School won’t authorise absence for illness

[G172125]

Looking for some advice. My Daughter is off school with chicken pox and will probably be off for most of the week. The school are requesting medical evidence before they will authorise the absence. I have sent a photo of my child showing her spots but they said I needed to go to a chemist and get them to give me some calamine lotion with her name and a date on it. I’ve been to three chemists and they have all said they don’t provide proof and are fed up of schools sending parents to them. They said it would be going against nhs advice to put calamine lotion on chicken pox and they won’t print a label for me to stick on the bottle if I buy some. Her Gp won’t provide a sick note or appointment. Her attendance is at 97%. She was sent home in September and also just before half term with a sickness bug both were marked as unauthorised even though she was sent home from school vomiting. Who can I complain to about this? She is only on day two of chicken pox so will definitely be off most of the week and I want to avoid getting a fine that I can’t afford at the minute.

I would offer to return her to school, tomorrow morning.

See if that helps the situation!

This

I would put money on it that they have low attendance across the school and are trying to bring it up by any means possible.

This isn't about Labour - it's been going on for years. The ridiculous OfSted emphasis on attendance figures means schools get things out of proportion as a good OfSted rating is the be all and end all for them. Never mind the best interests of the children.

id definitley be tempted to bring her up to the office and suggest they take her into school and spread it

@SJM1988
The school are aware I’ve not just gone on holiday. I had to nip in this morning to report her absence because the phone lines were down. Still no phone call from the head I don’t think she will call.

The school staff will be the first to complain they can’t get a GP appointment when they expect GPs have to give sick notes for colds

I know it's been going on for years. I was just pointing out that labour are introducing laws that will further give more control to the state

I hope your child is recovering well, Chicken Pox is very uncomfortable. Without school giving you hassle. Things like this really annoyed me when DS was still at school, we had a situation once when school asked for a letter from GP, the secretary was absolutely shocked when I said no, my GP is far too busy to mess around writing letters about why my son is wearing certain footwear, the shoes are black, they aren’t trainers, and he’s been wearing the same shoes school since September, this was about March. Ridiculous rules, my son was severely dyslexic, hated school but went everyday. Schools really overstep. If I had young children now without doubt, I would home school.

The reason it’s bring doubted is today is the first day back after half term. Many will be calling in sick today on holidays that fall into term time. Record a video of the spots and say the date during the video.

Offer to take your child to school.

Invite the attendance officer to carry out a home visit.

DSs school did something similar when he had hand foot and mouth.

They wanted us to take him to a chemist to get them to provide proof it was hand foot and mouth, despite the obvious massive welts and blisters on his hands, feet and mouth.

I never got them to remove the aunauthorised absences but I also wasn't fined, even though he ended up having 2 weeks off as the blisters on his feet just kept coming up and he couldn't put shoes on.

Sorry just saw your update to say you went in this morning. It still stands to reason they could think your child is away - with another parent, grandparent etc.

@G172125 have you read the illness/ sickness policy for the school - do they reference all this bat-shittery in there?

If not I would write to the governors. It's appalling that they signpost you to waste time / money in other public services.

I am sure there will be an underlying reason for these ridiculous 'requests' - maybe the school as a whole has poor absence figures and this is part of their zero tolerance crackdown.

I’d take your dd into the office of the person who asked for proof.

Send her in at 9am. Wait outside for 10 minutes for their call. Go in and collect her.

So, just to point out the school have also tried to prescribe treatment (they are not medical professionals), and demand details of your daughters treatment to which they are not entitled. Both of these are against the law, as is their incorrect recording of your daughter's absence when they sent her home as unauthorised. You won't be the only parent they are persecuting OP, so if you have the time and the energy, I would bring the full weight of their misbehaviour to bear. Do you have any lawyer friends who get shitty about stuff like this?

Do not listen to any posters telling you to ignore it if the absence goes down as unauthorised. Lack of regular school attendance is a strict liability offence and many places WILL go ahead and fine you.

Speaking as a parent whose daughter has a chronic health condition. I have everything documented. EVERYTHING. School threatened to refer me for a fine anyway when she dropped below 90% attendance. I do not go on holidays in term time. My son has 100% attendance. This isn't a parent thing. It's a rotten system, someone's making money off it, and a subset of Mumsnet posters still bleat on about how rules are rules and they knew one family who jetted off to Benidorm in term time, so it's fine if schools overstep.

Ridiculous stupidity and ignorance. I know dumbing down is everywhere, but surely in a school?

If they continue to insist, I’d be contacting my local councillor and maybe my MP, too.

@Pipsquiggle yes it says all absences will be marked as unauthorised unless medical evidence is provided. I don’t doubt that the school has a bad attendance record but that shouldn’t be my problem. They have also had a few poor ofsted reports. I could understand it if my daughter’s attendance was poor but it isn’t. I’ve just phoned the school again the head teacher has said it’s unnecessary for her to call me. I’ve asked to speak to the attendance teacher but she is conveniently in a meeting.

I posted this the other day on a similar thread because, having worked in schools, i agree this is a really annoying thing for schools to be doing and you would be completely reasonable to email them back pointing this out:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance

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.

366. Where medical evidence is deemed necessary, schools should not be rigid about the form of evidence requested and should speak to the family about what evidence is available. Schools should be mindful that requesting additional medical evidence unnecessarily places pressure on health professionals, their staff and their appointment system, particularly if the illness is one that does not require treatment by a health professional. Where a parent cannot provide evidence in the form requested but can provide other evidence, schools should take this into account. Where a parent cannot
     provide any written evidence the school should have a conversation with the parent and pupil, if appropriate, which may in itself serve as the necessary evidence to record the absence.

Orrrr we just understand better than you do how very inappropriate it is for schools to tell parents they need to purchase a treatment it's actually inappropriate to use. And to try and create work for pharmacists that the school isn't paying for.

There simply isn't any defending this kind of behaviour. The school are all the way in the wrong, and shit like this simply puts parents backs up. The creation of these grey areas also gives people room to exploit it if they want to lie.

This policy is wroooooong… see above! You could very well make a formal complaint about this.

I'm not saying you are, its just some schools get a lot of people lying about illness and being on holiday. Maybe they have been stung before by another parent or have an issue generally in the school.
I'd keep on at them until its changed to the I code for illness. We can see ours online to see what they have logged it as.

I’ve just phoned the school again the head teacher has said it’s unnecessary for her to call me.

She may feel it's unnecessary but in your shoes I'd be saying it's very necessary that you speak to her bearing in mind one of their staff was suggesting an inappropriate medical treatment for your child.

I’ve asked to speak to the attendance teacher but she is conveniently in a meeting.

Sounds like both the headteacher and attendance officer are frit and don't want to speak to you.

I'm sure you won't be dropping this.

Yes. And maybe a tour of the school so others can see exactly what chicken pox looks like in real life. Call it a free health service.

So would I.