to think book vouchers for 100% attendance is an issue?

[DancesWithWoolsEnPointe]

DD2 had 100% attendance at school this year. DD1 had a tummy bug and stayed at home 1 day.

DD2 got a certificate in assembly. Fine with that.
But she also got a £5 book voucher. Not fine with that.

DD1 is jealous and cross with me that I made her stay at home for 24 hours after vomiting, as per school policy. She says that next time she is sick, she is going to school anyway. So what lesson are they trying to teach here?

A school has the job of preparing children for adult life. It is no coincidence that job application forms ask how much absence in the past 3 years and more commonly an authority included for them to approach the applicants GP. This is why I never go to my GP either. My pharmacist is much better for any petty little irritation but better still, it isn't documented in the event I wish to switch jobs.

In 30 years of work I can count exactly how many days I've had off.

It's quite a simple rule; if I can get the children to school, then I'm fit enough to go to work. Like anything, once you are up for a couple of hours you tend to feel much better anyway. If do feel that crap and can't shake it off during the day, then I come home and make up the hours later. Thats because I don't like owing anybody anything. I find a dollop of cough mix, washed down with 2 paracetamol and handful of sinutabs plus a few overdose level squirts of nasal drops (TMI) sort out any attack of the sniffles.

I hate these things.
DS2 came home with one on Friday.
He goes to a special school for children with medical conditions and disabilities.
When he was in mainstream he had tons of medical appts so never stood a chance of getting a prize. Now those appts have calmed down so he rarely misses school.
Unlike lots of the children in his school who have no choice or control over missing school.

I am really suprised that the school does this and I will definately be discussing it with them when we go back. I want to know the criteria.
Its like having a prize for punctuality - most of the children get the bus to school so if they are late it will have nothing to do with them or their parents!

If the attendance prize is given for not having any unexplained/unauthorised absences that is ok. If kids miss out for being sick that is rubbish.

Oh, and while I think back - my DS lost his 100% attendance one term (Year 3) when he was attacked by another pupil and I was phoned and asked to come and collect my son. If only he'd been attacked after the lunch bell and not before he'd have got that wonderful piece of paper and £5 book token ...

This would only prepare you for adult life if an external body decided when and how often you went to work.

Ofsted should go in unannounced.

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teacher-pays-troublemakers-to-stay-away-6285648.html

Troublemaking pupils are being offered £100 bribes to skip school during inspections, according to a survey of teachers.

A teacher in a school described as a "hell-hole" discovered his deputy head in the playground with a fistful of £20 notes to distribute to those pupils not required on inspection days.

Other action apparently taken by schools to secure the best ranking include encouraging weaker teachers to take sick leave and sending one newly-qualified teacher home on a disciplinary notice.

Jumping but you are assuming everyone is the same as you. No, not everything responds to 2 paracetamol and a stiff upper lip
Btw I have had exactly one day off work ill ince 2004 - it was my first day in a new job. So no personal agenda, I just realise I am lucky to enjoy good health.

" . Then incentives for all pupils in that class to reach the target"

Sorry just to clarify my last post. The target would be for the class overall, so if it were 88% some children in the class would get 100 and some may get 80. But its the class figure overall that counts.

But people in general hate targets and performance management. And this govt is moving away from targets to looking at directions of travel.

At my school (secondary) students' names are put in the draw every time they have a full week in school. So by the end of a 6 week term, a child might have 6 slips in the box, but might have fewer. Two names are pulled out at the end of the term ( sounds a lot like The Hunger Games) and they get the reward (a voucher) So whilst it is about attendance, there is an element of luck involved which the students enjoy.

FWIW I completely disapprove of 100% attendance awards - especially in primary schools.

tiggytape is anyone 'punishing' 'refusing' or 'disciplining' anyone not reaching 100% attendance? No they aren't. Theyre just rewarding those that do.

Hmm there are still some problems with that but its definitely better! And a lot less work than mine!

Let's take an example from earlier on in the thread, where secondary school pupils were offered iPods for good attendance. As secondary school pupils have much more control over whether they bunk off attend school than most 5 year olds, it's a much better application. However, I would rather, in the grand scheme of things, that teenagers who'd had a nasty virus over the weekend weren't bribed into breaking the 24 hour rule on Monday!

Nasty virus means diarrhoea, in the above post, btw. Not "the sniffles".

jumping

the survey was a thread on the TES

I wouldn't put much store in it.

tiggytape

"Yes Jumping - and in adult life you cannot discriminate people with chronic illness or disability. And if you do you'd be in hot water.

An employer who refused to give a pregant worker a bonus because she had 2 days off too attend her scans would be in deep trouble.
A company who punished a diabetic worker who had to attend their clinic 3 times a year would be in deep trouble.
A company that disciplined a worker who required urgent surgery would be in deep trouble."

Really have you never heard of Bradford points?

The schools are not discriminating. The schools are still educating ALL pupils.
All the schools are doing are rewarding those who attended 100% of the time. They are not punishing those who didn't.
They award those who did well in maths. They do not punish those who didn't.
They award those who did well in science. They do not punish those who didn't.
They award those who attended every day. They do not punish those who didn't.

Yes jumping : 'I find a dollop of cough mix, washed down with 2 paracetamol and handful of sinutabs plus a few overdose level squirts of nasal drops (TMI) sort out any attack of the sniffles.'

As Stealthbear rightly says - not everyone is like that. Lucky you. By the time you have struggled in and then had to come home at lunchtime you have infected everyone around you on the train, at your desk, at the coffee machine. And if you were a school child some of your classmates might then go on to have a hospital admission and/or steroids for asthma. So I don't personally think it is particularly heroic of you.

StealthPolarBear even.....

And sixlostmonkeys the point is doing well at maths and science is within a child's control. A lot of it will be about hard work and application. You can't work hard at being well - not 100% reliably anyway, ok you can take your multivitamins and try not to eat too much rubbish but mostly it is genetics/luck. It makes as much sense to give out school prizes for beauty...

tempnameswap - how is doing well at maths and science within a child's control? If it's in the genes (like this attendance thing appears to be ) that they can't add up for toffee or know their acids from their asteroids then they aren't going to get the award are they?

Can I just say that I have five children, aged 10 - 20, and between them, they have had no more than 10 days off sick. They have not gone to school on a wing and a prayer (and spoonful of Calpol). They just haven't been sick.

They also haven't gone to schools with book tokens for perfect attendance, ho hum.

It is possible to go through childhood without getting sick.