and other illnesses.
All have been verified by a medical professional

Exactly what is a geography/history/English teacher or Head teacher going to do at this meeting to ensure that dd isn’t ill again?

What exactly is the reason behind the meeting because I have no idea what they are going to say about any of this or what is going to change what has been and gone.

Threatening SS quite frankly is a ridiculous waste of everyone’s time. I imagine SS have enough to worry about then adding that they need to do a home visit or just a phone call to a couple of working parents who have a dd who has had a string of medically verified illnesses and is seen by medical professionals who are trying to find out the reason why. And the only reason why the school has referred them is because parents are trying to save their jobs and want to engage via FaceTime.
The parents turn up each day to the school. The dd turns up each day to the school so why the need for a F2F rather than FaceTime

Fair point, but how are they supporting the family by dragging parents out of work who have already missed enough work time due to their child"s illness?

So you have no experience of this.
No experience of the pressure felt by employees who don’t have the option to work from home.
You can just take time off without a care in the world yet think it’s reasonable for you to cast judgement on those who can’t?

What medical professional would ask OP to come in and discuss how much time her DD has had off school?
If 88% isnt enough to trigger a F2f meeting, what level do you think should be? Average two days a week still 'bad luck'?
I do think school would be failing in their duty of care if they didnt question this.

I'm sparing a thought for over-worked teachers and heads having to deal with bolshy know-it-all parents, one of the multiple reasons teacher retention is so poor and recruiting head teachers is so difficult. Social workers have unmanageably large caseloads so it makes sense for schools to take on the initial stages if the safeguarding role.

I"m pretty sure the courts are busy enough without this nonsense, just tell the school it is FaceTime or no time and let them do what they want.

Do you not think F2F meetings are more effective than online, even setting aside any safeguarding concern school may have?

It must be a nightmare asking for more time off work if the parents have been off each time dd has been ill - agree with PPs it's more than reasonable to request pre- or post- work appointment time. But refusing to go in person with attendance <90% just isnt a good look IMO

Re-read the original post I responded to, we are talking about discussing various medical conditions, that isn"t something a Geography teacher is qualified for.

You are being unnecessarily aggressive and personal. I think the meeting request reasonable. You don't.

That's it from me.

All the absences were verified by a medical professional as being necessary.
How will a school know better than that?

I think it was my post you responded to, where I was saying I'd expect school to want a F2F conversation about this level of absence. In the interests of the child.

I hate ego trips. The school are ridiculous. All they care about are their attendance figures, not the welfare of your child.

You threatened the OP with “the school always wins”
That was unnecessarily aggressive.

Hints of social services becoming concerned for the welfare of her child. What do you think that implies?

You’ve shown zero empathy for a woman who is worried about losing her job. Who has already jumped through hoops to get the medical verification the school demanded.

You’ve just sneered about her being unwilling to have more time off.

What can either the school or the parent say in person that cannot be dealt with by zoom?
We know that GP is involved so the medical aspect has been covered.
The process will be the punishment

I don't think there's anything to suggest they do. Child is missing a lot of education and I would guess they want to talk about that. I would want to talk to school about that if my child had missed that much. They may also have safeguarding concerns, because it's unusual for a child to be too ill to attend school this frequently. As pp have said, there may be concerns that D&V is being caused by poor hygiene for example.
What level of non attendance should result in a F2F meeting between parent and school, even with medical evidence?

The year that I was nine, I got measles (badly), mumps, tonsillitis (three times) and conjunctivitis which lingered for five weeks plus one to be sure it was gone and I wouldn't infect half the school with it. Oh, and possibly scarlet fever, but it was so minor compared with the measles that I don't think it was ever official, in spite of being a notifiable disease.

That school year I attended one day in five. 20%.

88% would have been absolutely terrific! I was so bored I was chewing the sheets.

If I was the school I'd think you were behaving suspiciously just go in for the meeting and stop being so bloody difficult