To hate 100% attendance awards at schools

[catloony]

A family member today has posted on facebook how their child had received a reward again for 100% attendance, and how proud they are and many children are kept off school "wily nily" and that doesn't make the child have a work ethic, lots of comments then agreeing and congratulating the 100% attendance.

I am basically venting on here rather than commenting back that sometimes there is a poorly child that has a diagnosed medical condition and spent time in hospital, but apparently when it comes to the reward trip to Alton Towers they are punished, which I have to explain whilst my child is crying why they are not allowed to go.

I'm sure that there are many other children that were while not seriously ill but had a virus/ D&V for example were too ill to attend school, it must seem the school says tough shit you were vomiting and ill, you can't come to Alton Towers

I think they are stupid.
It's not a child's fault if they are unwell.
Children who don't get sick are lucky- reward enough that they are not ill.

YANBU. I am a teacher and we do this at our school. It is annoying when kids stay off for headaches and period pains etc., but when they come in genuinely ill and spread it around I think it's a shame for them, and everyone who then catches it. No one should be made to feel guilty for being genuinely ill.

Should we stop sports prizes because some kids are unco-ordinated/asthmatic/slow? Should we stop spelling tests in case pupils with dyslexia get upset? 100% attendance will surely be a minority. As I said, big, obvious day trip type prizes are a bad idea, but I find it hard to imagine a whole class having 100% attendance with one poor chronically ill child left alone.

It's a good point that primary school kids don't get much choice, but for secondary kids I don't see any problem with it. Some people DO need to toughen up and come in when they have a headache/period pain/didn't get 8 hours sleep. If we all took a day off work for every minor ailment we'd hardly ever be in.

I'm a teacher and my immune system is compromised because of a medical condition. I have had to give up my job because I caught so many serious infections in recent years, due to children coming into school when they should have been at home ill. I HATE these awards as they have cost me a career that I absolutely loved.

I love what my children's school do. Each week every class earns money for their attendance (between £5 and £15 depending on class percentage) Then at the end of each term the class decide on a class treat depending on how much they've earnt. This is for everyone - in the past my children have been to the park and had an ice cream, been bowling, been to the cinema, shared fish and chips in the staffroom and bought new exciting craft stuff for wet play.

This school used to have really poor attendance - now it's 96% and everybody gets a reward. Much fairer in my opinion.

My DS got an award for 3 years of 100% attendance. Of course I was proud of him for getting an award but I do think it's ridiculous he was awarded for having the good luck not to be ill (and he hasn't been, even when we all got flu over Christmas he was fine!)

I also had to explain to my youngest why he couldn't go on the yearly cinema treat with his brothers as he got everything going in his Reception year and ended up with 93% attendance. The school had to send him home a few times so it's not like I was keeping him off unnecessarily.

I think their school has changed from monthly 100% attendance treats to a termly treat for over 97% attendance. Much better as it accepts that kids get ill or have appointments.

IMO it doesn't encourage the families it should be encouraging to come to school, because the lazy parents who cba to get out of bed still don't bother. So it does penalise those who are genuinely I'll.

I'd be inclined to take your DC out for the day somewhere really nice on the day the class go on the trip.

It would be an unauthorised absence but who cares? Children can't help getting ill and missing school and it's very wrong of the school to reward children who stagger in and spread their germs around.

Both my DCs had chronic asthma and never even had full attendance in a term.

I've always thought that attendance awards were pretty unfair. They give them out at eldest dd's secondary school but then complain about children coming in when they are obviously unwell. It seems illogical to me.

My children are pretty healthy and rarely have a day off for sickness but they still don't usually get them because they have missed registration once during the year because of a dentist appointment or music exam. They realise that they're pointless certificates though (I have told them that, many times) so don't care.

Interesting point regarding the Disability Discrimination Act. I suspect schools could be challenged under this act if they reward children for not being sick.

I don't really mind the award, if it's just like a piece of paper, to some people that is important. However I do think that the trip to Alton Towers is completely unfair.

When I was in Junior High School all of the kids with low grades who had improved or who were a minority got to go to the local theme park. As a white student with good grades I was not allowed to attend. I was not amused. There were only a handful of kids, around 200, left at the school.

Good grief, some of these systems sound totally unfair and rewarding going to school when ill, spreading germs around 'willy nilly' if we are using that phrase!

DD is at primary. The class with highest attendance that week gets a certificate, and 3 certificates mean an extra play time. No one is left out and it's understood that 100% is pretty unrealistic.

DD was sent home ill from school ( she was well in the morning) as she got send home before afternoon regerster she didn't get to have a treat from the treasure chest. She came out of school very upset. She didn't even want to do her home work.

I know it was an OTT reaction, but my daughter is very well behaved and likes to please her teachers and help other children in the school.

DS will never get this award as he has a lot of appointments with SALT, Peadatrician and a few others.

I understand lots of the points you are raising- and I didn't before coming on mn. I work in a primary school and these arguments hadn't crossed my mind.

However, regarding attendance and holidays, the government and ofsted are putting schools under pressure to improve. Head teachers CAN'T ignore term time holidays, and if attendance is an issue they HAVE to show that they are putting something in place to try to improve this.

I ask this with no edge or anger, but what would parents suggest that schools do in this situation?

Yanbu. Dds asthma was really bad in reception sgevwill dvt have stood a chance. Recurring imperteigo took it away again in yr one.

If people could keep their sick children home then they wouldn't be in school spreading things around. Perhaps the other kids wouldn't get so ill then.

Why can't they do rewards for trying hard, being a good friend, being kind and helpful etc. That's something every child could have a shot at.

The work argument is ridiculous because you can not legally discriminate against someone for having a disability and there are other obligations regarding health and safety that the employer must adher to.

Some one recently applied for a job at my work and gave 100% school attendance as an example of outstanding achievement. We work with chronically ill people so as well as looking like a twat because it was years ago he looked like an ill educated twat to boot. He did not get an interview.

Asthma can be covered by disability legiation but it's not the DD Act now.
It's the Equality Act.

I hate these with a passion. And I have a low achieving dd, who got 100% 5 years running (appeared to manage to get a bug virtually every half term though). Not once did I send her in unwell, just by pure fluke did she time her illnesses in the holidays.

She actually got bored and embarrassed of being pulled up in assembly, to be praised for something she didn't see as an achievement. But her class often won treats because of her high attendance (bringing the average up).

So apart from a week with a virus in reception, she got to year 6 without being off at all. They made a big fuss, and said if she completed that year she would have broken the school record. Got to spring half term, and she wasn't given her usual 100%. She was upset. I told her to forget about it, it wasn't important. Some kids in her class gave her some stick because they might not win the class treat. So she asked the teacher who found an afternoon where she was marked absent, which we all knew she wasn't.

She tried to get the teacher to change it, which she couldn't. She brought it up while i was there one day, and I said I wasn't bothered but I was concerned that she'd been marked absent. If there had been a fire they would not have known she was in the school.

In the end, although it wasn't changed, her class won the attendance treat of a swimming party. She missed it due to a vomiting bug!

I would say a way to show ofstead or eystyn that the school is tackling attendance is by calling the parents in for a meeting if there attendance falls or constant lateness.

Come up with a plan together to improve attendance and both school and parents sign.

Send in a photocopy of any medical appointments or conditions that can be shown to the inspectors.

I don't know how any child winds up with 100% attendance without going to school when they're not feeling well at some point.

I admittedly have a pretty low bar for keeping mine at home but they each have around 10-15 sick days a year and are not particularly sickly.

I don't know either crowler

It's not just that one child they are dealing with. I mean surely there are occasions where mums to suck to do the school run or taking dc2/3/4 to drs is more important than morning registration.

Where are these perfect families where no one is ever sick or there's not a single incident that makes them late or requires attention rather than school for the morning.

I want to live there. Because there's obviously an amazing public transport service that is always on time. They have the safest drivers ever because there are obviously no accidents or road works that means your stuck in traffic fir 45 mins and miss the morning registration.

Where is this place?

Ds and dd2 have had odd bits and pieces of sickness here and there, and have had to stay home.

Dd1 however seems to save all her sickness for the holidays. Oddly, she's the one with a medical condition (muscle related) and has such a determination to not ask for help, that i suspect that she may have concealed things from me. We have had occasions of her concealing sick in her bed and hiding rather than saying there's a problem, but to my knowledge I have never sent her to school ill. She also hides all evidence of school related problems.

They do attendance awards at DS's school.

It's getting quite complicated. They used to get a weekly certificate and if they had 100% attendance for each half term they got a different certificate and a prize.

Now they still get that, but they also get a weekly prize and an entry into a prize draw for some kind of Tablet. The more weeks they have full attendance, the more their name is entered into the draw, which I think is done at the end of the year.

DS is only in Foundation stage so I'm not sure if they have other rewards like trips or parties.

I'm sorry that your DD has been penalised for a hospital stay OP, I'm sure I'd be as furious as you if that were the case with DS.

But if you are going to complain to the school you might have damaged your argument by keeping her off on Alton Towers day to take her to the cinema.

You say she should have been in school that day but was too upset to go rather than actually ill, so you kept her off and took her out for the day yourself.

I can see why you would do that, I'd be tempted myself, but it's going to be a sticking point in your case when you say she's only ever had time off because she was hospitalised when that's not actually true now.

She is probably the sort of parent who sends her child in come what may...there are plenty if them at my sons school
In my nephews class alone last week on one day the school had to phone 4 parents to come and fetch their ill kids.
It's irresponsible and cruel to the kids who aren't well.
But, hey, better than keeping them off and looking after them

certificates for 100% attendance are good - my DD got one last year, i doubt that the other kids gave a monkeys, but she was thrilled. Reward treats? thats wrong

....and don't get me started on punishing a child for a hospital stay!
Have your written to the board of governors about this?