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!

Ok you're probably going to hate me for this but...I work at a pretty average but large secondary. I have 27 pupils in my form and am therefore responsible for marking their attendance each day and also noting down both planned absences (medical appointments etc) and unplanned ones, such as illness.

We have 8 forms per year group and a year head who is in charge of overseeing the tutors and forms in their year group. Once a month, the 8 tutors in our year group have a meeting and absence is one of the things which is discussed, i.e. "Child X in your form missed a week of school last month, do you know why?" "yes, he broke his arm and needed surgery". The year head starts off with a list of pupils under a certain percentage of attendance (80%) and we use the meeting to ascertain which pupils need to be passed on to educational welfare and which ones have maybe just had a bit of bad luck with illness/injury recently.

The year heads (there are 5 of them) then get an hour each to discuss those left on the list with a member of the attendance team who the school pays to spend a day with us once per month. This way, the pupils who need to be targetted get the attention and help they deserve and those who have genuine reasons do not get hounded for something that isn't their fault and is normally already sorted by the end of the month.

Our school is, as I said before, pretty average, but the single area highlighted as outstanding in our latest ofsted inspection was the attendance levels and procedures for maintaining them at a high level. Just goes to show that (a) some "sensible" systems do exist and (b) ofsted do appreciate this kind of "human" approach and accept it as an alternative to sending out scary letters. And if a school of our size can manage it, I hope it would be possible in other places too.

Sorry for long post btw!

But children can develop anxieties that are not rational

My dd choked on a piece of meat over Christmas and refused to eat meat again until recently

It's cruel to suggest these anxieties are the parents fault.

It's human nature

Heswall. I can only assume these anecdotes relate to different children? Why are your approaches so different with both?

They are 2 different children with different personalities and one in state and one in private school. If they are high achieves that's great none of them are pushed to the point of anxiety by their parents and I have an excellent grip thank you.

starwisher can you point me in the direction of the post that suggests that anxieties are the parents fault please- I've missed that.

The sarcastic comments about teaching the child to read the clock

Fair enough star. 'cruel' might be over hamming it a bit. But it is ridiculous to expect school to amend whole policies according to every kids foiboles. They are in place to protect really vulnerable children

ah found it now
As a teacher ( and a parent of a child who has suffered with anxiety)I know that teachers generally just do not have the training to recognise or understand anxieties in children -but to be fair CAMHS aren't that great either and they're supposed to be the experts.
Anxiety is a disability - it's not a whim.

bejeezus - anxiety is not a 'foibole'
children with anxiety disorder are really vulnerable
if a colleague had a nervous breakdown would you dismiss them so readily?

But children with anxiety are also vunreable

In the heavy handed approach you risk, as this thread proves, making children by causing anxiety issues. Of course this is extreme cases but even so.

I do not need schools to manage or deal with anxiety just don't fucking cause it in primary school children or in their first years at senior school. There's enough stress and strains with exams etc. schools should tackle problems when they actually happen not put the frightened on children when the problem hadn't actually occurred.

X post corn

Some parents do take the piss and let their kids have ridiculous amounts of time off school, but it could feel a bit insulting if you got a letter or call from the EWO when your child's been genuinely ill. It's fine to say 'just ignore the letter if it doesn't apply to you' but I'd be really miffed to receive one.

If my children say they're feeling unwell when they get up on a school morning I do sometimes pack them off to school having dosed them with Calpol, but normally I say 'if you really don't feel well, tell the teacher and I will come and collect you' and I also make sure the teacher is informed that they are not feeling great. Often I find that once they get to school they're fine.

I think the certificates for 100% attendance are a bit of a pointless incentive because you cannot attend school if you are ill with something infectious like D&V. They do motivate children though - at least my children. My Dtwins have both had certificates a couple of times but in one term my son was ill on one day - the last day of term - and therefore didn't get a certificate in assembly at the start of the next term. Likewise my daughter had a similar thing happen when she came down with a bug in the last week of a different term. She was really upset and begged to go to school just so she'd get her 100% attendance but I couldn't let her go when she'd been spewing up. She felt like she was effectively being denied a reward (she loves certificates) for being poorly.

starwisher we share the same thoughts

...and presuming that beejeezus is a teacher, that illustrates my suggestion that teachers just don't understand anxiety in children

I don't think it is extreme cases plenty of parents I have spoken to confirm that their children are keen to go to school despite being ill because they've had it drummed into them that is what they should do which is bollox.

My trios school is in special measures after a damning Ofsted last July. The head walked out, no warning and a special team came in in Sept. The have really clamped down on attendance, no time off for anything other than a bereavement or illness. What if its a parent that ill? My husband has stage 4 advanced bowel cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs. This nightmare has been going on for 4 years, our children are 14. In Jan I asked for one day off to take them to CP for their b/day w/end, their father was due a ct scan result the day before. We were refused, we rec`d a letter saying even in our circumstances they could not approve it. I pleaded, saying how b/days were very precious with their dad being so ill, also if the ct was not good he may well be back on chemo, we are never in a position to be able to pre book a holiday. It was still refused...............so I took them anyway. We have just been told today he has a new tumour back in his lung, tomorrow is my birthday.............time together matters. In the first two years of his illness, their last two at primary school, all three had 100% attendance. They all average now 93-95 %. They all have friends who take up to a week off for a cough....................yet nothing is said about that!

No, but we aren't talking about 'anxiety' in that sense are we? Or maybe we are? If a child is suffering from an anxiety disorder, then off course they ate vulnerable- that isn't the sense I got from heswall

And again, why would it cause stress in the child? It is the parents who receive the letter

AND as much perceived stress as it causes- still think it on balance does more good than bad

There was a call for alternative strategies further down thread

Are you a teacher bejeeze ?

And no my child doesn't have an anxiety disorder day to say life is fine and dandy but the school have put the fear of god up her about being late and it causes merry hell on this house some mornings, what a marvellous start to the day for her and her siblings.

Triplets

That's appalling I'm so sorry. Frankly, I would just go to your dh and say they are ill. This is controlling of the school to the extreme.

It would corn yes, if I was a teacher. But I'm not

Most kids are not frightened into anxiety by the attendance expectation. Most of them see it as a game

I am telling you now that most do not see it as a game, they get upset.

Anxiety and stress over this?

I'd say some serious issues are being stored up here that need to be addressed.

Time management is part of life,and the harsh reality of it only get's worse in later life and the workplace.

Well, our experiences of kids in school are very different then heswall

Is this the private school you speak of?