AIBU? DS was ill and the school have marked it as an unauthorised holiday and are threatening to fine me!

[WeAreEternal]

A couple of weeks ago DS (7) had an upset stomach, he D&V over night and most of the next day.
First thing in the morning (a Thursday) I called the school and let them know he was ill.
He was feeling better by the evening but as he had D&V school policy is 24 hours off, so I kept him off Friday too.

I received a letter from to school yesterday saying that those days have been marked as an unauthoried holiday as "although we received a phone call from you stating that (DS) was ill, we are led to believe that DS was in fact on a holiday to XXXX on these two dates"

The letter goes on to say that if he was genuinely ill they expect me to provide evidence such as a doctors appointment card, a prescription, a medication receipt or something simmilar that can "verify my version of events".

I am a medical professional, I know when when my DS needs medication or to see a GP or when he just has a bit of a stomach bug and needs rest and fluids.
Who would take a child to the GP or buy medication for D&V anyway?

How on earth can I prove that DS was ill?
And why are they even querying this?
AIBU to think this is bloody ridiculous?

Anyone have any ideas?

Me too slate

If the staff member who was first responsible for this had returned the phone call - even if only with a holding reply because of genuine busyness - then it wouldn't have required this approach. Yes, they might take a while to respond, but OP is not unreasonable in wanting a serious a causation dealt with in a timely fashion.

I predict a generalised reply along the lines of "Thank you for your letter. No further action will be taken."

Marking place

Bit shocked at the school's poor behaviour. In the past when one of the dcs has had v&d, I have followed school rules and kept them off school for 48 hrs, but on the second day they are always absolutely fine, would have sent them into school if they'd have had them back. Are we now saying that even though the school won't accept a dc back at school because of the 48hr rule, we are effectively under house arrest? I usually take the dcs out for a nice day on the second day because there is bugger all wrong with them - could I seriously be fined for this?

Also marking.

I am shocked by this thread. I had no idea that the rights and responsibilities of parents had been eroded to this extent.

The fact that anyone at all within that school thinks this is an appropriate thing to do speaks volumes to me about the climate which now faces us as parents of state educated children. When you also look at this thread not alongside other recent threads such as the one about the rewards for 100% attendance, and the one where the lady and her 6 year old were stopped at the school gate by a community police officer for being 3 minutes late, then you see a very troubling picture emerging. The erosion of relationships built on trust in favour of control seems to be developing very quickly now.

It's the rights of the child that worries me more.

Children can no longer be ill on schooldays unless they want to cause a shed load of expense,stress and hassle for their parents.

Some of the reaction on this thread is plain daft.
Op set the timescale for response in her letter, so can expect the school to act accordingly. It appears that she has been treated badly, schools deal with this sort of situation from time to time and it's very unlikely that they will brush off or ignore her complaint. If they do, there is a procedure to deal with that.
This is the result of government direction, so maybe stop ranting about schools and LA's in relation to how they deal with attendance.

Jossygiants, I couldn't agree more, it is terrifying.
I am 42 so it is a long time since I was at school. dd1 is 4 and has only just started. It is going to be a very steep learning curve for me to get used to my family being bossed about, doubted, insulted and harrassed in this way. As a parent and an adult I consider my child's education my responsibility, not a matter for the law or for police. If I were to be questioned or charged by the police there would be a procedure in place to protect my rights and I would be considered innocent until proven guilty (in theory). This school business seems to place parents in danger of being treated as quasi-criminals but without a proper framework of protection.
I am genuinely appalled.

I think it is very likely that the OP will get this sorted out. I agree that the school doesn't need to drop everything to deliver a 24 hour service on this, because realistically nothing is going to change over the next week or so. However, I can't believe the amount of time and energy that a person has to find to rebut utterly spurious accusations with real penalties attached. outrageous.

The whole culture has really changed. Look at work where you can get formal warnings for being sick FFS.

It's not "nice" out there anymore. Quite frankly, taking a few days off before summer holiday / Xmas will not damage education.

There seems to be a lack of trust, empathy or kindness out there.

I think the school should have responded much better at the start. The person who wrote it must have got the initial message.

Any news Op?

Any news?

Reading most of this has made my blood boil.

This runaround they are giving you - sounds to me like they know they've cocked up and are hoping the problem will go away.

I've not read every single reply in this topic so this may have already been suggested,

No update yet I'm afraid.

I have been told (as a teacher) that attendance at school has to be 97% to be graded as 'good'. Doing the math (190 x 2 - morning and afternoon sessions - = 380 and 97% = 357.2) would mean only 11 days off in a year allowed before being graded below 'good'. That to me is outrageous. I for one had a very poor year in terms of health and required an interview by my Head. It could have led to a disciplinary but luckily for me she is very understanding and contrary to what other staff members think, very nice and caring. But she is under a lot of stress and pressure and held accountable for parents getting their children into school.
OP - I am not for one minute suggesting that you were wrong in what you do but I want people to be aware that though schools are coming down pretty hard, and in some circumsatnces unfair, on attendance, it is only because that pressure is being passed down to 'us' and onto 'you'.
Also found out today that the 48 hour rule on D&V has been scrapped to 24 hours now.

weareeternal maybe tomorrow or Monday you will hear as they will have received the letter yesterday I guess.

I wonder if by some unfortunate (for the school) twist of fate the person who should be dealing with this matter is absent and has poor attendace. I mean can you imagine the response

Dear weareeternal,
I apologise for the delay in responding but the person who deals with these matters has been away from work. ... .

This whole dituation has the potential to make a comedy sketch its so damn ridiculous.

Seriously though I do hope they pull their finger out and get back to you soon so you can get this sorted.

Sorry, shamelessly marking my place to see how the school attempt to worm their way out of this...

The 48 hr rule on D&V was ridiculous - lots of parents sent their kids in anyway - as I said earlier I kept my dc off but they were clearly fighting fit and there was no point in us sitting around doing nothing all day so we went out and had fun.