Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
WorraLiberty · 02/12/2011 13:21

If being too ill to go to school was the only reason kids didn't attend, the schools wouldn't need to provide certificates.

It's more about discouraging absence due to...

An entire day off for a quick dental check up
Term time holidays
Birthdays
A sibling is off that day
Being a bit tired
Having a bit of a headache/other minor ailment
Slept in and not wanting to be late
Christmas shopping

The list of unecessary absence in most schools is as long as your arm. The certificates are designed to reward the healthy kids who are determined to show up every day, as healthy kids who can't be bothered (or who have parents who can't be bothered) sadly make up the majority of absences.

willowstar · 02/12/2011 13:21

I think it is a joke...I can't abide the culture where as adults we have to be competitively ill at work and this is just an extension of that. I used to be a nurse on a busy surgical ward and had to go to work with really bad flu sometimes, just so as not to have poor attendance. I was more in need of the bed than some patients and it was stupid to be there passing on illness to patients who were immuno suppressed, but such was the culture. I think it is daft.

WilsonFrickett · 02/12/2011 13:23

Ours has a prize for the best class attendance. I was a bit Hmm but apparently it's really reduced truanting and lateness in the older classes, and it's always P6/7 who wins, where I imagine the kids are more able to choose for themselves... Although last year a kid who was going up to High school got a cert for 6 years of 100% attendance.

rockinhippy · 02/12/2011 13:28

worra I CAN understand that & yes its needed,

but I've seen my DD get upset for years about this, its something that really bugs her as she's very competitive & with various health problems over the years, she feels left out & as if she lets her class down - she's never late & will drag herself to school no matter how ill she is - so will I no matter how ill I am too for that matter, so the lazy gits that can't do that for there DCs get up my nose too Hmm -

but sadly its just another of those Schemes aimed at encouraging the slackers, that side line some DCs that DO really care, but can't help having health problems :(

WorraLiberty · 02/12/2011 13:29

I understand that rockin Sad

But at the same time, I never got a certificate for PE because I was shit at it.

I did however, get one for spelling...unlike my friend who was shit at it.

You see where I'm going here? Grin

omgomgomg · 02/12/2011 13:30

When I was at school you got a tick for being present at morning registration and afternoon registration. If you had an orthodontic/hospital appointment you left sometime after being marked present iyswim.

Surely it is discrimination against children who have a medical problem of some sort to not get a certificate just because you had to go straight to the appointment first thing in the morning or afternoon. Many hospital appointments can be changed to suit you, once the letter with the appointment time is delivered it is possible to ring up and change it for a more convenient time.

I would suggest that head teacher is approached and unofficial attendance credits given to count towards the 100% if absent through routine medical appointment although I always take the dc's to the dentist for check-ups either in the school holidays or ask for a 4.30/4.45 appointment so we do it after school. Most schools finish at 3.15 so that leaves at least 1 3/4 hours to have a dental/ hospital appointment.

Where I would have a problem is with a mum at our school whose son regularly has a late morning appointment and she picks him up before lunch to go but collects his 2 siblings at the same time and they all have the rest of the day off school. I'm amazed that the school allow it. Sure, it's easier for her not to be trailing back and forth to pick up the other 2 later in the day but no thought as to disrupting their education needlessly. Same mum also holidays in term time, yet again 3 class teachers having to deal with a child who has missed 2 weeks of teaching.

Concordia · 02/12/2011 13:34

i think if they do this they can't do the 48 hour diarrhoea and vomiting rule too surely?!
if they did both i would def send in before 48 hours - what do they expect??

Concordia · 02/12/2011 13:35

but i guess no one will get one this term anyway, unless their class waas open wednesday!

anothermadamebutterfly · 02/12/2011 13:43

Ours get badges, and I find it idiotic. My 8yo DD is never ill and has missed about 2 days of school (for religious events) over the past 18 months and has a whole army of badges. DS doesn't have any because he has a stomach problem which mean he misses at least a week or more for that every term, and is more prone to other illnesses. Doesn't seem to bother him too much though.

But it is no more idiotic than a lot of other certificates they hand out at primary school (I remember one certificate being given out in assembly to a girl in year 5 for being able to get out of the water at swimming lessons after only two tries Hmm) which the kids talked about for ages, because it really puzzled them.

ChooChooWowWow · 02/12/2011 13:44

YABVU to include holidays in your list, that's your choice.

I have four dc. Two of them have got 100% certificates for the last three years. They are very proud of their achievement. It encourages a sense of responsibility and work ethic. The other two have never got one. One is a child who is quite prone to infections, the other has a lot of hospital appointments. It doesn't bother them in the slightest, they shine in other areas.
I think it's really mean to belittle any kind of award a child gets. does mean something to them.

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 02/12/2011 13:49

Hey BalloonSlayer Don't knock the supply teachers, someone has to stand in for teachers who, like everyone else, sometimes get sick !

Pancakeflipper · 02/12/2011 13:52

If it was the only award going in school then I'd be peeved off. But in our school it is one of several ways of getting a certificate. So it doesn't bother me ( I have a DS who is in and out of hospital and will never receive a good attendance cert).

Sixyearoldwoes · 02/12/2011 13:53

Rockin-what about the highly competitive children who aren't good academically or in the sporting arena? Should awards, housepoints etc be banned because some children can't make the grade there? I think after not winning anything for a while you get the idea and stop competing in that arena or learn not to mind. So maybe your dd's "game" is not being well all the time and she should allow those to compete who with a little effort and not malingering can get their attendance up. I didn't take gcse art-I realised it wasn't my thing. It feels different because we inherently know being ill isn't a child's fault. Nor is being well within our control all the time. Neither is being less able academically. But it's still right to recognise the children whose strength it is.

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 02/12/2011 13:53

We even had a (standard) letter from the school about attendance which mentioned how there are lots of other good times to go shopping Hmm following the term DS had been off a lot due to shingles and other sickness. Other terms my DCs have got a 100% attendance or a 99% one. Just depends how sick they have been that term though Xmas Hmm

DoesNotGiveAFig · 02/12/2011 13:58

YABU, especially with the holiday comment. Noone NEEDS a holiday abroad. You could have stayed at home and done some days out, crafts at home, time in the park and saved up for next year to go away in the allocated holidays.

It's only a certificate FFS, we had em and I'm not scarred for life.

MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 02/12/2011 14:02

YABU

tethersjinglebellend · 02/12/2011 14:07

100% attendance certificates are utterly absurd, particularly in primary settings where the children have no control over whether they are off or not.

Rewarding a child for something they are not in control of is beyond ridiculous, and communicates a very confused message about achievement.

Why not just reward the parents directly without making children feel like crap? Hmm

Insomnia11 · 02/12/2011 14:14

My daughter got a 100% attendance certificate recently, but I don't see the point of them either. If they don't get one it's like being punished for being ill.

I'm all for rewarding academic achievement, improvement or good behaviour.

Schools are only doing it because their attendance figures are watched so closely now.

rockinhippy · 02/12/2011 14:45

yes worra & sixty I see where you are both going & for the most part I do agree, everyone has there strengths & weaknesses ( I was crap at PE) & its something I do drive home to DD frequently, though so far she hasn't shown any real weakness academically, but it will come I'm sure, she can't always be best at everything.

BUT I do think the attendance awards are different, because DCs cannot help being ill & in DDs School it is a class award, so despite pushing herself into School whatever state shes in - because she loves School - she feels she often lets her class down because of various hospital appointments etc - I'm sure she's not the only kid in her class, or they would have had the award at least once by now, but that is how SHE feels - she is very determined with all other subjects, so at this age that helps her stay ontop - but despite also being very determined not to let her health problems keep her from School - she has said - "its not fair, because I do get up & always go to School, but they don't allow for hospital appointments & They should"

& I have to agree with that

WorraLiberty · 02/12/2011 14:47

Well actually she's not wrong there rockin because most school's do give medical marks that don't affect attendance...but it seems not all of them do Sad

tethersjinglebellend · 02/12/2011 14:50

I have never come across a school which doesn't count medical marks, and I work with a lot; it's good to know that there are some out there which do, though.

Cartoonjane · 02/12/2011 14:54

I just don't get why it matters so much to so many of you. Schools give out so many certificates these days if there's one your child can' t get so what? If chidren get upset over it when there is nothing they could have done about it ( eg genuine illness) they have a lesson to learn. If it stops some going to the dentist during the school day that's all well and good.

Academic prizes are just as unobtainable for some as attendance prizes are for others.

Cartoonjane · 02/12/2011 14:57

Insomnia11 why is not getting a certificate a punishment?!

rockinhippy · 02/12/2011 14:57

TBH, for all I know they may do, but it doesn't look that way & DD is sure they don't - & I can see why its not really workable anyway, lets face it, the Schools don't check Drs Letter etc - a lot of extra admin to do that - currently DD has weekly appointments & its just on my word, no-one has ever checked - so in theory it would be easy for those that way inclined to lie about appointments

I do think it would be fairer if genuine illness - which is usually pretty obvious & medical appointments are made allowances for - or do away with it all together in favour of some sort of kick up the arse incentive for the actual parents - free beer & dope perhaps Grin

Cherriesarelovely · 02/12/2011 14:59

Totally agree with this OP. At dd's school they have an "attendance cup" initially my dds first teacher at the school went on about it so much that dd would beg to be allowed to go into school even when she was really poorly just so she didn't let the class down and they missed out on the cup.

I think it is absolutely stupid. I think the school, historically, had a problem with lots of parents taking kids out for holidays in term time and were wanting to "crack down" on that but the message was all wrong. I complained about it when we did a parent questionnaire in the summer. It is still in place but my dd no longer freaks out about being ill and missing a couple of days since I told her it is a stupid idea.