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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

100% attendance certificates at DS's school, aibu?

362 replies

BoobleBeep · 02/12/2011 10:57

DS's school has just announced they will be giving out certificates to children with 100% attendance in an assembly at the end of term..... This basically excludes any child who has been ill at any point throught the year, needed dental treatment or has parents who can't afford to take them away during expensive term time. Aibu to be a bit pissed off about this?

OP posts:
Joolsdawn · 09/01/2012 11:20

I think taking them out for a treat is a little unfair.

differentnameforthis · 09/01/2012 11:20

I don't like the idea of them. One of my friends is BIG on getting her dcs 100% attendance, she sent them to school when the middle one had whopping cough!

Kladdkaka · 09/01/2012 11:24

I think they are discriminatory and most likely unlawful. My daughter would never get 100% attendance for a week let alone a term. Purely down to her disability and having to attend hospital therapy sessions at least once a week. If her school tried this, I'd sue the buggers.

dandelionss · 09/01/2012 11:41

sardinequeen-' Good parenting involves knowing when your child is ill and when they are putting it on'

Yes can't imagine why the NHS wastes so much money on silly bloody tests, x rays and other diagnostic tests.

Joolsdawn · 09/01/2012 12:20

I do think 100% attendance is an achievement and should be rewarded, especially when you have reluctant children who try every excuse in the book not to go to school why should this achievement go unmentioned? Having said this it is not failure to not get 100% attendance for ligitamate reasons... but as I said in my previouse post all children are different and they are also rewarded for other things that some others may never achieve. Or naughty children are rewarded for behavour that the well behaved children do every day. Our school have a star of the week for each class, that can only be given to one child but it is not saying all others are no good it is just a little bit of praise for something done good.

McHappyPants2012 · 09/01/2012 14:08

i hate these cerificates, my son will never have them as he has appoinment and they are always within school time.

he is not a high achiver in an academic thing, so he doesn't get ceritificates for them either.

last year sports day got called off because of the weather.

M0naLisa · 09/01/2012 14:38

My DS school does this and im pissed off because my DS 5yr old gets every illness going, hes asthmatic too. I dont think 100% attendance certs should be given out, i think they should give them out to pupils who do 100% achievements in their work or something similar. Like the reception classes my DS school do a Star Of The Day and Star Of The Week, DS has being on it a few times. Why cant they do things like for that??

frangipan · 09/01/2012 14:56

my DS is 12 and in year 7. He is a type 1 diabetic and I have explained to the head of year that he will never have 100% attendance, in fact he is off 1 day this week and 1 day next week for pump fitting, he has to be in the hospital all day for each. I try and get his hospital appts at the end of the morning so he gets his AM and PM registration marks, but those with 100% attendance get a trip out at the end of the year, he is a bit miffed about it but sadly he has to deal with it. Life is unfair at times.

auntpetunia · 09/01/2012 17:01

I know kids get sick but a bit of planning over appointments will still result in 100% attendance, making appointments after the end of lunch so the child gets their afternoon mark, or similarly if it's the drs or dentist which are usually near to home and therefore school, making it for after 9.30 so they have their morning mark and taking them straight back when finished will not result in an absence mark. It just takes planning.

sparklytinselandthings · 09/01/2012 17:22

Sorry, not read all the replies, only the first page. What Kayano said (apologies if that's spelt wrong!)
Definitely a sense of 'everyone's a winner, oh it's not fair' about nowadays. So what if a child with a 100% attendance gets a certificate? It makes the child feel like they've achieved something, and is something for them to aim for!
Why shouldn't the ones with perfect attendance be recognised in some way?

clam · 09/01/2012 17:24

Does seem odd to reward a child for having the good fortune to enjoy good health, yet effectively penalise those who don't.
I had to laugh at the end of last term, when I was asked to give out some of these certificates. I called one child's name and he didn't answer - his friend called out, "he's on holiday, mrs clam!"

Meglet · 09/01/2012 17:26

I've just had a moan about this on another thread.

DS didn't have any time off last term but I've just got a report saying he had 2 days off Hmm.

DorisIsWaiting · 09/01/2012 17:29

OLD THREAD ALERT!!!!

sparklytinselandthings · 09/01/2012 17:38

Blimey, just reading my way through the other pages. Are children nowadays seriously really upset because they haven't got a certificate?! Why such a sense of entitlement?!
They're going to have a bloody hard time in life if they're expecting to be 'winners' at everything!
I have two children of primary school age. Both had 100% attendance since Sept, until the smallest was sent home one afternoon due to being hurt at school.
Now he's not got his 100% attendance record, even though he missed just one Friday afternoon and THEY are the ones who sent him home in the first place!
Am I sat there boo hooing how it's not fair that he now won't get one and his brother might still get one at the end of term?! Um, no. If he is upset, I'll just explain that it's only for people who have been there every day, and if you get one it's nice, but if you don't, never mind you can try again for next year!
Not go telling him 'they're stupid awards, who wants one anyway?!' like one post I read on here !
What's that teaching him? That if you don't win an award, then they're all stupid awards anyway?! Yeah, great lesson!

clam · 09/01/2012 17:39

Only by a few weeks, doris. And does it matter?

auntpetunia · 09/01/2012 17:42

Sparkly if he got his afternoon mark before you picked him up he'll still get his 100%!

IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 09/01/2012 17:54

I don't think it penalises the children with health issues any more than rewards for spelling, Maths, art or whatever penalise the children who are not good at those things.

We can't control how good we are at Maths, or English, but the effort that children put in can be rewarded. If children who are feeling a bit tired or slightly under the weather, as all children do sometimes, can make the effort to go to school instead of trying it on and hoping for a day off, then they should be rewarded too.

clam · 09/01/2012 18:54

But these certificates don't differentiate between those who have made a personal effort and those who've come to school every day because they've been in perfect health and their parents make sure they attend. It's a blanket decision, made on the statistics shown on file.

natalie111 · 09/01/2012 19:07

My childrens school does this and it is a nice insentive for the children as well as the parents. Not all parents take school seriously and you would be surprised at how pleased parents are when there children get 100% attendance. My childen are not really bothered if they get the certificate or not but it makes me happy to know they have received all the education they need.

lunaticow · 09/01/2012 19:12

I agree with Kayano At my kids school they get a badge for walking to school. Some kids live to far away and other kids parents work so walking is not an easy option for many. That is not fair either. My youngest who is 6 just lies that he walks and gets the badge. It is a stupid, nannying, competition so I think he treats it with the contempt it deserves.

MrsJasonBourne · 09/01/2012 19:20

Our school got given them but it was a complete waste of time. The certificate said the award was for the whole class achieving 100% attendance when several of the kids had been off with the bug and two or three had been away on holidays.

delphinedownunder · 09/01/2012 20:41

What is it with the teacher bashing? it's not the teachers who instigate these things, but the senior management team. Teachers are the poor saps on the front line. There is a direct link between attendance and achievement and I get thoroughly fed up with children in my class not attending school for reasons like a trip to the supermarket, a haircut, a trip to the dump, a sister's piano exam, a week skiing or three weeks in Florida, especially when i then get moaning about things that have been missed. Attendance is something to celebrate, along with general diligence, achievement in traditional subjects, sports and friendship. If there is a good reason for your child not to be at school, then that's a shame, but no reason not to celebrate the child who has managed perfect attendance, especially when this has been down to the positive and enthusiastic attitude of the child.

tethersend · 09/01/2012 20:50

I'm a teacher and I loathe these awards as they reward parenting rather than student achievement.

"I get thoroughly fed up with children in my class not attending school for reasons like a trip to the supermarket, a haircut, a trip to the dump, a sister's piano exam, a week skiing or three weeks in Florida"

A primary aged child will not be deciding to go on any of these, so why penalise or reward them?

Gah. I'm going to get sucked back in to this, aren't I? Who resurrected the zombie thread, anyway? Do you see what you've done? Grin

talkingtomyselfhere · 09/01/2012 21:13

Thank god our school doesn't do this. Surely you should encourage children to be at school every day but seriously how can you punish kids for things that are out of their control. What does it teach them about life if they don't have a choice over when their parents book a holiday but they get penalised for it !

Joolsdawn · 09/01/2012 21:40

Sorry it was me that resurrected this...

No it isn't the children's fault if they are not in school but I think that people are focusing too much on those who don't get the rewards and saying they are being punished. If my child doesn't get all her words right even though she tried hard and another child gets a sticker for getting all theirs correct I would not say that is a punishment to her that is praise for the other. There is nothing wrong with recognising individual achievements. It might also be helpful to point out that the school my child goes to has below acceptable attendance and the reasons for this are not piano exams, skiing trips or holidays to Florida. Some people just don't value education and see the school as child care when they can be bothered to bring them.

There are also issues with the junior schools and infant school being separate so they have different inset days. The two days before Christmas holidays the junior school was off but infants were in, my daughters class which is normally 23 only had 11 children in. This is because parents can't be bothered to get all kids up and dressed just for one to go to school. Something needs to be done to address this issue because at the end of the day the children will suffer from a poor education.

I would like to know, if people think this system is unfair, what they would suggest would help attendance...