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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

100% attendance

107 replies

OinkBalloon · 05/05/2015 21:44

AIBU to think that school has got this 100% attendance thing 100% right?

Received a 2-line letter today congratulating dd for her 100% attendance last term and thanking us for supporting her attendance.

I had no idea she had had 100% attendance, for various legitimate reasons none of my dc ever achieve 100% attendance. Despite this, ds's tutor group regularly receive the year group prize for overall best attendance.

So the school manages to reward good attendance without penalising those who have no hope of ever attaining it.

OP posts:
NewNameForMarch · 06/05/2015 09:24

I think they should stop congratulating pupils for 100% attendance. Why should a child and his/her parents be rewarded for the child being lucky not to be ill. And what about children with health issues who miss school because of them.

We had a ridiculous situation last school year. One child missed lots of school because he was injured by another pupil jumping on his back and we had no end of aggro from the ewo, and the other got a certificate for good attendance which we and him were congratulated for. Neither of the situations were anything we or our children could have influenced.

Sirzy · 06/05/2015 09:28

It's better than making a massive fuss about it that's for sure. I still think congratulating someone for being well is strange.

longdiling · 06/05/2015 09:28

I'm not sure I understand...so your child didn't in fact have 100% attendance?! But because the attendance of the group as a whole was good you got a letter stating she did?!

Surely it could work the other way and you could have a child who genuinely has 100% attendance but is unlucky enough to be with a tutor group of kids with low attendance? Therefore they never win the prize despite their best efforts.

Quitelikely · 06/05/2015 09:29

Why it's relevant I don't know. The school should be focusing on more important matters imo.

SiobhanSharpe · 06/05/2015 09:36

It's not exactly relevant, it's just fucking league tables.

shewept · 06/05/2015 10:01

Surely you know whether you child went to school everyday?

My dd gets 100% attendance quite alot. But I hate the while thing tbh.

I have seen her drag herself to school when she shouldn't really have gone because she is worried about the label of lower attendance. We get colour coded letters. Green, Amber, red.

Some kids can't help being sick and these letters really upset them. The wording isn't great. DD got injured at school and couldn't walk, it was her knees. the pain got so bad she was admitted to hospital. At one point they thought she was really sick, maybe had an infection in joint, maybe something worse. It was awful.

She got an amber letter with really stern wording warning about slack attendance. DD was quite upset and worried. I complained to the Governors and HT and they are reviewing it. She got injured while they were doing PE at school and they called the ambulance, and yet (apparently) its our fault she had to have time off. Pisses me right off.

AuntyMag10 · 06/05/2015 10:03

I think schools should stop handing out daft, meaningless awards like this. It really doesn't relate to a child's ability at all.

pudcat · 06/05/2015 10:09

It is so wrong to congratulate children for not being ill. Children should not go to school if they are ill. They will not learn efficiently when ill, others will catch what they have. I know one year my Christmas was ruined because I caught flu from a child sent in with it. And that was because the Mum had to go to work and had no childcare and refused to take her home.
Such a waste of time to chase up children who are in hospital.

flumpysocks · 06/05/2015 10:13

DS's school has started having a party on the last day of term for the "100% club" members. Can't tell you how much I disagree with it (and DS had 100% attendance). I've had to deal with a very upset little boy this week after I had to tell him that attending his cardiac check up after open heart surgery meant he would miss one morning session of school and therefore not make it into the club this term.

One kid last term missed the party because he was off sick...

MidniteScribbler · 06/05/2015 10:16

I can't stand 100% attendance awards. If your child is sick, then keep them home, I don't want to catch it just so your child doesn't miss out on a piece of paper at the end of semester with a sticker on it.

Sirzy · 06/05/2015 10:22

Flumpy, I would keep my DS off on "party" day and make it very clear to school why I was!

DS attendance is made worse by the "dose em up and send them in brigade"

bakingtins · 06/05/2015 10:27

Our school publishes a list in the newsletter of all children with 100% attendance in the current term and cumulatively over the year Hmm and gives out certificates. The governors (my DH is one) have just put a stop to more tangible rewards at the end of the year.
There are a lot of children with legitimate reasons for not attending, both short and long term.
I think getting your children to school on any day when they are well enough to attend is a baseline parental duty, not something deserving a reward. I doubt persistent absenteeism without good reason is solved with a certificate. However I also sympathise with the school's need to show good attendance for OFSTED.

I think the OP's school has the balance about right. Acknowledgement without fanfare.

RufusTheReindeer · 06/05/2015 11:12

Did is very rarely ill, only one day off in junior school as far as I can remember and none in year 7

She had 4 days off school in year 8, poor thing could barely crawl out of bed

On the bottom of her glowing report was the comment "must improve her attendance"

I wasn't very happy, how can you improve on getting ill for the first time in about 4/5 years!

CFSKate · 06/05/2015 11:19

A special reward for being able-bodied.

EatShitDerek · 06/05/2015 11:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CFSKate · 06/05/2015 11:20

Most children get upset if they think they are in trouble with the teacher.

Why put them through that for the crime of being ill?

CaptainAnkles · 06/05/2015 11:22

That sickness rule is stupid, they should realise that there's a difference between someone having a one off coughing fit and someone with a bug that could infect others.
Schools shouldn't reward pupils lucky enough to have not been ill, and I bet a large number of them were ill but went in anyway, probably making others miss school by sharing their germs.

LadyTmalia · 06/05/2015 13:09

My son lost his 100% attendance because, whilst in school, his head was used as a football by another classmate and he got concusion so they (quite rightly) sent him home at lunchtime.

The system is flawed, who wants their child to get D&V because another child had to have perfect attendance and came in with the bug? What about chickenpox etc.

Attendance is important, but too much emphasis is placed on the 100% and ensuing reward

Original poster
OinkBalloon · 06/05/2015 14:00

Thanks bakingtins for being the only person who gets the point of my post.

Acknowledgement without fanfare. Exactly.

OP posts:
longdiling · 06/05/2015 14:53

I absolutely agree with the idea of acknowledgement without fanfare but not sure you can call it that. After all there IS a prize isn't there? Like I say, what about those kids with 100% attendance who are stuck with a year group with low overall attendance? I'm not sure the system you describe is any less flawed than the usual ones of certificates for 100% attendance. I don't know what the answer is mind, I can see schools need to encourage good attendance but agree totally that it's unfair to reward the healthy and penalise the sick.

Bodyinpyjamas10 · 06/05/2015 14:58

Think it's ridiculous and unfair.

Original poster
OinkBalloon · 06/05/2015 15:15

The kids with 100% get a letter home, and the kids in the overall high-attendance tutor group get a box of chocolates to share between 30. It's the fairest system I've seen

Actually I suspect that the school is not penalising children for medical appointments, because dd had 2 last term, for a chronic condition, yet she is considered to have achieved 100% attendance.

OP posts:
crazykat · 06/05/2015 15:29

I hate 100% attendance rewards and my dcs usually get quite a few.

It's not fair to those who are ill especially at primary level where it's almost certain that they'll get a d&v bug at least once a year.

Our school also does the green, amber, red attendance letters and my dd was so upset to get a red one last term. She'd had a day off after having teeth out, a d&v bug which ment three days off due to the 48 hour rule and another week off with chickenpox. None of this was her fault and neither could it be avoided but since all the time off was in the second term her attendance took a nose dive, every other year she's had 98-100% attendance and green letters throughout.

Yes there are some parents who keep all their kids off when one is ill or are too hungover to get them up fed and ready (something to brag about for some parents at my dcs school) but to them it won't make a bit of difference whether their dcs get 100% awards. All it does is make kids feel bad for being ill or insist they're fine to go to school when they aren't.

crazykat · 06/05/2015 15:33

You can't really have acknowledgement without fanfare in a primary school. Even if it's just a letter saying well done for full attendance the child will be excited to tell their parent and so the rest of the class will know. Kids aren't stupid and they'll soon realise what the 'discrete' letter is about and be disappointed that they don't have one.

PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 06/05/2015 15:47

I get mad at this awards.

Ds will never get 100% due to appointments.

He is desperate to get a certificate for it, so much getting to vital medical appointments is very hard work.