To think there is far to much emphasis on school attendance

[Starwisher]

My dd1 is in year 1. I got a letter telling me off the other day as her attendance has only been 92% when it should be 95% to date. Apparently the educational welfare officer will be keeping a close eye on us...

For goodness sake, dd has been ill! They know this, yet I still get the letter.

Im sick of parents smugly telling me how they just "bung a bit of calpol in the kid and chuck them in school" so they dont need to miss out on the gym or shopping.

They are the one's getting everyone else ill and causing more problems so they can avoid a sick child, yet get rewarded with attendance certificates.

I try and do the right thing and stop dd spreading bugs and getting better at home- and get in trouble.

What is with OFSTED threatening to drop a schools rating if attendance is below some target figure? What if a particular nasty bug is doing the rounds- why should a school be penalised? (Another reason why OFSTED means nothing)

Im not saying attendance is not important but its becoming ridiculous!

the harsh reality of it only get's worse in later life and the workplace

I'd agree with that. In these austere times with the threat of redundancy hanging over so many people the decision to have even a day off sick can't be taken at all lightly.

"Most" children get upset because there's been an assembly about punctuality? Really?

Blimey, can someone send out for a drama llama award? We appear to be running out....

You can't blame a school for causing a child that much stress and anxiety because they're telling the kids to attend school when they're well enough to and to be on time

I agree with seeker

The idea that most children become upset is difficult to believe.

Thank you Starwisher......

sorry to hear about your dh triplets

Why are people so keen to keep promoting this "I'm such as martyr and hero because I go to work and spread germs" mentality

Frankly your just as bad. This literally unhealthy attitude to pressurising anyone, child or adult, to "keep going you little wimp" should be challenged

Duvet days should be the law

The private school doesn't give out attendance certificates they are the good guys and save the serious conversations for the issues that actually matter. The state school my older child attends discussed the matter of punctuality implying that the children were all late and naughty and needed to up their game, most of them did not need to at all, but rather than address the individuals the school would rather upset 89 other children.
At state primaries my friends children attend they put the children under pressure to tell mum off and that they want to come to school no matter what, one friends child sulked and ruined a family holiday that the family had permission to go on because the child wouldn't get it's bloody certificate. Another friends school demanded that if the children were ill they were to be sent in and the teacher would decide if they could go back home again
Is all this bad feeling really justified ?

Duvet days should be the law

Yeah, well let's hope the next time you need a Hospital, Police Officer, Firefighter etc...they've bothered to turn up to work and they're not having a duvet day because they've got a cold.

I don't think 'most' children are getting themselves overly worked up about punctuality. DD2 can get herself into a dreadful state about all sorts of things (war/prisoners/fair trade/what will happen if her best friend's family have to come and live in our house and where will we put them) but getting to school on time is not one of them.

Yeah but still Heswell an 11yr old literally sobbing on the doorstep at 6.30am (despite having never been late before) and when you showed her the clock.. The fear of lateness and the anxiety overcame her apprehension of facts

Does that not ring alarm bells with you?

I'd rather that doctor, nurse etc be well rested and balanced to enable them to do their job well and for their own sake

What's wrong with say 3 personal/ duvet days a year. Answer is nothing.

Does it matter whether most do or don't? Clearly some children do, and that's bad enough. It's a screwed-up way of doing things. I'm amazed that people are prepared to put up with it, and good on those who don't let themselves be dictated to.

It must be hard, too, to have to explain to children, when you want them to like and respect their teachers, that things like these 100% attendance certificates are a load of bull.

What's wrong with say 3 personal/ duvet days a year. Answer is nothing

I take it you've worked out the cost to the economy before concluding 'nothing'?

One of my kids has asthma/allergies and for while it wasn't well controlled while we tried to figure out what drugs worked best. During that time he caught a bunch of fluey things from sick kids at school who had been drugged up and sent in. He ended up in hospital pretty much every time on oxygen.

You can imagine how I felt about parents who sent their kid in sick.

Please please please can we not start teacher-bashing? I realise that unsympathetic teachers have only been hinted at once or twice so far but I just wanted to say that not all teachers are like that (although I can say that I've met some who are :( ).

I do genuinely miss a child if they are not in, and if it's long-term or serious I'll always get in touch in some way to let them know I'm thinking of them. I'll also make a point of really showing them I'm happy when they're back but I also make sure they really are well enough to be there and reassure them that it's ok to have time off for being ill.

This all sounds sickly sweet doesn't it-sorry!! It is true though, and like my earlier posts show, I think it really is worth taking a sensitive and sensible approach to tackling absence, both for the pupil and the establishment.

Most children become upset about attendance? My three couldn't care less.

Have you ever had one of the letters Heswall?

The state school my older child attends discussed the matter of punctuality implying that the children were all late and naughty and needed to up their game, most of them did not need to at all, but rather than address the individuals the school would rather upset 89 other children

How does "discussing" the issue imply that they are all late/naughty? I used to deliver assemblies on truanting and lateness on a regular basis - I don't recall the pupils being mortally offended or upset if they weren't truants or latecomers.

I think the cost could be less if these things were factored in, and people on general were more rested so less likely to fall ill

Nothing at all wrong with the occasional duvet day if it helps. Important to teach children to trust their own judgment about health, too.

Oh and with him, if he catches a cold you can usually tell if it is going to be bad or not within a few hours. I've found that keeping him home that first day and having him sleep all day means way less days off than sending him in with the snuffles.

So if he were the firefighter/doctor etc it would be a good thing for him to have a duvet day instead of two weeks off and loosing twenty pounds in ten days which is what he is wont to do.

Heswall I just read your last post.

I simply don't believe that a school delivered the edict that sick children should be brought in for a teacher to decide if they should stay or be sent home .

Quite frankly, speaking as one of those Bad Bad Parents who - gasp - send their children to school when slightly below par - I rather appreciate the insistence on attendance if for no other reason than I can get into work.

I guess it's all in the delivery ilovesooty I hope you didn't ever reduce children to the jibbering wreck my DD was, the first year of senior school is difficult enough that was something I did not need I can you.

Do you intend to maintain this attitude to school attendance at secondary level?