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?

If Op does a FOI request we do know that any "informant" won't be named anyway?

Peeking that is a great sample letter. I'm sure the OP will find it useful.

Aussiemum I gather you're not in the UK. You're lucky. They have become really draconian here, at least in some schools. (Not the ones my DDs attend, fortunately)

Dd needed day off to do an audition for the school she now attends. Explained to her teacher and asked HT who agreed the day off. End of term report said that it had been put down as an unauthorised absence.

It's too late to talk to the Head

Is it?
Had it been me I really would have made an appt to see the HT straight away before all the escalation of the letter business began.
I suspect the Governors may question why this problem wasn't discussed with the HT first.
Was there any particular reason why it wasn't?

Harticus, the situation is that whatever anyone else might have done, Op is now at the point where the governors have started on the formal complaints procedure. Their acknowledgement letter says they are dealing with it, so that is where we are now. She did try to discuss with the HT and was ignored.
Depending on their complaints procedure - which op had bloody well better have in her hand by this time next week! - there may be a role for the Chair to deal with this stage alone, or it may go straight to a panel of governors. There has to be an investigation before the panel sits, the Clerk to the Governors has to get governors to form the panel and set up dates. All the information has to be shared with all parties and circulated in advance of the meeting (normally 5 days in advance). But that will all be laid out in the procedure. This is why nothing is going to happen overnight, and the Mumsnet Hive Mind might have to tap their talons and wait a while for the next thrilling installment.

I'm a school governor and if this came to my attention I would make sure the governing body took it very seriously. I would assume that yours are doing the same.I understand that in a situation like this, the panel who will be looking into your complaint have to be unrelated to the school (no parent or teacher governors) so hopefully they are people on the governing body who are not connected with the school and are able to be robust in their investigating. The governing body I sit on has only three people who are not teachers at the school or parent governors but a few of us are quite stroppy questioning.

I find it quite tricky actually as the head teacher is a slippery fox smiling assassin complex person. She smiles and nods even when things haven't been handled correctly. Very like a politician. I don't trust her. And I've felt very conflicted about being a governor since my distrust of her has grown.

Wow I've just read through this epic thread.

OP I am beyond furious on your behalf that the school have chosen to completely ignore you. You pohned several times and nobody called you back. You sent a letter and they ignored it! It is actually beyond my comprehension that they have done this.

I'm in Scotland so not sure of the complaints procedure in England. We have a complaints officer who we go to at the local authority if the school have not dealt with a complaint.

I really don't think you should let this go. I would follow up to the Governors and insist upon being given a response and the register that you asked for.

Peeking thanks for that.
I couldn't remember what had happened re:HT and I am a lazy twat couldn't face wading through the thread.

Fannydabbydozey any non-staff governor could serve on this panel, as long as they aren't "tainted" by prior knowledge. Parent governors are supposed to understand their role and respect the need for confidentiality. This is a common misunderstanding in governing bodies. Parent governors can do just about anything, including serve on the HT's appraisal committee. Your Clerk should advise you on this.
I am very sure of the complaints procedure in England and it no longer includes an LA role. (I mentioned earlier in the thread, in a previous life I was that LA person).

Whilst most of us agree the that Eternal should take this all the way, she must alternate between tears and fury. It's all very well saying the school/ head have to produce this and that! and do this and that ! In a prescribed time scale, but the fact is they have said and done absolutely nothing!!! The governors MAY do or say something , but it seems that once again she has to wait , ( probably until next year) let's hope it's more than a wishy washy 'sorry'
It's absolutely disgraceful that a supposedly professional and educated person is allowed to ride rough shod over the parent , basically say she is lying and then treat her with contempt.
The only person trying to do things 'by the book' is Eternal whilst all the time keeping in mind that her child attends this school.
The wheels of authority turn slowly or in this case not at all.

I think the OP should put in a holiday request. Just to see the reaction from the school.

"It's absolutely disgraceful that a supposedly professional and educated person is allowed to ride rough shod over the parent , basically say she is lying and then treat her with contempt."

How do you know that? The Head hasn't been held to account by the governors yet.

As for the wheels turning slowly, well, whatever the situation, I'm not sure how an investigation is supposed to suddenly happen out of thin air...

The response (or lack of response) from the Head is treating the OP with contempt.

In the OP of 8 Nov, Eternal stated ' a couple of weeks ago' therefore approx mid Oct. So about 7-8 weeks now! Not so much as an acknowledgment! No phone calls returned. This matter should have been dealt with immediately , either the child was sick or if they have evidence he was on holiday they should have shared it with the parent( no offence Eternal)

It's quite simple, the child was sick - mother phones- marked sick. Or he was on holiday, - mother tells lie- school finds out - mother fined.

It should be black or white.

Think it sounds very much like they are just burying their heads in the sand and hoping it will go away, it's shocking this is the way it has become with kids being off school, dreading my DS starting next year! Lucky he rarely gets ill but reading some of the threads on here or stories on facebook makes me dread it all!

It sounds very much as if several posters haven't read recent posts on the thread.

The school has handled this badly. The governors have just got involved. Op could have started the complaints process sooner.

peeking I have read the recent posts. I'm still totally shocked by the way the school have handled it. It speaks volumes about a school when the Head can't even be bothered to respond to such a letter.

Yes I read that, I was just talking about the school though, would of been nice for them to have replied rather than it going the way it did but hey ho, be interesting to hear back from the OP soon!

The school has behaved appallingly from beginning to end. Unfortunately some schools are like this (and indeed were like this before the recent change in policy which was much less significant than many schools like to pretend). It may be that they have a problem with attendance levels but this is not the way to deal with it. And their failure to respond to your attempts to talk to them just adds insult to injury. I hope the governors show some backbone and deal with this properly.

The whole point is this should not have happened.
It makes me think that the school have no evidence , someone stupidly believed some gossip and took it upon themselves to make sure this parent is fined.
They know they have a few awkward questions to answer and hoped that Eternal would get tired of the whole thing and go away.

It will be interesting to see if all the faith in the governors is rewarded with a thorough investigation into the reason the original letter was sent, and the way the whole matter was handled. If I was a governor I would want to know why it even got to us.
I am not holding my breath though !

If the faith isn't rewarded then I'm sure Op will go to the next level - the DfE. She's been badgered enough to do so.

Peekingduck I know the school policies don't have to be available on the school website (just makes life so much easier!)
But IIRC don't they have to be available to read when requested? (from the school office, to make life difficult).

NannyOgg, yes, the policies have to be available on request. I advised Op to get the complaints one, and mentioned it in the suggested letter to the Chair of Govs I drafted for her a bit further up. It doesn't take much Google-ing to find "policies and other documents that governing bodies and proprietors are required to have by law (April 20130" for the ones that must be in place.
I think it helps to avoid thinking of "the school" and "the governors" as separate entities. They are one and the same, the governing body is part of the school leadership and management and judged as such by Ofsted. If a governing body/leadership and management "require improvement" it can downgrade the Ofsted judgement of a school that is otherwise good. Complaining about the actions of a headteacher to the governors can be a powerful thing to do and the governors will almost always (these days!) hold a headteacher to account. The governors employ the headteacher.
If all that fails, the DfE will consider the complaint.

As a former parent governor, I agree that governors are being held more accountable these days, which is why so few parents actually put themselves up for election.

Now it's in the hands of the governors, I echo Peekingduck's comment that trying to go to the head now will not work, it's out of their hands.

Fannydabbydozey parents governors can be involved in anything, even handling a complaint like this, as long as they had no "prior knowledge" as stated earlier.

I've been Vice Chair, Chair of Finance and Staffing Committees (while also acting as secretary, we had so few governors), I've been part of the head's performance review panel, sat on redundancy panels, and many other tasks. It's not easy.

But hopefully, the governors looking into the OP's complaint will be through about it.