100% attendance

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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.

Okay-so just to be contraversial, I think there are lots of things that, through no fault of their own, some children will never get congratulated on. I am pretty much against attainment awards of any kind, ie for reaching a certain level be it academically or attendance, that will be out of reach for many, although I support achievement awards if the school feels they must and the children are clear about what they have to do. Generally, I feel most awards are flawed and I would rather teachers made my children feel positive enough about the work they did on a daily basis to feel they wanted to repeat the effort.

I disagree. The fact thatsomeone else may not be able to achieve something doesn't justify short-changing someone who has achieved it.

Both my DS's attend hospital appointments so cannot get 100% attendance, and hospital is counted as absence. It's a load of nonsense and DS1 doesn't care anyway.the upside of him having ASD has been that he puts no value on stickers, certificates etc as they are just paper!

But they haven't 'achieved' anything. They've just not been off school ill.

It's all just trying to jump through OFSTED's hoops.

I once worked in a school where, at the awards evening, they gave 100% attendance awards to Year 11 who had never had a day off sick since starting in Year 7. I know luck plays a part, but I did always think that one was worth celebrating as it was quite impressive really!

Irrelevant to the thread, but can I just say you have a great name, OP

But not staying at home every time they have a bit of a sniffy nose does need some recognition. But only tiny one- a paper certificate for example. After all my children will never win a running race or star in a drama production, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any. Everyone needs recognition for what they can achieve, and in the work place the people that pitch in every day and plod on continually are just as important as the bright stars who change the world.

I got the right old hump, we had an attendance letter with whatever DS' attendance level was, the week before they send a reminder letter that the school is shut tomorrow for election purposes......Righto.

I can see all the points you are making about attendance, but as a teacher (secondary, which might make a difference) I also know that low attendance will affect attainment, and that many children have time off when they don't need to. Theses awards might encourage them, or at least show them that aiming for the best attendance you can is a worthwhile aim. And as others have said, we reward many things which are beyond the reach of some pupils - there was no way I was ever getting in a county sports team, for example, but I had no problem with rewarding those who did.
Incidentally, I'm in Wales and for Estyn it's attendance with no explanation which is checked, so the non-attendance of genuinely ill children, or those whose parents are willing to say they are, does not count against the school. The drive for attendance is down to a desire to improve results (which may be for the school's benefit as much as the pupil's).
It's a tricky one.

No it doesn't need recognition.

Attendance is out of children hands. Why should they get recognition for being lucky enough not to be ill?

For some children their "poor" attendance takes a hell of a lot more work to achieve than someone else's 100%. The other child's 100% could also contribute to the vulnerable child getting a low attendance.

Meggy the law says they have to shut for the election if they are a polling station - the school can't help it!

Meggy the law says they have to shut for the election if they are a polling station - the school can't help it!

Can you point me in the direction of that.

Our school tacked all inset days on to the october half term and so is open tomorrow, even though its a polling station. We have lots of hoops to jump through tomorrow to enable to the kids to go to school. I would love to know if this is correct.

Cardi In my situation my dd got a strongly worded letter for having time off, because they weren't supervising PE properly. They even called the ambulance that took her to hospital. How is that ok? If they hadn't been so lax, then she wouldn't have injured herself and had to have time off. Its a disgrace to make a small child feel bad, when its not their pr their parenst fault.

Being sick, is not the childs fault either. I once sent dd in perfectly well on a Monday Morning. She threw up at school at 11am. Came home and was fine by the afternoon , wasn't sick again. Due to the 48hr rule she had to have Tuesday and Wednesday off. They wouldn't let her even go in at 11am on Wednesday. Those 3 days affected her attendance and she was fine for 2.5 of them.

Why does it need to be mentioned at all? It's not any kind of achievement by the child.
It's idiotic. Any kind of reward for it is unfair to children who have no hope of achieving it.

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

In our school we manage to focus on attendance and other important matters.

Amazing, eh?

The problem is, if you are feckless and can't be arsed taking your kids in just because. An amber/ red letter stating the obvious is not going to make you care. People who aren't bothered by there kids attendance, aren't bothered.

But what it does do is manages to piss of parents (who do think its important) whose kids are ill, or whose kids have appointments or chronic conditions and make those kids feel shit.

Bully for you, but attendance should only be an issue when it is an issue, and should be a matter between the parent and school.

A letter congratulating your child on their attendance is like telling them well done for being tall or something equally nonsensical.

Short term rewards do work. We give our children a sticker each week saying "I have been at school all week" with a picture. The children like them and we have even had nursery (not compulsory school age) parents say their child wanted to come in so they could have their sticker.

A weekly target ensures that even the most poor attendee gets rewarded at some point

What an awful approach hippo. So everyone can see which children have been unlucky enough to be ill each week!

And children coming In just to get a sticker - super I'm sure the vulnerable children won't mind catching their bug

So if it doesn't work why is our attendance better this year by 2% than it has been for the last 3 years

But an approach like that is more interested in the figures than the individuals, I'm sure that 2% is worth upsetting, and potentially making ill, vulnerable children though

Stickers every week? So your constantly discriminating against disability, chronic illness, etc. How nice for those children who will frequently feel left out....

Well hippo inviting all the sick people into the school I suppose makes sure that you all get to take the same sick time off