To send this reply to letter about attendance from school

[FamilarSting]

Today I received a letter from school about the attendance of my 5 year old. She has had 6 days off school since January (4 of those were last week - she had a throat infection) and had perhaps another 3 from September - December but the letter doesn't mention those.
This is the letter I received and I will paste my reply. I'd appreciate thoughts on if my reply is too OTT, or rude etc. But to be honest, I am furious and want the letter to convey a certain level of how annoyed I am.

Would I be unreasonable to send this reply?

(FROM SCHOOL)

10th April 2014

Dear Parents of X

Here at X Primary School we take attendance very seriously.

In the Home School Agreement you signed to say you will ensure your child attends regularly and on time. I would like to bring to your attention that X's attendance this term is below the school average. I would like to see some improvement next term.

Please find below the summary from the school register with is recorded with X Education Authority.

(table showing she's had 12 'sessions' off out of a possible 124 which is equal to 90.32% attendance, 0 of those being unauthorized)

Yours faithfully

X (Headteacher)

(all typed, nothing signed)

(MY RESPONSE)

Dear Mr X,

I am sorry that you find X’s attendance so troubling. However, I as a parent find her health more important than keeping above your school’s average attendance statistics. I do ensure my child attends school regularly and on time. Unfortunately she has had several periods of illness this year involving very high fevers. I myself was aware of how frequently she has been off school, and so on Monday 1st April, I sent her to school despite her having a fever. She was subsequently sent home from school and spent a week rather ill at home with a throat infection. I can acquire a Doctor’s note about this if required.

As your letter states, X’s 12 sessions absent from school were always authorized and I always made sure to inform school as to what was happening.

I would also like X’s attendance to improve, but not at the expense of sending her to school with a high fever so that she can feel miserable all day.

When X has been unwell at home, in between doses of paracetamol to bring down her fevers, and when she has felt up to it, we have made sure to do extra practice of her reading books and letter sounds etc.

I and her class teacher feel she is doing well in school and I do not feel these absences have had much negative impact on her studies at her reception class level. If this is not the case, or if these days off have caused her teacher to have to spend extra time in helping her to catch up then I apologise, but I suspect this is not the case.

I find the tone and impersonal quality of the letter I received quite frustrating. You may take attendance very seriously, but perhaps you might like to look at the overall picture of the child; her performance at school, and perhaps the possibility that she might have been unlucky enough to be ill several times in the winter months, amounting to 6 days off school.

X will be taking four days absence next term in order to visit family in Norway.

I will no longer concern myself about whether this being marked as unauthorized might upset your records, as if doing the best we can as per the ‘Home School Agreement’ is not good enough, then I doubt anything will be.

Yours Sincerely

FamiliarSting

Please be aware all that schools do care about your child. However they are getting shit from Ofsted to improve attendance and this is why they send these letters. It is not to question your parenting skills, it is not to 'piss you off', it is to make you aware of the level of attendance your child has.

And yes, all schools are required to make above average progress, have above average attendance and above average teaching. I know this is impossible, but you try telling Gove.

If you weren't taking your child out for a holiday (and it is a holiday!) then I think you could write to acknowledge the importance of good attendance, and your intention to support it. However, in the circumstances, I would suggest a low profile is the way forward, unless you move your trip to the summer holiday.

I would respond with a letter that looked like it was a standard response, each time just change the time and dates.

The Norway 'holiday' is 4 days either side of the week's holiday from school, it's needed in order to travel (by ferry) and it's less of a holiday and more of an intense week of visiting family who we haven't seen in two years. Good luck getting this authorised. Why can't you go over the 6 weeks in the summer or over the 2 weeks we have now or and Christmas?

Pipbin have your school asked Gove to write to Hunt and tell him to get his shit together rather than giving grief to service users?

I think we all need to get on this actually, parents with children who are not 100% well, are the scapegoats for these two.

I wouldn't send the letter. They sent a letter they would send to everyone. And if you're going on holiday during term time then don't send that letter!
I think if attendance falls below 85% the education welfare officer will get involved.

And from what others have told me and my experience Education welfare take a stance that you are lying and your child is not ill, as a first port of call.

Please don't send it, it is really poorly written, long-winded and passive-aggressive. And it just sounds even more ridiculous when you talk about her performance at school and holidays. The staff I suspect will laugh at it and ignore (I hope).

Seriously?! Children should be in school to make the most of their educational opportunities unless they are properly ill. And for most children, that should be nearly all of the time.

diddl and Pipbin Yes the ferry is a choice, but direct flights to Norway are also not daily and so she'd have to miss two days if we flew. Also we'd need to rent a car and a large one at that to have space for my children's grandmother.

The trip was planned quite suddenly, MIL is 85, and her health has been gradually reducing for a while. We weren't quite aware of the extent of this and as money has been tight we've not really been able to afford to go for two years. The Easter holidays are too soon to arrange for everyone to be around at the time and the summer holidays would just be far too expensive.

So many parents lie about illness these days that a trigger on just unauthorised won't work. I actually pity the poor schools - how can they tell the difference between a child who is genuinely ill (like OP's child) and a parent who is just lying about it (and I imagine the proximity of the illness to school holidays triggers warning bells).

I asked my doctor for a doctors note and they said they don't do them for children there is no such thing, only adults can get fit to work notes and they are not allowed to do them for children as they don't work.

told school to take it up with doctors and they never did…

Send a letter stating that the school have to decide whether they call you up to collect or they keep your dc at school but as it was the school that sent your child home it was their decision to make your child absent and in future they need to make alternative arrangements, as it is taken seriously that your child is off school.

goodness only knows what those arrangements would be? But they can't send a child home ill and then complain she is off sick from school...

Way over reaction. Schools have to show to everyone they are tackling poor attendance and also looking after kids.

Wind your neck jn

There is NO need to as a first port of call ASSUME all parents are liars about their children's health.

Just send h if it's to do with mil's health.

I just feel like someone needs to pick them up on how rude this automated letter is.

I think, now that I got the rage out of my system by writing the ranty letter, I'm able to see that that is my real issue. That my daughter has been ill a lot and so I have kept her off school, have kept the school informed, have done everything we're supposed to, and they have replied with this cold, annoying letter.

I've spent too much time getting worked up about it already. I need to let it go.

Some parents don't realise how the odd day off adds up. Part of my job is ringing them. They are often astounded.

Never on mumsnet obvs

Send an email to Gove and have a good rant at him instead.

If I got one I would think hey ho.

Or become a governor and encourage them to change the wording.

It would be so much better of those odd days off were spent vomiting at school instead of at home tucked up in bed with mum or dad taking the day of work instead to look after them

I used to send these letters in my role as Attendance Officer. Our school was OFSTED outstanding but the overall attendance was way below average which was a serious issue.

I had to be seen to jump through hoops to improve attendance. Assemblies, cups, displays around the school, etc. (None of it worked)

I had to send out letters to any child with attendance 92% and under if I remember rightly (it was a few years ago) I also worked with an EWO and referred parents to attendance panel meetings if things didn't improve.

Just before I left the post all holiday requests were going to be unauthorised and parents to be fined. That's where I drew the line!

Honestly, just ignore it, nothing will happen to you, it's box ticking.

I wonder if OP would have found the letter less annoying if the 6 days off were 2 days of illness and the 4 day holiday in Norway?

FamilarSting the emphasis on attendance is due to it being one of the main indicators of the success of your child's learning at school.

so why make such a big deal about the school raising it with you?

www.michaelgove.com/contact

There you go OP, rant away and if you want to, tell him to tell his plebs to stop putting parents down and being so rude, us plebs pay their wages.

I would feel equally annoyed with receiving that letter from school, but might be worth toning down your reply or just use it as a way of venting and not actually send it (also it was Tuesday 1st April, not Monday )