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.

And advise them if any of the teachers or parents of children in her year are pregnant then they have to be warned.

I experienced the same thing last year and made a formal complaint to the schools board about how silly the rules were. They obviously did nothing about it but we eventually left the school anyway because husband had to relocate for work. I fee your frustration.

I'd be formally complaining and raising holy hell with the head, governing body and trust leadership if there is one. I'd also be writing to my elected officials about your school's ridiculous policy when a child is ill.

They are breaking government guidance on this, the nhs doesn't have time for this nonsense, and they are completely out of order.

Make it clear you're not having it. In writing.

I’d request a carpark meeting with the head teacher. I’d drive her to the school so they can see her for themselves. I’d stop short of taking her in the school because you never know who is vulnerable or pregnant. But not a chance in hell I’d let them behave in this way. Totally unreasonable.

I honestly wouldn't even bother with all this malarkey just for an unauthorised absence. She will be back when she's back and thats it

I’ve spoken to the head of year 7 who was lovely and helpful. She actually seemed concerned for my daughter’s health and not just her attendance. She has authorised the absences for the rest of the week.

You'd be surprised just how many cases of chickenpox happen around school holidays. Same way I'd never recommend anybody retire to a lovely area that's known for tourism, whether here or abroad - it seems like a guaranteed way to end up seriously, desperately ill with nobody else to help at least once a year a week before or after a holiday.

I don't doubt that the OP's child actually does have chickenpox. But statistically, not all of the many off this week or the 3rd week of May will have.

Phew!

Given the number of people on here who are saying they've been, or know someone who has been, threatened with fines about clear sickness absence, I just wonder if this is a revenue generator. Attendance officers in schools seem to be militant, without any reasonable leaway for common sense. As someone said, this would be a good topic for a decent investigative reporter, as it's penalising genuine sick children. The system clearly treats everyone as though they're liars.

That's rubbish calamine lotion made my daughters worse. They ended up infected she had to have antibiotics. I had to put Dettol in her bath that helped more.

Also they shouldn't be telling you to take her into a chemist when she has chickenpox. Great way to spread it not everyone had it as a child. She could pass it onto pregnant women or a young baby or someone with a compromised immune system.

I’d physically take her in. Complain about the calamine lotion as that’s long gone.

They are being ridiculous - give them the option of marking her off as authourised absent, or alternatively you can drop her off into their care to nurse her when she is in the very unwell stage, if they insist.

dickheads

Make sure that you tell as many of the other parents as you can that School will not accept your Daughter has Chicken pox so you will have to send her in even though she is highly infectious. The School will then be bombarded with angry parents demanding this does not happen. Please contact the school governors, Mp and ofstead and let the school know you have done this.

I'd be offering to send my child in so they can spread chicken pox round the school.
I find calling their bluff works pretty rapidly in these situations

Yes. A quick post on a local Facebook group would probably do the trick!

So just leave it as unauthorised. They aren’t actually going to do anything so just ignore them.

Medical absences should be authorised by correctly marking on register as medical / illness

Unauthorised is when absence reason is unknown (until such time as reason is known if there is a reason). It for a reason not approved such as a holiday. If holiday is agreed it will be recorded as H for holiday

It’s the the LA who have discretion to issue fines, I really doubt they make any money out of it once the cost of administering the fines is taken into account. Some LAs will put a lot of effort into attendance outreach before fining (others might not) and that service also costs money, so it might just go back into the service, but I mean £80 here and there isn’t really a lucrative revenue scheme.

When our attendance officers ring (mine both have severe asthma so do need time off if they get a chest infection) I always say "oh great I was looking forward to discussing how you can help my child keep up their learning while they are ill. " They never have anything helpful to say at that point.

This is absurd!! My daughter starts school in September and I’m dreading silly issues like this.
personally I would take her into school and show them! Ask if they would like to spread it further.

I would be telling them they either authorise the absence or you will drop her at school tomorrow morning and the consequences will be on them.

If these people aren’t able to see with their own eyes that your dd has chicken pox then I question their intelligence to be in charge of teaching children

This is stupid by the school! My son's school request medical evidence for any child with under 90% attendance, so at 97% they wouldn't be asking for evidence yet. Due to my son's low attendance, I've had a few discussions with school as to what constitutes 'medical evidence' and they have told me that just a receipt from the chemist showing the item purchased and the date is sufficient for them - but they would have accepted a photo of the spots without the need for anything further.

Other things they have accepted from me include a photo of the new medicine he had been prescribed, which had caused the reason he was off school (bad reaction) and also a photo of a thermometer showing the recording of a high temperature. My son's school doesn't like to penalise parents unnecessarily so will be reasonable with the evidence, so long as they feel they can justify it to the LEA, if they came asking, so from the sounds of it, your school needs a sense check!

Probably like all the people who are ill on Mondays and Fridays. But it does happen!

I’m a paediatric nurse and I’ve noticed that more and more parents are needing proof of admission for schools. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Especially if the child has a visible injury or surgery.

None of this sounds right to me. Drop an email to the headteacher.
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