Attendance awards

[Itsfridayatlast]

DD has come home pleased that their house has won the attendance award this week. “We were lucky no one was ill”. She wasn’t joking. 😀

One of my sons had 100% attendance all through secondary school. It wasn't that amazing, he was just lucky enough to have not had any illness at all for those years, despite having younger siblings who passed round stuff to each other and me! My youngest had 93% attendance in reception because he just seemed to catch everything going, and then had chicken pox which is a week off. He was very upset about missing the cinema trip his siblings went on for their 100% attendance - especially as one of them then got chicken pox a week later and so had a week off!

It's all very unfair. Punishes those children who need to have time off because of illness or disabilities, and the parents that don't care, still don't give a shit anyway.

We had worker of the week and star of the day at school. You may have had poor attendance due to long term medical problems but you were recognised for working hard or helping the new kid settle in

It won’t be the first or last time schools cling to a practice which is evidenced to do more harm than good.

Not getting an attendance award is hardly a punishment. There are plenty of other things you can get a reward for - resilience, kindness, sporting achievement, personal achievements etc. By the time you leave school you need to be able to cope with the real working world. Life is full of injustice. This is not one of them.

I dont like attendance awards. Its not the child's fault they are sick. I think it whole pressure on attendance encourages parents to send in kids who arent well enough to be there and infect everyone with the lurgy.

Children under hospital care can only get appointments during school hours. And not always school holidays without pushing it back 5-8 months IME.

Children who attend other educational situations may be competing nationally/ internationally in a sport. It’s not about using school PT but rather having to attend competitions when they are happening as you done control that dates they are set.

My son hasnt had a day off for 3 years (primary) despite having minor coughs and colds and the offer for him to stay home, he always chose to go on. I think that should be rewarded

Rewarded for being lucky enough to not get seriously ill?

My DD has 4 different consultants. At 4 different hospitals. With other appointments in between, some of which are specialists who are a 4 hour round trip. Her attendance usually sits around 80%. She is on track for A* / As in all her A-levels. I know that statistically attendance impacts results. I work in education. But the harm that blanket policies such as attendance awards, or removing privileges, or even just going on about attendance constantly, does to children who already have so much to struggle with, working harder than other kids just to catch up all the time, missing social events and other socially important times, is hard to take. There are other ways to target attendance issues that don't impact families who cannot do anything about it.

Why is celebrating a win for someone have to be a loss for someone else.. is a small pat on the back something to be taken away from someone as somebody else might feel left out.. that doesn't teach much for life experience just that you can't celebrate someone's win?! It's just snowflake mentality..

Children with complex health needs have already had to learn more about resilience than most adults will ever know. Rewarding their classmates for not having those challenges is adding insult to injury.

I'm guessing you're lucky enough to not experience serious illness which has resulted in time off school