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

[BoobleBeep]

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?

Tethers-you're right. I think I've got a bit side tracked into awards in general, and my philosophical musings on how much credit we should take for achievement or blame for lack of. But attendance awards are a non starter. I just seem to spend my time knocking about with a few too many people who want to pile on the glory for things they've achieved and seem unwilling to acknowledge the help they've had along the way, whilst all the while being a bit sniffy about the short comings of others. So this isn't the thread for me-given that I'm losing sight of how I actually agree with the op! And you, tethers!

Luckily my dd's school reward them in other ways not 100% attendance charts. DD has only missed one day of school through illness since she started last year but regularly is late to school or collected early for appointments as she is under speech therapists, occupational therapists and is being assessed at school so we have to take appointments when we can. So she would never get one and as she has never got star of the week which she keeps commneting on I think she would get really upset by not getting one of these certificates.

Sorry Catherine, I was referring specifically to primary-aged children.

Attendance awards for secondary aged children are a wholly different animal, as children are then more in control of their attendance so are being rewarded for something dependent on their actions.

And Six, we are arguing from the same side

They actually do this at my work - you get £25 of vouchers as well (which yu have to then pay tax on).

I find it quite amusing - I do not take time off unless I am really ill and unable to drive and work, and the lure of £25 for Waitrose is not going to make me head for the office with a basin wedged between my legs/ raging temperature/etc.

In theory its supposed to be a nice way to acknowledge the commitment of people who have been there 100 per cent. However, at work we have flexitime, TOIL and annual leave to let us get to hospital appointments etc. At school you dont. So, I think its a lousy idea - YANBU.

I disagree that attendance at primary level is wholly down to parental input

I taught a 9 year old whose mum started work at 5.30am. The little boy got himself and his younger brother up, breakfasted, out of the house and to school ontime every day. That was an amazing achievement and he deserved his attendance certificate! It really meant something to him as well as he wasn't the kind of child to be earning certificates left, right and centre.

His situation may not be usual (certainly not on mumsnet!) but it's a long way from unique. And I've met many more children who have had to be proactive about getting themselves to school or parent just wouldn't have bothered some days; "let's have a lie in tomorrow darling" "wouldn't it be fun to go shopping today?" "you've got a bit of a sniffle haven't you, you can just watch tv today" "bugger off, I'm tired, I'll take you in later." Kids put up with that kind of shit and they CAN put pressure on the parent and say that no, they want to attend school and can they parent please take them.

In which case I think it would be putting too much pressure on the child manic

manic, I would have serious concerns about any primary aged child who was responsible for getting themselves and their sibling, up, fed, dressed and into school. Believe me, I am acutely aware of this happening. I certainly wouldn't be handing out any certificates.

"Kids put up with that kind of shit and they CAN put pressure on the parent and say that no, they want to attend school and can they parent please take them."

And when the parent says no?

A child may 'nag' their parent to go into school, but the decision as to whether they attend is ultimately the parent's. So, once again the prize is for the parent.

So the message I'm getting from many parents here is you don't like rewarding children with a certificate for something other children cannot achieve through no fault of their own?
So no swimming certificates for anyone because some children will not become swimmers during their terms swimming sessions and be able to swim a length?
And no "well done you can read all your Phase 6 words" certificates because some children, due to learning difficulties, will not be able to read the Phase 6 words during their time in Year 2, regardless of the input from staff and parents and effort put in by the child, because they are still working on Phase 2 and 3?

Completely disagree with these certificates. I have twin dd's and obviously get them to school at the same time and on the same days everyday. One of my dd's has a medical condition which means she has hospital appointments approx 4 times a year at a specialist hospital 25 miles away from school. My dd is generally well most of the year and can easily go a full year without a day "off sick" but has to attend her appointments at the hospital. She therefore loses her 100% attendance purely for these appointments which we have to collect her from school at around 11.30am, yet her twin gets it. Totally unfair.

Abigails - but the problem is (in my dc's school) is that academic achievements are given out regardless of ability (ie, there are different groups to reflect ability and the best out of each group can get a cert) so its not entirely out of the childs hands as to whether or not they get a cert, as is swimming, ie, they can eventually achieve a certain badge although for some children it may take longer to achieve than others.

But, its wrong to reward children for 100% attendance. Their behaviour/hard work may have been crap yet they get a cert for attending yet another child may have worked really hard and behaved well yet gets nothing. Its not right.

Abigail, children can learn to swim. And read. It's not the same.

my twins school have has prizes such as win a bike for 100% attendeance,its hard the area we live in alot of paerents dont bother getting kids in on time or at all and its hard on those that do try but you cant help being ill,so they miss out and little johnny etc only come in for the term so they can win a new bike and then the next term dont bother :(

tethers ... it is easy to get 100% attendance .. they go notwithstanding unauthorized absences .. so the dentist/doctors etc would not count...

In my DD's school some things are not marked down as absences. My DD has very poor vision in one eye and a lazy eye. She attends the hospital not the optician. Last year I wrote a letter a few days prior to each appointment and on her end of term report none of them were marked as unauthorized absences on her end of year report. She had 99% attendence despite coming down with d&v, ear infections etc in her first year at primary school.

My primary school (a while ago now!) used to give out these certificates in the end of year assembly, for attendance for the whole year.

Much better in many ways, because there were usually only a handful of people who managed that, and it was one award amongst many. So no hurt feelings or dwelling.

Aren't you being a bit precious? Does this really matter? DD1s school do this, and I couldn't care less. No effect on my life , or hers. Get over it .

Imo it depends on how it's done. If it's a frequently recurring great big ceremony accompanied by talks from the HT about how the children who do not achieve this are ruining their future (dd's junior school), then it's crap for the children with health problem. And if there are attendance awards for whole tables or classes, then that's crap too, as it sets the children with health problems up to be bullied for letting the side down.

Another point is that it is really really difficult to get your children to accept that they have to attend hospital appointments, painful physio etc if that means they also miss out on an award.

I have two children: ds who quite frankly is lazy and inattentive and often doesn't bother to listen in class but has no difficulty in achieving 100% attendance as his health is very good.

And dd who is hardworking and conscientious, genuinely interested in her studies and, from a young age, responsible enough to catch up after an absence, but who has chronic and incurable health problems.

Guess who got all the awards in primary school?

You're right: dd never got anything. At all.

Pfilfairie; in most schools, authorised absences do count against the 100%. So going to the doctors or being ill means that you do not receive an award.

Auntmargaret, what an odd thing to say. I care very much about this as a teacher. I think that's reasonable. Others on the thread have children of school age; why on earth should they not have an opinion about something which affects their children? If you couldn't care less, why post on a thread about it?

my ds is only 3 but i remember when i was at school the teacher saying "oh salad (age9) you've not had a single day off all year, give salad a clap" i still remember it so i must have been quite pleased with my self at the time so maybe thats enough for a child, abit of recognition.

i never got 100% attendance when they introduced certificates because i use to have alot of dental work every 3 months, i rarely got certificates, i had no need for them as i was good all the time at primary, it was always the children who needed abit of motivation that got them.

I think that those certificates are a load of bollocks. Most children at some point in the year have had to take time off for sickness and medical appointments, no point of them really.

I think it's unreasonable to resent others getting a reward just because you or your child can't have one. It is better to be pleased for others, and for others to be pleased for your child when he/she gets recognition for an achievement. And to the person who would like to see how many teachers would get 100% attendance certificates, well I'd have a pile of them, as would most of my colleagues. Just sayin'.

tethers I suppose what lies behind my thinking it just doesn't matter is that although I see the logic of the arguments of those who don't like these particular certificates, I think it is an important lesson to learn that we are not all good at everything; that sometimes you can't win something and that doesn't mean that others shouldn't.

It's totally false to think that other ceryificates and rewards are available to everyone. They aren't. Even something like 'effort' is down to all sorts of things that we can't control and don't understand.

As you might guess I am in favour of competitive sports too. And I speak as someone who gained the lowest number of athletics points out of my whole year group at prinary school.

None of us want our children to be upset but I also think that preventing any upset is not what good parenting is. We need to experience the whole range to make mature, empathetic adults.

Also as aults we all know that in fact attendance at work is partly luck but not just that. Lots of peopletake unnecessary time off work. For children who are not in control it is different but some raising of the importance of attendance is a good thing in my eyes..

But Whateveryousay, how can you be pleased when you see that the child who is genuinely achieving but having to spend time off for painful procedures does not get an award, whereas the child who has no other achievements to his name than rude health does get awarded? (and before you suspect me of being jealous- both children are mine)

and how do you motivate a child to carry on with a painful treatment when they are reminded in weekly assembly that the school regards this as lessening their achievement?

dd wanted to drop out of treatment "to be a good girl"

DD2, who is in Year 4, gets a certificate every term, as she hasn't missed a single day of school since she started Reception. She is very proud of the fact, and is aiming to get to the end of Year 6 with a clean slate.

In fact, I'm dreading the first time she gets ill - she will no doubt resist any attempt to keep her home.

But, when it comes down to it, it is just luck. She is just healthy, and my car starts every morning. Worthy of a certificate, in a school with negligible truancy problems? Probably not.