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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

342 replies

DancesWithWoolsEnPointe · 20/07/2012 17:17

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?

OP posts:
Kendodd · 20/07/2012 18:02

I think they're a good idea if it discourages children taking time off for holidays in term time. Only a small number of children get them anyway.

A friend of mine told me that a child at school with her child got a special framed certificate because he'd gone through the whole of primary school without having a single day off. The same happened to him when he left secondary school. Grin

GhostShip · 20/07/2012 18:05

Oh how soon the discrimination word pops up.

Tis a shame for those who are poorly, but it's nice to reward those who do manage to get in everyday.

BalloonSlayer · 20/07/2012 18:08

Well it doesn't matter Dances as they don't give out prizes. But I guess if you took your DC out for a 2 week holiday, and then they got sick for a week it could take you below the threshold where you get a phone call, what is that? 85% or something?

Redknickerswillstoptrains · 20/07/2012 18:14

My 9 year old has ASD ,so has various appointments through the school year and has never got 100% attendance,my 5 year old has 100% attendance,neither take any notice of the certificate.In the end it doesn't mean anything.

LineRunner · 20/07/2012 18:15

I do agree that I am very lucky having a healthy son who most years has had 100% attendance. We don't need a material prize. We've been lucky.

LineRunner · 20/07/2012 18:16

My DD on the other hand has been unlucky with many hospital visits.

Same parenting.

tempnameswap · 20/07/2012 18:18

Anunziata - it is completely different because trying hard at maths when you are no good at it doesn't have a negative effect on anybody else. Whereas coming into school when you are a bit feverish but have had calpol or still have diarrhoea does affect others. I personally feel there should be Infection Control medals for appropriate abscences! I cannot believe anybody (however monumental their immune system) is entirely well and non-infectious 100% of the time. And for others, like my dd1 who has asthma and is laid low by bad colds it is important that they don't mix with children with raging, chesty viruses.

It is primarily an ofsted thing anyway, obsessing about attendance. I realise some parents abuse the system, but others just feel their children need time off when ill, to recuperate and avoid infecting others. It is wrong imho to reward those who are sent in.

EndoplasmicReticulum · 20/07/2012 18:19

My son would have got one, but he was off in the last week of term because some irresponsible parent sent a child in to school after they'd been sick in the night, half the class caught it. Then I caught it. I was Not Best Pleased.

I think these things encourage germ-spreading. And for that reason are a silly idea.

pointythings · 20/07/2012 18:20

DD1's school does this, and it's cumulative. £5 for 100% in the first term, £10 on top of that if spring term is also 100%, then £15 on top of that if summer term is 100% so £30 overall. DD has had it two years running, I'm Hmm about it as I feel having good health is mostly a matter of luck and good genes.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 20/07/2012 18:22

Reading through the thread, I thought that giving prizes for no consequences/punishment was a better idea than attendance certificates.

But on second thought, that discriminates just as much as attendance certificates as some children will have SEN which means their behaviour is not great. So if attendance certificates are discriminatory, then so are ones for no consequences.

Which then begs the question, what can be rewarded without being unfair to someone?

You can't award for spelling because it discriminates against the dyslexic dc. You can't award for sport because it discriminates against the non sporty dc. You can't award for attendance because it discriminates against the ill dc.

Why can't we all just celebrate each others achievement, regardless of whether we have any hope of ever being able to achieve the same or not? I'd much rather my children were in a school where everyone could be rewarded for something meaningful, and where everyone could be pleased for each other instead of being jealous.

GhostShip · 20/07/2012 18:22

We got iPods for 100 percent attendance when I was at school. I never got one though... Always bloody ill or not wanting to go.

Original poster
DancesWithWoolsEnPointe · 20/07/2012 18:23

Redknickers - If it was just a certificate it would mean nothing. But she got a £5 book voucher. That does mean something to a child. It is a tangiable reward.

OP posts:
dappleton · 20/07/2012 18:24

I think it's good that your childs school rewards attendance. My school did (and that was a couple of decades ago). I still can't remember the last time I had a day off work as an adult and it drives me potty when employee's take time off for every cough and sniff.
Think it's wonderful that your DC's think actually attending school everyday is so important, if I was you i'd encourage it all I can.

TandB · 20/07/2012 18:29

It's rubbish and I don't know why LEA haven't stopped schools from doing it. It is clearly going to make children who have to miss school for genuine reasons feel crap. I had lots of hospital appointments and operations on my leg as a child and I always seemed to miss fun stuff. And then would be moaned at by teachers because I hadn't known about some project or bit of homework.

StealthPolarBear · 20/07/2012 18:31

One answer would be for this to be a class-wide or school wide target based on numbers of individual children off. That way there would be an incentive for sick children to stay home so as not to infect others, but an overall incentive to attend.
Not sure how that would filter from the school to parents and children. Just thinking

Annunziata · 20/07/2012 18:32

tempnameswap But it should be a parent's responsibility to keep their sick children at home. My own children didn't bother at all throughout the year- maybe a day/ week at the end of term and then it was forgotten.

I think in general it is aimed at kids who stay off with a sniffle.

RubyRosie · 20/07/2012 18:33

YANBU, I was really pissed off at primary school when my brother got a prize for full attendance and I didn't, I didn't ask to get german measles. I agree that rewarding children for no consequences/bad behaviour is the way forward.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 20/07/2012 18:37

It may be aimed at kids who stay off with a sniffle, but it penalises those with serious medical conditions.

SerialKipper · 20/07/2012 18:37

I've been thinking about this "but why aren't you just as upset by maths/sports prizes" argument.

There seems to be a huge difference between a prize that comes in very limited numbers (top one in maths, best three at football, etc), and something that is handed out to so many people that not having it is unusual.

I can't imagine a child feeling "punished" for not being top in maths - even though the top five may have competed fiercely for it. It's clearly a singular honour, not a mark of adequacy. And those not gifted in that arena won't be disappointed because they know they were never in the running.

100% attendance certificates, on the other hand, are exactly a mark of adequacy.

And we know from thread after thread that children do indeed feel punished for not receiving them. They feel left out because they are left out.

And has been said, attendance isn't even something most children have any control over.

It's all very "To those that have, shall be given; from those who have not, shall be taken away." Which I suppose could be said to be good preparation for life in the UK in the 2010s...

Birdsgottafly · 20/07/2012 18:37

It is discrimination, actually and parents of children with disabilities/additional needs should start challenging this.

If an adult has a health condition that comes under the DDA or now Equality Act, so includes maternity care, they are entitled to that time off and it cannot be held against them in appraisals.

So why are schools getting away with this?

GhostShip · 20/07/2012 18:38

Oh right so is sports day also discrimination then?

Birdsgottafly · 20/07/2012 18:39

For children suffering inadequate parenting, this just reinforces that they are inferior.

Birdsgottafly · 20/07/2012 18:43

"Oh right so is sports day also discrimination then"

If the school isn't providing inclusive competions, then yes.

Athletic ability doesn't come under the Equality Act, disability and attending medical appointments are set in law.

whiteandyelloworchid · 20/07/2012 18:43

yanbu.

my dd got missed out because they fucking well sent her home one afternoon, as she choked on a banana and was sick.

there was nothing wrong with her, just the banana got stuck so she was sick.
they sent her home she had no choice.

no shes upset about this and im really cross about it

Annunziata · 20/07/2012 18:47

I don't understand why people are getting so worked about this. Our DC can't win every prize going. It's good for them to not win everything.