To be pleased DS said what he did.......

[mumbar]

even though I told him it wasn't his place.

Basically DS school do awards for 100% attendance. (I personally do not agree with these)

Been out at hospital appointment so late and when signing DS in he saw the list from last term (sept-Dec).

He asked where he name was and I said he'd had 1 1/2 days off so wouldn't be there.

DS reply (in front of HT )

' but Mummy, one for hospital appointment and 1 was when I had allergic reaction at night, its not my fault I have allergies'.

This is totally my opinion (well any child with chronic medical needs who can't help missing school).

I have never expressed this in front of him but abviously children do notice these things.

As I said before "Life is unfair, but for goodness sake, please allow children to aim for any achievement they can!"
This is the important bit. Keep the award and allow children to aim for it.
Children are encouraged to aim for a whole load of other achievements even if the chances of them getting are way less than 100%. If they get a sum wrong do we encourage them to give up on maths? no. If they struggle with spellings do we encourage them to give up on English? no.
'Attending' is a very important part of life and anything that encourages it and rewards it is surely a good thing??

It is an achievement. Of course a child has no say over whether they are really ill. But they do influence whether they go to school on days they have very minor health issues e.g. headache; or whether they just feel like not going to school and so pretend to have a sore tummy or something similar. Many children, including myself, do both of these.

There have been many other threads on this. I remember one at least where a child missed out on the 100% attendance due to a family death, I think - as if they could possibly help that!
I think also it is necessary to remember that when it comes to primary aged children they are often dependent on their parents getting them to school - if the parents fail in this duty, the children suffer. So it is not a non-achievement by the child, but by the parent.

You are wrong, btw Lesley - there are people on this thread whose children do have chronic conditions. And on the many other threads there have been on this subject. I am not one of them, but I recognise the posters.

Maryz makes a good point.

You could also argue that it does not encourage perserverance.

The first time you 'fail' - by failing to acheive not succumbing to germs - you are out of the running for this award for the whole year.

So why bother after that?

It teaches you to give up. I had one day off, oh well, I can't get the award now this year, never mind. Forget it.

It doesn't encourage you to be better. You can't control that anyway. Not when it comes to illness.

It may encourage you to go to school when sick, therefore infecting other people, people who may not be as able as you to function when ill, people who may suffer complications from catching your illness, or pass it on to someone in their life who is vulnerable.

But if you take that first day off - and you were only motivated to struggle on for that annual reward - what's going to keep you going to school after that? You already know there's nothing in it for you at the end of the year.

I suspect it is ability as in skill, if you see it in context - hard work, heroism - skill aka ability, capability, talent. An accomplishment. There is no skill to not getting sick. It is not an accomplishment.

Fair enough thumbwitch I am wrong. But I still don't understand why parents with a child who has a serious chronic health problem could get really worked up by this. BTW for those who haven't read it, both myself and my OH have serious chronic health conditions that caused problems in childhood and continue to do so.

The problems this caused me in childhood and my OH were massive in comparison to not being able to achieve a 100% attendance award. I'm pretty sure my parents would agree as well.

Annbenoli I do see why you want to incentivise attendance where there is no bar to it in terms of health/disability. But I would like to know why schools favour blanket attendance award schemes over targeted work with the non-compliant parents. So for instance could you tell me: what strategies has your school used for working with the problem group? by what margin were they less effective than blanket attendance awards? why do you think they were less effective? is the difference in effectiveness sufficient to justify these schemes which, as so many people on this thread passionately testify, have negative as well as positive consequences? Thanks

What if he gets, I dunno, swine flu or something and it puts him in his bed for a month. Will he feel he failed to acheive? Failed to push through it?

I can see that you are very proud of your son and this is very important to you.

I'm not going to argue my pov with you any more because I don't want to risk upsetting you if you think I am trying to take away from you what you see as your son's acheivement. I don't want to make you feel like that.

And sixlostmonkeys - Hopefully your post will allow people to see why achieving attendance awards are part hard effort and part luck. My OH achieved 100% attendance some years in spite of chronic pain and mobility problems. It was a major effort for OH due to a genetic illness.

Annbenoli I personally hate awards that are just targeted at the children that aren't achieving. It means the children who are managing to achieve are not recognised.

Lesley33: DS has a mobility disability, which has ked to huge bone surgery, endless regular appts with consultant, physio, orthotics (he cannot aquire a new pair of shoes without a hospital appt).

Having been in hospital having a cut right thorugh his tibia, the only time he said 'I wish I wasn't disabled' turned out to be because he couldn't get the attendance award because of his appointments.

He challenged the school about it on Equality grounds (he was 8), after 3 meetings they heard him, and absence to do with disability or permanent health conditions now no longer counst against an attendance award.

He still hasn't won one, as he has been off with illness - but he doesn't mind, he now doesn't have one on the same equal grounds as his friends. He hasn't got an award for art, either, as he is crap at it. He doesn't mind that because h knows some of his classmates are talented at it and he isn't, and he is pleasd for them.

But the exclusion from the possibility of attendance award simply on the grounds of disbility seemed to him to be unjust.

Because it is.

Well done mumbar's DS - maybe our DS's should team up!

Actually it's not the children achieving it, it's the parents.

A child does not DECIDE to stay at home or have any control over it. The parent decides whether they will be kept off from school or not for whatever reason.

So you are rewarding children for decisions their parents have made. It would be more appropriate to give parents a certificate.

We vetoed it at our school for precisely this reason.

lesley and sixlostmonkeys - I take your points on how well your DH and son respectively have worked to achieve their 100% attendance and have no desire to take away from that.

BUt how is it a good thing to have assemblies where these awards are handed out and the pupils praised for being the "good" ones - when it is largely down to the luck of the draw that they didn't catch some infectious illness? How is it a good thing to have CHristmas parties that only 100% attendance pupils can go to?

Achieving a certificate for something is one thing - denigrating and punishing small children for failure to achieve is another thing entirely and THIS is what I think should be stopped.

(Although I'm of an era where we didn't get achievement certificates for anything apart from scheduled exams so it's all a bit to me anyway)

Hecate - I thank you for your consideration.

In answer to you question re should he get swine flu (as an example) the answer is no, he would not feel he had failed. he fully understands the luck of the draw aspect to gaining this achievement. His friend who also received the 100% 3 yrs running has lost out this year due to being unable to get to school in the snow (no buses etc) My DS accepts he is 'lucky' that he lives close to the school. He was ill over Christmas and while being upset that he was ill during the festiviries he appreciated the 'luck' of it not affecting his 100%.
Having something to aim for, does I believe build a stronger character. Of course, an important aspect of all this is the acceptance of the luck part. It's life - sometimes you are lucky sometimes not, but heck, we have to keep on trying.

thumbwitch - at DS's school they also held a presentation and party for those who had tried harder in the year (those who had a tendancy to mis-behave and miss school, but had shown signs of improving.)
Last year this was a non-event as none of those who achieved this award were in school that particular day.

Could it be said that other children should feel it unfair that that particular award exists because they don't feel able to set fire to classrooms, punch teachers or play truant?

Blu, your son sounds amazing. Standing up against discrimination is tough for all of us, well done to your lad. That is exactly why the healthy children should refuse to accept these 'awards' out of solidarity for their friends - I would rather my child showed empathy and compassion than take pride in the luck of good health, which is in no way comparable to being good at art etc.

Fortunately we do not appear to have these in Scotland.

Brass - sometimes it is the children a
achieving - as Lesley33 says some children, like hers, make heroic efforts to attend school - DS also insisted on going back to school within a week of massive surgery, and others may conquer a fear of school and stop feigining illness, or develop some motivation and stop bunking off on a fake sickie. All of those things deserve recognition - but I agree, ongoing haranguing of the nature Cory describes or simply rewarding the luck in not breathing in someone else's bugs is a bit much.

Schools can't win, really, can they?

Blu You son is incredible. You must be so proud

Well done the kids that make a huge effort despite illness and disability. (not in a sarky tone, i really man it)

That doesnt mean those with illness and disbility who do not achieve 100% are NOT making a huge effort though.

DD couldnt go to school, she was very sick. It took all her effort to just keep going. She was desperate to go to school but had to have (lovely) home tutors instead.

She DID get an award [not an attendance one) but we both thought it was rubbish TBH. It was awarded to her basically because she had cancer. My DD was a sharp girl and saw through it. It was meaningless. The receipient of the award was supposed to be allowed to choose how the money was spent in the school. The school couldnt be arsed to sort that out with her and just spent it how they wanted.

I have a child with SNs so I understand the importance of rewards for non academic achievements. BUt they have to mean something surely?

It sounds as if your DD had a very strong sense of self-respect, MdmeDeV. Good for her.

And that's the best thing kids can have. A sense of justice / injustice and what's right, and a recognition of meaningless tokenism.

If schools had the capacity to recognise and support achievement on a meaningful individual level, none of this would arise. Like the blanket bans on term-time absence, which aren't really aimed at many of the people who conscientiously abide by it, but at those who still flout it!

Yes the other children would be entitled to think it unfair that the 'naughty' kids got to have a party just for behaving themselves when the 'good' kids didn't. There should have been a party for all of the children and those who had been 'naughty' could be 'excluded' if they hadn't behaved well enough. Why reward naughty kids for simply towing the line at the 'expense' of the other children?

Blu - I am really impressed with your DS :) He has a lovely balanced attitude.

TFMD - her Mother's Daughter that girl

I'm amazed that anyone has defended attendance awards. But I go along with the 'life's not fair' line. Let your DC learn that some unfairnesses are not worth challending.

Jeee - and what? You don't think that chronically ill children already have enough things to learn that lesson over, that they need this one as well?

Frankly I think all children, healthy or otherwise, should do what Blu's DS did. Challenge the school and get the stupid things changed if not discarded.