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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

whiteandyelloworchid · 20/07/2012 18:49

i am annoyed as my dd was sent home when she wasnt ill, and now feels like shes been left out

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 20/07/2012 18:49

I agree, you can't win everything. But you can't win anything if you are out of the running from the very beginning!

whiteandyelloworchid · 20/07/2012 18:53

no rewards for things out of peoples control.

children cannot help being ill

it must be horrible for children with real problems

Littleplasticpeople · 20/07/2012 18:53

Yanbu, it's rediculous being rewarded for something totally out of your control. Similarly I hate young children being punished for being late for school- it's not their fault!

Annunziata · 20/07/2012 18:55

But sports and academic prizes are out of your control too. An earlier poster pointed out how behaviour prizes can be out of SN children's control.

StewieGriffinsMom · 20/07/2012 18:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dappleton · 20/07/2012 19:00

Is it not done because it sets up a child with the right attitude for the future? Just checked and in 2011 131m working days were lost due to sickness. We all know genuine sickness can't be helped but we also all know that many children off school are not sick just as many adults off work are not. Unfortunately, as with any reward scheme, there will be those who just miss out by no fault of their own, but that doesn't mean the scheme shouldn't exist.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 20/07/2012 19:01

Behaviour/achievement awards can be awarded on personal merit. If a SN pupil has had a very good day, that can count. If a bad at sports child makes the extra effort. If someone with crap handwriting turns out a good piece of work, those are all things that can be rewarded. You don't have to be top of the class. But if you can't attend, you can't attend. There's no tailoring that one!

LindyHemming · 20/07/2012 19:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 20/07/2012 19:10

We quite often have threads on here asking 'AIBU to keep ds off school today?' for reasons that are nothing to do with illness and instead the parents want to spend time with visiting family, not rush back from a wedding or whatever.

When all parents have got the message that the schools don't want children to be away for any reason other than illness, then there will be no need for these certificates.

It's funny how no one has mentioned the term time holiday they have taken on this thread, but as soon as anyone asks if they Abu to take term time holiday we get many many stories of people who do it without any shame.

StaceymReadyForNumber3 · 20/07/2012 19:12

Last yr dd had 100% but this yr both her and DS got chicken pox, nothing they could do. Neither have ever been off for anything other than illness.

Thankfully our school don't do this scheme although I think they may award a certificate, which I think is ok.

ll31 · 20/07/2012 19:14

So if my child is crap at sports should I demand school stop sports competitions? If I work so he can't ever take part in music or drama or sports after school should I demand they stop prizes for those too as they're school activities and medals awarded celebrated in school. I don't think we do our children any favours by this kind of complaint. .

LindyHemming · 20/07/2012 19:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MsOnatopp · 20/07/2012 19:21

I got one in school even though I had only just had one day off. That very tiny allowance was nice :)

tartyflette · 20/07/2012 19:22

The child gets a prize just because they've been healthy all year? Daft.

NeverAgain2 · 20/07/2012 19:26

I said on another thread that I had suggested to the Head Teacher that perhaps, as well as 100% attendance, we could reward 100% puctuality.

At least with puncuality most children have a fighting chance of having some control over it.

She said that she liked the idea - but no sign of certificates in assembly today.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 20/07/2012 19:29

The child doesn't only get a prize for being healthy all year, the parents also get backhanded recognition that they didn't take term time holiday or decide to have a duvet day.

madhairday · 20/07/2012 19:30

But you just can't compare it to Sports Day awards.

Children who win those awards win them because of something they have achieved, they win them on merit.

Primary school children don't win attendance awards on merit. They win them because they are lucky. What kind of attitude is that fostering? Yes, there's the work ethic side, but there's the other side, that of implying that time off sick equals weakness and less use than others.

It's disablist. I was disability governor at my dc's last school and put this case to the governing body. They all agreed, but the school still did the bloody attendance awards.

All those who say - well, it may be the only thing they can win etc - well, if that's all they can win, it's hardly something for them to feel proud of? That they didn't get sick? That their parents didn't take them on holiday? Where's the achievement in that?

DD has dyspraxia, hearing loss, psoriasis and extended orthodontics work. She hasn't a chance in hell of getting an attendance award. Just one more thing to add to her already poor self esteem. Great.

SummerRain · 20/07/2012 19:36

Dd had 100% attendance this year.
Ds1 missed about 30 days between OT, ENT, paeds and lots of bugs.

The school photocopied dds cert and gave one to every child in the school

I know they would have preferred not to give it at all (as would I) but they tried that a few years back and there was uproar so now if one child 'earns' the cert they all get one

GetDownNesbitt · 20/07/2012 20:18

I gave out the attendance awards today. By secondary they are relatively thin on the ground. Also awards for most merits, no demerits, subject awards for each year group, tutor awards for each group etc etc.

Being at school every day is an achievement. It deserves recognition. We shouldn't stop giving prizes because some children might not get one or might be upset that others get them - that's life, not everyone wins.

tempnameswap · 20/07/2012 20:23

I am worried not particularly because it is upsetting to the child - although that is an issue - but because it fosters the atmosphere that attendance at all costs is a good thing.

Obviously taking your child out of school for no real reason in term time is bad - but I really don't support the struggling on through every virus that seems to go on. For some reason it has become the received wisdom that it is good to go to school when you are ill - better than staying at home, resting and recuperating and limiting the spread of the virus.

This it seems to me is a big issue - one of the reasons the swine flu epidemic was less problematic than expected was the dreadful weather the winter before last - there is no concept of quarantine any more but the weather limited the spread for us. Keeping away when ill works to limit the spread of illness. Where did this smugness about attendance come from? It really shouldn't be rewarded imo, tackle those who abuse the system by all means but don't reward those who have either had an unusually healthy time (lucky them) or who have gone to school through thick and thin and caused problems for others.

Cremolafoam · 20/07/2012 20:24

YANBU
It's scandalous to reward healthy kids over sick kids who do not choose to be either.

GhostShip · 20/07/2012 20:26

But it's okay to reward kids who are intelligent..

GetDownNesbitt · 20/07/2012 20:39

I don't think it is suggesting that you attend even if you are ill. It is suggesting that having a year of being at school every day is an achievement. One child in DS1's Reception class managed this this year - that's it. Out of 150 kids I am responsible for at my school, three managed it. They deserve recognition.

tempnameswap · 20/07/2012 20:49

But GetDownNesbitt how is it an achievement? All it means is that they haven't been ill all year (or I would hazard have been ill but have come in anyway). Really how is that an achievement? And yes, intelligence - or rather results - are rewarded but that is different.... without a bit of application and hard work, intelligence doesn't actually get you far. So you are rewarding something there that the child can influence and that is actually worth something.

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