Rewarding kids for attendance, yay or nay?

[DoubleBusy2026]

Hi I’m interested to hear (especially from teachers!) if I’m being over zealous on this?

DD has just started year 7 and had one day off 2 weeks ago after the usual ‘new term bug’ swept through school. She had been sick the night before but was fine that morning. It was me who insisted she stay at home as I have a highly comprised immune system so as you can imagine, I feel very strongly about how important it is to keep sick people away from others. The knock on effects for people like myself, can potentially be catastrophic. Life ending, to be blunt.

Anyway, the school have ‘Golden ticket’ draws a few times a year, whereby any student who doesn’t miss a single day for 3 weeks, wins a shopping voucher(!) and the first of these draws was for days 1-21 of the new term.
Seems a great idea, until kids start missing out through no fault of their own, then it becomes a punishment for being unwell; whether that was the intention or not.
What about children with chronic illnesses? Important medical appointments which can only take place during school hours?

Just to be crystal clear, I’m not angrily posting on Mumsnet because my child didn’t get a shopping voucher! DD has more pocket money than I do and is much more privileged than many children, she absolutely doesn’t need one. It’s 100% about the principle and about the knock on effects on others.. In my opinion, rewarding children for attendance, just encourages parents to send in their sick children which results in many more sick children; surely that’s counterproductive?!

As I said, my compromised immunity is why I find it difficult to understand the flawed logic behind rewarding children - some of whom will undoubtedly be sick and contagious in a large school - for attending.

Besides, DD was only ill because a student had vomited in the hallway right next to her on the first day! Then on the day she was off, it was me who had insisted that she stay at home, as she had vomited the night before. DD very much wanted to attend!

How do I explain to an Autistic child that she’s missing out on a reward because she was poorly and that if she had attended whilst still unwell, that she would’ve been rewarded? What message is that sending?

Anyway, I do understand the idea behind it. I just believe it to be incredibly flawed logic, that’s all. Like I said, I’m interested to hear others’ perspectives on it.
Please be kind! Obviously I’m not going to say anything to the school about it…

Edited for typo!

Nay. Attendance rewards incentivise showing up.

Yeah I don’t doubt that part at all. But you do seem to have disregarded my entire argument against it?

Big no. Unfair to disadvantage the sick. Plus if at primary kids have very little agency over whether they attend but suffer additional consequences if they don’t.

At secondary, the children will be absent because they cant be there or because they dont wont to be.

If they are ill, or a parent has decided fo take them on holiday... they cant be thete. A voucher wont change that.

If they dont want to ve there... its probably not something a voucher will solve.

Rewarding kids for attendance, yay or nay?

Nay. Attendance rewards incentivise showing up.

Nay means against rewarding kids for attendance.

Awards for 100% attendance should definitely not exist.
Children miss school for all sorts of reasons - not always their choice.
Also why should the child that gave the whole class flu/the shits/chicken pox because they were sent in despite being ill be rewarded?

Couldn’t agree more. Schools know their students and circumstances well enough to put the right support in where it’s needed to help attendance. Rewards are completely inappropriate. Agree with others than it’s not within the control of most kids whether they’re in school or not. And until schools put in better infection control (have we forgotten clean air?) then they will continue to be a place where illness spreads quickly and it becomes very selfish to send your sick kid in so they can knock everyone else out too.
We’ve had distraught kids at school with complex medical needs basically being punished because they have hospital appointments and sometimes too weak too attend. It’s NOT ok.

Oh I see, sorry. I just read what you wrote after and misunderstood. I didn’t sleep much last night….. 😴

Yes, they are silly. But good practice for your kids to ignore silly things like that anyway.

This is my issue with them. A primary age child is not making the decision. They’re either ill (short term virus or longer term condition that causes absences or medical appointment), or their parents have taken them out for any number of reasons (which we could all debate whether any are valid, but none will be up to the child).

At secondary, I doubt they care about a voucher if they’re choosing to miss school. So you’re probably not changing the behaviour of the ones you want to target, but you are penalising the ones who missed school through no fault of their own.

100% with you, OP. You don't have to be immunocompromised to see the obvious flaws with this approach.

I also think it sets a poor precedent/poor expectations for teenagers later on in life. You don't get a medal for turning up to work, you don't get a reward (other than being allowed to keep your job!), and you also will NOT be thanked by your colleagues for dragging yourself in when you're either contagious or so ill as to be a burden on your coworkers.

My Dc's secondary had what I feel was a good policy. As there was no 48 hour sickness rule like there was in primary, you come in when you feel you can after any illness. A lot of the school went down with norovirus at one point so through no fault of their own children threw up at school and were sent home. The school recognises that sometimes you just can't be in attendance.

There was a 100% attendance category and a 97% attendance category, there was also another one that specifically covered children with medical conditions but I don't know the details of that one because mine were not in it. It means if you miss a day for whatever reason there is still the incentive to attend as you fall into the 97% attendance category. It was common sense really.

Maybe suggest something similar to your school admin.

Very well said.

If DD had started at this school last year, she’d not have had any of the vouchers as she was off with severe, constant headaches resulting in more than one brain MRI, tonsillitis, strep throat and a chest infection- all in one year! Never been much of a poorly child prior to this, but year 6 was one looong year!

Dc get over sickness and if she didn’t have a temperature, she could have gone to school. Keeping her off wasn’t really protecting anyone as you don’t know the health of anyone in the school. They have the system so too bad really. I’d not take that much notice of it. In schools most dc don’t get prizes so she with the majority.

No.

No worries.

I think a category for children with medical conditions isa great idea. The only issue with the school you had is that 97% is still unachievable for the vast majority children with even one chronic illness or one bad injury. 97% means you can only miss 5 days the entire school year.

I completely agree with you, my nephew attends a SEN secondary school and they reward children with online vouchers for 100% attendance. When he was sick a few months ago he still went to school because he didnt want to miss out on his end of term voucher! He was so unwell they had to send him home after a couple of hours so he could easily have spread his bug to others

@AmberTigerEyes this is why there was a completely separate category for medical conditions. The school was incredible at working with parents on all levels. Supporting children being in school was a huge part of that too. So the 100%, the 97% and then a separate medical attendance one.

If your kid has 100% attendance you've already got the bloody prize. You have a healthy kid who doesn't school refuse!

My kids have missed school due to illness and hospital appointments, never days out, holidays or anything similar.

It is utterly ridiculous to award attendance.

They are a big no from me. For all the really good reasons previous posters have said about rewarding - and therefore punishing - kids for something that is often beyond their control, but also from a public health point of view - if you’re ill and contagious, I’d rather you were at home than dragging yourself in, only to spread your germs around.

Yes, this too!! Kids with 100% attendance are already being rewarded with a full education, not feeling unwell, not being disabled, having a stable family life…

I didn’t see it as a child as was never ill so regularly had 100% attendance. Now I’m a parent, can see it’s insane and not fair at all to those who are sick and off through no fault of their own. Schools in-force being off school for 48hours due to D&V which means your child could be off for 3/4 days after being sick. Or catch chicken pox and be off for over a week.

New school has the attendance target on all the classrooms. DS’s class is currently standing at 90% so hoping they don’t do any kind of class based rewards either.

It’s not ideal but since Covid, school attendance has dropped significantly and schools are under huge pressure to improve this. They are all just trying to find ways to improve this but yes in the end it doesn’t really hit the regular non attenders who likely don’t care about the prize anyway and it’s more the genuinely ill child or children with long term conditions who are upset to miss out.

Nay. My DS school has an award trip for attendance. I enjoy the irony of keeping him off for the day when it rolls round 😂