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!

I was quite upset really when we had an automated letter like this after DS had had several illnesses (with corresponding absence) one term. He had some dental work and then shingles with anti-virals given, both of which were quite worrying enough on their own, without being followed up with an un-sympathetic letter which mentioned there was plenty of time outside school hours for shopping

I did speak to the deputy head about the letter and she tried to reassure me it was just a standard letter and I shouldn't worry about it. I hope they got the message though and re-drafted the letter/ considered more carefully who they gave it to.

Also I really think sometimes children have got something better to do than be in school ( My children have always had excellent attendance but I don't agree with the hard line taken )

my other bug bear is those 'voluntary payment' letters. letter 1)you must make your 'voluntary' payment by the x of march. letter 2) this is a reminder that you must make your voluntary payment. 3) some people have not paid their voluntary payment. 4) voluntary payments are now late and MUST be paid by monday etc.

presumably someone who cannot afford to pay has not paid. to obey statutory law they keep sticking the word voluntary in every sentence whilst clearly demanding payment as compulsory.

it's just bullying.

It is all very well talking about schools using rewards to ensure attendence, but most primary school children do not have a say about whether they attend school or not, it is up to the parents. Speaking as a mum of a child who has a medical condition which leaves him in permanent pain, often in hospital, he has cried on more than one occasion that he will never ever be able to get one of these awards, even if he goes in in pain every day, he will miss out due to hospital appts alone. Why have school stopped distinguishing between authorised and unauthoried absences, surely that is the point, then no legitimately ill child is punished. Also whilst I appreciate that absences do cause a few issues for teachers (and I am speaking now the primary school teacher I am) I would rather not have sick children in school, cos they aren't learning anyway, and I am not going to make a big issue over families going on holidays in term time, as in my expereince they often come back having had a life enriching experience, doing things that they don't normally get to do, being places with different cultures and with lots of offer and talk about...the whole class can get learning experiences out of this. In my opinion OFSTED and schools need to get their priorities right.

Keeping children who are tired off school for a duvet day
Do people really do this? Isn't that what the weekends are for? Between this and taking interm holidays because there are "no queues" you can see the school's point. Even allowing for illness, though, isn't 92% attendance incredibly low? I would question this rate of illness in an otherwise healthy child - we don't all need to take to our beds at the first hint of a sniffle.

"Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) have more than one school to deal with, meaning hundreds of children and a myriad of situations to investigate. It's not physically possible to look at each case one by one and say fine - ignore, not fine - send a letter."

Why ever not? Universities have thousands of students and we manage it. It's just a question of using an efficient coding system.

I just don't get why these things are so impossible when it comes to children but suddenly become perfectly doable when it is a question of adults?

I don't know of anyone who takes their children on holiday because there are no queues. They do it because they can't afford a holiday during the holidays because places hike up the prices when term ends. I am not sure that 92% is that low either.... you only need a virus like chicken pox, or flu and you will be getting near to that surely....I haven't checked the maths of this I have to admit.

my dd could not have attended during her bout of pneumonia. She has had time off since because of a reduced immunity due to pneumonia.
I dread to think what her attendance will be.
Sorry for the school's figures (and I am) but there was no alternative.

"Or you could argue that if parents are trusted to know what is best for the well being of their child's physical and mental health then there would be no need for ridiculous blanket letters "

If all parents could be trusted then there wouldn't. But they can't. So there is.

MrsKittyFane Wed 21-Mar-12 08:14:10
"cory your DD has had an unhappy experience with all sorts of unacceptable consequences but since the OP has not mentioned disability or chronic illness we have to assume her DC's illness is general coughs/ colds/ tummy bugs. IMO 3 weeks a year is quite a bit of missed school."

For the first 8 years of dd's life I couldn't have mentioned a chronic illness or disability either: that's how long it took us to get a diagnosis (and with dd's condition that is par for the course).

During those years, dd genuinely thought she was a bad girl to be causing so much trouble. We genuinely thought we were bad parents.

Forcing her to push against the pain just made things worse (and, we have since been told, may have caused irreversible damage). It is very hard to know what we should have done.

Of course, my main complaint against the school is that they did not change their attitude post-diagnosis; that is the part that makes them inexcusable.

But dd equally had to live with the situation in all the years before diagnosis; a little less judginess and more support would not have helped us to cope. That is where her secondary school is so great: they manage to combine discipline with empathy. Some people can do it. I think I am pretty good at it myself as a university teacher.

I have spoken to both our GP and a paed who specialises in immunology, and they both agreed that the people who make up attendance targets have no idea of the normal variation in development of the immune system in young children. They both thought it was absurd not to allow for the fact that a certain percentage of 5-10 year olds simply will get a certain number of fairly heavy virus infections every year, because their immune systems haven't matured. And that is before you get to the chronical illnesses.

DD's school sends letters of attendance at the end of each half term. It shows your childs attendance record for those weeks, what the symbols mean (H, /, I etc) & what area the percentage means for your child. I quite like it. However, a few of my friends have recieved letters when their kids attendance has gone BELOW 85%. I think that is right. Only send the letters to the parents who have children out of school under 85%. But schools wont sit through each childs attendance to see if the parent rang that day & what the reason was for their child being ill.

It is recorded on the electronic system whether a authorised absence reason by letter or phone call, which class teachers have to authorise has been received. It isa legal obligation for schools to record this information, because a class register is a legally binding document which has to be undisputable in court. Sorry Emmielu - allschools know exactly which absences are authorised and which are unauthroised, every day of every term for every child.

Sorry but their is a stong link between low attainment and poor attendance.

Also it's one of the first indercators that somthing is wrong at home, I am a foster carer and all the school age children I have fostered all had poor attendance.

Slightly off topic -One of the reason some Asian girls get spirited away is because no one is keeping a eye on we're the he'll they are

MotherOfSuburbia sorry don't agree, it's often always the same children who are off also these children who are often so sick they can't come to school are often well ennough to go tesco attend hair dressers ECt.

I was very surprised to go to toddler group to see a 10 year old apprenty he was sick she rolls eyes he looked fit and well enough to throw an wobbly and ask If he could go to park with his bike

In my home a sick day Is spent in bed no tv,doctors and soup and for lunch funny enough he has never had a day off yet rather go to school fancy that

Some other parents sick day includes shopping, tv , Xbox mc Donald's an no doctors to be seen

Gosh, did not expect such a response!

Still reading through answers, seems a mix of reactions.

In quick response to those who say they miss out educationally from illness- well even if in school or not they will still miss out as its hard to concentrate when genuinely ill. I think been forced to sit in a classroom will slow down recovery.

Also my dd is not allowed out if I'll because she shouldn't spread germs. After resting she will do light educational work such as reading in bed, but all kept very easy going

My motto is if your not their you can't learn

And I think espically in small children sore tummys can become a bad habit which shouldn't be encouraged

Sore tummys CAN become a bad habit

OTOH it can be a medically recognised stress reaction to other aspects of their life, such as bullying etc.

My boys think I am an attendance harridan- they are sent home more often than I keep them here. But there are times when I am happy to do teh Tesco run on a day off with them- for example when they ahve ahd milk (either at school by mistake, from another child or even nicked from fridge here), been sick and then fall under the 'not allowed to attend for 48 hours' rule (and yes they do enforce that even if they admit giving the milk!)

Mrbo - I disagree, your description doesn't fit with my experience at all.
As a primary teacher who has only ever worked in socioeconomically depreived areas, for more than 15 years, in my experience those children come to school, always, whether they are well or not, as parents don't want responsibility for them during the day. They are often the low achievers, but they are always there, sometimes sitting feeling ill, kicking off because they are poorly.
Also as a carer of a child with a servere medical condition, although I would say I have never taken my ds anywhere other than hospital when he is too sick for school, he is the eldest of 3, he does have to come in the car to collect dd1 one from, and if I had to get food he would have to come then. What alternative would a parent have, I have no one who could collect food for me, or collect my dd1. Sometimes I have to take dd1 out of school, when ds has been rushed into hospital because I have no-one else to collect her......I don;t want tobut what is my other option?

SanctiMoanyArse if their well enough to do a full shop at tesco they are well enough to go to school

Parents with really poorly children wouldn't dream of taking them to a supermarket unless it's their only shop or their nearest shop

You would go to the nearest shop near your home

Staying at home with mum getting a lolly and getting some medicine and then sungggling in and watching dora and become s habit with children

My son was builled badly at primary school my job was to get in their and get it sorted not to let him hide at home witch often makes things worse

Youcan'tlearn if you can't breathe properly, or have just shit your little pants either.

Mrbo - We mustn't fall into the habit of making judgements about why a child might be going round the supermarket on a school day, sometimes, for some parents there is just no other choice, surely.

how many days are there in a school year? (possible days of child attendance i mean)

colditz Children wo are really I'll should see a doctor then stay at home children who have a slight cough or a "hurty tummy" should go to school.

Often these parents whose children are so I'll never go near a doctor first sighn their bullshitting to me also they simply can't sit in class and work quietly but are well enough to be dragged round the shops all day in the cold

SparkleRainbow well I work for ss and often experince who are kept home form school with their parents in collusion

To be Homest sparkle I worry about your school nurse

Any child off sick at my sons school reports to the school nurse before re entering the class to cheack they are fit and well to continue with their education and any child who is sick should be sent hime the fact your school allows sick children to stay at school says a lot about the school o be fair

Rubbish- amany schools like ours INSIST you do not send children in for 48 hours following a sickness or diarrhoea episode; if that happened at school (as ours tended to- usually lunchbox sharing) then they would just refuse to accept your child, even though you knew they were fully well, just casein intolerant.

So why would I stay at home with a child whom I knew was well, but had been sent home?

Not that I have ever received one of these letetrs; I don't much like good attendance awards but we are very much the Kings of receiving them- with 4 sn kids, school time is my slep time!