To be pissed off with school attendance awards.

[FortyDoorsToNowhere]

I hate it, a child can't help getting ill or can not get to school on time as it down to the adult taking them.
then there are children who have appointments, such as SALTS or paediatrician which are often difficult to rearrange.

What pisses me off is that my son has many appointments, so he will never get 100% attendance and never gets these awards.

aibu to think attendance awards should be banned in school.

[DismemberedDwerf]

They have this at my local primary, those with 100% attendance get a trip in a limo to a restaurant. Dd3 was sent home feeling very sick last week, now she knows she's not going, it doesn't exactly give her motivation to not swing the lead. But I've had rumours they are moving to a termly reward instead, which is a better idea.

On the other hand, they do like rewarding the kids for a variety of stuff; smile of the week, most helpful, reading awards, excellent work rewards. For a time they were doing a raffle system, so that any child could earn tickets for a variety of things and go into the raffle.

Personally, I reward my kids when I get good reports at parent evenings. And by good reports I mean when I'm told they've worked hard, kept out of trouble and generally been the sort of kids that are a pleasure to teach. I wouldn't do it on grades.

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

I think they're quite disrespectful really to children and parents because they inherently don't acknowledge or accept that the main reason (or surely one of the main reasons) for absence from school is illness and/or attending medical appointments.
Also I think they give out an unrealistic and intolerant message that 100% attendance at school or later in life at work should be achievable by everyone

[HappyMummyOfOne]

Our school does half term certificates and a term one with a prize, usually chocolate or pencils. I like them, DS sometimes gets one, sometime not.

Some children may never get another award bar this one so its nce to see. It always appears to be the same children picked for sports, plays etc whereas this one is out of the hands of teachers.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

But it's also out if the hands of the kids. It rewards parents only.

Congratulations for sending your child in poorly.

Well done for fulfilling your legal duty of taking your child to school where they legally have to be.

Congratulations on not being ill or homeless and lucky enough to be in a situation where you can take the very best care of your children in the hope that they can be as healthy as possible .

And well done for not having a child that suffers from an illness that results in time off school for appointments.

I cannot believe it's something that's is seriously allowed!

[PennySillin]

Starballbunny this is exactly what happened to DS last week. He coughed at lunchtime until he was unfortunately sick (food went down the wrong way he said) so school rang me and asked me to fetch he which I duly did. When I picked him up he seemed fine, the history did not point to a bug, no further vomiting, no fever, normal stools, no abdo pain but school would not allow him back as he had vomited. (DH is a GP and I am a minor illness nurse and even with our assessment they still wouldn't allow him back)

On the plus side we had a lovely day off together

[insanityscratching]

Dd's school has started handing out weekly attendance certificates, it's the only time dd has ever had a certificate for attendance tbh. I suppose with weekly targets there is a good chance that all children will receive quite a few throughout the year.

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

Yeh, I suppose weekly might be slightly better, but on the other hand more times to be disappointed about not getting one for sick children.

[jamdonut]

You'd think that, by the time you are an adult, this sort of thing would be grown out of, wouldn't you? But no.

Tesco reward their staff for 100% attendance for a "quarter" with a certificate and a chocolate bar. I kid you not. DH was the 'proud' ( ) recipient of one of these recently.

I work in a school,and I can see both sides of this argument. No-one expects a genuinely sick child to be in school. And yes, it seems unfair if you are off a lot through no fault of your own.

But it IS an achievement for some children, and I don't see why they shouldn't be rewarded for it.
Most children understand it is a bit of a lottery.
Maybe we should stop giving awards for anything:sport awards,music awards ,competitions etc,as it it is always going to be 'unfair' to someone?

[PennySillin]

But giving an award for music, sport, competitions is a true achievement whereas I believe attendance is. The child has either been forced to go to school unwell or has been lucky and hasn't caught the latest bug doing the rounds during term time or at all. I don't believe avoiding illness is a true "achievement"

[Gileswithachainsaw]

How is it an achievement though?
They can't take themselves to school? And surely it's an insult to a child's intelligence that a poxy piece of paper is the answer to all their emotional struggles and fears??
It doesn't address the issues behind why a child may not want to go.

Perhaps stopping the bullies or providing help with school work would help?

But not certificates

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

Can I just repeat this, posted earlier by Rararubbish.

"FFS it's perfectly obvious that this award has nothing to do with a child with a legitimate reason for absence - it's to engage those who are conditioned by their parents that school isn't important... and that it's cold outside... and that no-one can be bothered to wake them up... and that so what if they miss yet another day, we'll come up with an excuse for them missing school to stop them prosecuting."

Exactly.
We are taking our 100% attenders to the cinema tomorrow.
Some parents see school as optional, if they can be bothered to get out of bed, if it's not raining, if they were drunk the night before etc.
These awards do motivate children like this.
We have achieved amazing attendance this term because of the possibility of a cinema trip. For over half of the 50 children coming it will be their first ever visit to see a film.

What can be so bad about that?

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

And actually, lots of our children do bring themselves to school.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

What can be so bad about that??

How about the fact that the other half of the kids don't stand a chance of going

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Not because no one woke them up, bit because they were ILL through no fault of their own

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

But it's a particular sort of unfairness to lose out, especially something like a treat (which I'd really want to complain about), due to suffering with an illness in childhood.

It's crazy too as on the other hand we give children awards for their bravery in times of sickness such as in the Heroes type shows on TV

• I don't really rate those either because in my book if you have childhood cancer and want to scream and shout and cry about how unfair it is and how it hurts, if that helps you through more than being brave, then who am I or anyone else to judge you?

< grumpy old woman hopefully with heart in the right place >

[christinarossetti]

I have less objection to them if there is evidence that they increase attendance.

[2tiredtoScare]

Is that in secondary school morecrack

[PurpleGirly]

So what the majority of people are saying here is that rewards should only be allowed if their own DC can win one? My son will never win an award for sport, but that does not mean others shouldn't . He also won't get one for attendance as he has had some time off every year with illness, but I don't get wound up about it. Or begrudge those who have been in 100%.

I teach in a secondary school and our pupils are rewarded for everything from attendance to attainment to kindness and community spirit.

We have reward trips every term. Pupils must have over 93% attendance, with some exceptional circumstances permitted. They must also have behaved. Form groups in each year with the highest attendance get free dress days. When they get to year 11 their attendance at the prom depends on behaviour and attendance.

This all encourages the pupils to take responsibility for their own attendance - teenagers need very little persuasion to be off! Looking at the comments of the parent above who seems to think attendance is optional (the one who has kept her child off all year as last year's attendance was 70% and she doesn't want the fine) then I think we do the right thing.

Regarding attendance is a positive thing and has had an effect on attendance figures in my school and also schools around here.

[PurpleGirly]

Rewarding not regarding

[harticus]

pupils are rewarded for everything from attendance to attainment to kindness and community spirit

I'd rather awards were given for something quantifiable like attendance than something like kindness.
Anything relying on subjective interpretation of behaviour by members of staff is always open to abuse and unfairness.

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

I work in a Primary, 2tired.
An inner city primary in an extremely deprived area where schools have to do everything in their power to ensure attendance is average or above, or face the wrath of OFSTED.

I work with children who have attendance at less than 75%, and parents are at risk of prosecution. And yes, some children do get themselves up and ready and walk to school alone.
Our attendance raffle is drawn each week, so any child with 100% and no lates in that week is entered, even if their attendance is previously poor. Much fairer than a termly prize.

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

And tbh, my daughter will never win her school's maths prize.
Not due to lack of effort, but simply because she is naturally crap at maths. I don't think they should do away with the award!
I am sorry if people feel their dc are missing out through circumstances beyond their control, but in a school like mine these kinds of prizes mean some children make the average grade. And the pressure upon schools to achieve this is enormous.

[Mim78]

I think the child who is chronically ill is the clincher - if they have hospital appts or need surgery it is sad that there are awards they can never win.

If it's just a certificate or sticker maybe not so bad, but I've heard of the 100% attendance parties and that's really sad. Also your child being in school when contagious is clearly not good for anyone.

Probably those kids who are not good at Maths, sport or whatever else might win a prize could get prizes for kindness or effort rather than attendance.

So I think YANBU.

[2tiredtoScare]

Wow morecrack a primary! Sounds like those kids deserve a treat. Puts things in perspective