To be pissed off about a snotty letter re ds's attendance?

[Whowillsaveyoursoul]

He's in year one and had four days off last term. He had a sickness bug two of the days and a chest infection the other two. The chest infection was quite nasty actually but happily tagged onto a weekend and half term otherwise he'd have missed more days than he did. Maybe they think we went on holiday?!
Anyway Aibu to think 'get lost' - what do they want me to do? Send a vomiting 5 year old into school? Send a child with asthma who can't breath properly and with a temperature of 40 into school?
Hopefully he won't have any more time off - the letter says 'whilst we appreciate there may have been valid reasons for the absences we hope we have your full cooperation to ensure there are no further absences next term.'
How would the like me to ensure that my child doesn't catch norovirus? I'm really cross!

We have a child in our school, seff, whose attendance this year currently stands at 42%.

I can assure you that in that child's case it is very definitely a safeguarding issue

It may well be an automatically generated letter, but that doesn't mean it should always be sent out every time. Are those responsible for sending them not able to think it through a bit first, or does Ofsted dictate that they are sent out regardless?

The registers in most schools are mostly computerised now. I suppose that is how the letters are generated, but it should in theory also make it much quicker and easier to see at a glance whether or not there really IS a valid concern over the attendance record of a particular child.

Also, parents are asked to phone in on the first day of absence and send in a written note when the child returned to school. Are these then just ignored and the letters sent out anyway?

It never makes sense to me. Of course good attendance is important. So is the health and well-being of the children and staff.

I've seen this mentioned before on Mn and the advice is always to bin and ignore.

But tbh it would rile me too and I would reply. And and least the reply would be on record.

What a waste of resources and everyone's time to fire out letters which everyone knows they're supposed to ignore and which only offend. I have read of awful situations where these letters have been sent to families with extremely ill children who have ongoing conditions to manage.

If you are of the persuasion that school doesn't matter and keep your dc home regularly for no reason such a letter isn't going to make a jot of difference anyway.

If as is usually the case there is a perfectly valid reason for it then what does it achieve?

Topseyt there are parents who keep their kids home at the hint of a sniffle or an 'I feel poorly' so just because a letter is sent in by a parent, it doesn't mean that there's actually a valid reason for absence.

I don't know why people get wound up about this. It is a standard letter that the majority of schools send out. The majority of parents will look at it, take on board the message and throw it away. Schools no longer have the money or time in admin to address each case but they have to be able to show that they are dealing with attendance and this is how. Can you imagine individually checking the records of 1,000 pupils at high school?
The Welfare OFFICER only tends to get involved at 85% and below. Before that the school deal with it UNLESS they think there is an issue.
To the poster who had a 'blazing row' with the WO - why? For doing her job - if you don't like the way things are run then maybe you would be better home educating!

Then let's focus on those children that actually need help, rather than the kids who are ill. But of course, it's easier just to treat everyone as if they're neglectful and be pleased that we're doing something to help those that need it.

I would write/ email back stating exactly why he was off and ask them what they expected you to do?!

I got sick of this when DS was at school. He had (unknown at the time) pancreatitis and was fine 90% of the time but would suddenly get excruciating pain which would to totally floor him for 30mins at a time causing him to writhe around in pain making a choking sound
It was horrible to watch and I kept him off school for a week whilst trying to get to the bottom of it with GP etc

Anyway, the school rang to see why he wasn't there (in year 10 at the time)
And said as he was well most of the time I should send him in,
Anyway, to cut a long boring story short, I sent him in and by lunchtime they had called an ambulance for him!!

(They then made me come home from work, I work at the hospital he
Was going to so could have met him there, as he wasn't allowed to travel in the ambulance alone!! By the time they waited for me to get to the school he could have been in a and e with me by his side)

Oh I'm so glad he's left school!!

Our school attendance figures have improved with letters being sent out. It's not true to say that the letters achieve nothing.

That's ridiculous. I would like missing 4 days/term is pretty normal for a child in year 1?

My son in year 4 missed 10 days last term, but I concede my bar for keeping him home is far too low.

Then let's focus on those children that actually need help, rather than the kids who are ill.

Perhaps you could explain how to differentiate reliably?

I think probably most people will get a letter at some point, it's just part of the course. Pop it in the bin and have a is my advice.

There are lots of things that I disagree with and could get worked up about. Pick your battles it's my advice and this one imo is pretty pointless.

And yes, it's utterly ridiculous.

42% attendance seems a start

I rang in every day by 8am.

Sorry, it's something that particularly riles me. Not just letters but prizes for kids who are lucky enough to not be ill. I had a friend at school with CF, sending sick children into school doesn't just affect attendance stats.

ah 100% attendance is a different thing though isn't it?

Like it or not there are people who dont send their children to school consistently. It needs tackling somehow, this might be a daft/ annoying way of doing it, but the intention is sound.

Everyone start taking graphic photos of pools of vomit, diarrhoea and phlegm then when you get this "standard" letter reply with descriptions of illness and photos?

The issue with not being specific and sending out these snotagrams is that the message gets diluted when the letter is important. Also the cost of postage (if sent in mail) and surely the time spent in printing and sending these letters but hey it keeps the school admin busy.

Seff that would miss an awful lot of kids who take time off because e.g. a new Call of Duty has come out, whose parents need a kick up the backside.

They called it 'COD flu'.

snotograms

I think I've posted about this before, but we received one of those letters for my son - who has a life limiting illness! "Although we appreciate that the absences may be as a result of illness." It's a small school and was signed by the head who is more than aware of our situation. Spoke to WO who said it's an OFSTED thing. That letter really upset me.

So should schools request proof from a parent calling in sick that they are indeed sick e.g. Photos of vomit, medical records etc... Or take the parent at face value. These letters are automatically generated to get to those parents who authorise sickness when the child is not sick. It's a pain but not personal.

I know, attendance is one of my button pushers!!

I also don't like the way it's accepted that we should treat everyone as if they're guilty unless they can prove otherwise. "I know you said your child was ill but sometimes, some people lie, so we can't trust you"

I get that it's the easiest and simplest way of dealing with it, but does it actually work though? And work in respects of protecting the children who need it, not just raising attendance figures.

But at least the schools can say "well, we sent them a letter"

We get these letters all the time. Ds has about 72% attendance. Try not to worry OP.

Cross post with nicklepic I do think the admin staff should cross reference the attendance letters against a standard list of those students whose attendance should not be questioned.

I would like to add that I do not blame individual schools for any of this, that for the most part, schools do want to help their students.

I am annoyed at the system, the system that puts attendance figures and exam grades above what is best for individual children.

as everyone else has said, it is a standard letter that the school is obliged to send. do not take it personally.

And hannahbott, why should there be 'students whose attendance should not be questioned' - do you mean the 'naice' mc ones? Perhaps their parents' jobs should be recorded by their names? just WTF.