To want to tell the EWO to fuck off with his shitty letter?

[ASorcererIsAWizardSquared]

There is 3 weeks left of term.

I had a letter about DD's attendance earlier in the year as it had dropped to 92% after a couple of nasty stomach bug/vomiting episodes.

The school itself has a strict 48hr exclusion from the last incident of vomiting/diarrhea btw.

just to give you a run down..
she had 1 day off in november (flu)
1 day at the beginning of feb (high temp)
3 days in the middle of feb (tummy bug + 48hr exclusion)
3 days in march (tummy bug + 48hr exclusion)
2 days off this month (tummy bug + 48hr exclusion)

So she's had a total of 9 days, just under 2 whole weeks of term. 5 of which were down to the schools own strict 48hr exclusion policy.

Yesterday i got another shitty letter pointing out her attendence is at 94.2% and shows 'no significant improvement (so 92 - 94% isn't an improvement) and that if she's off again unless i provide medical evidence from the dr, it will go down as unauthorised absence.

And then a shitty little "may i remind you of the law" section where they bold "the parent of every child of statutory school age is compelled by law to ensure such a child attends school unless there is a reasonable excuse for non-attendance"

Erm.. scuse me? Her attendance has improved, and more than half of it is because of the schools own fucking policy!

I really want to write back and tell him to go fuck himself.

We had one last school year. Dd has cerebral palsy and had time off for fucking surgery!

It wasn't getting the letter I minded, it was the shitty accusatory tone and threats of court action. I phoned and played balls with them, and they grovelled. A nicer letter it an enquiring phone csll, I'd have had no problem with.

Exactly Welsh!

of course i know some people take the piss, but generic letters are insulting to those of us who aren't!

if the quote about the law was word for word, then the EO has that wrong . You only have to send them to school if they're registered at a school (ex home-edder hat on ). Just because they're "school aged" doesn't mean they have to be in school.

Our school has dropped the 24/48 hour exclusion period - it's now up to us as parents to decide if our DC are well enough to come back in.

EWO not EO

Does school have a written policy of 48 hour exclusion for D and V ?

I'd be tempted to write a short letter back, copied in to the school thanking him for clarifying that your DD is exempt from the attached D and V policy to increase her attendance.

Check with GP surgery how much private sicknote is and again in writing confirm the cost of this and ask whether GP should bill EWO or school directly.

(thankfully DD is at private school and outside all this nonsense, they even authorise holidays)

As others have said, and you yourself have acknowledged, these letters are automatically generated. You are not going to gain anything from replying to it, especially in such a defensive manner. I think you will only antagonise staff with your suggestion that they give you special dispensation regarding possible future illnesses. These guys are only doing their jobs, and I'm sure they have many many other things they'd rather be dealing with than parental overreaction to a "standard" letter. As annoying as these letters may be, Bin it, forget about it and move on.

I had one after dd had had two weeks off school due to her asthma this last winter. (In hospital twice for 3 days each then recovery at home). I did think when I read 'so we can work together to improve attendence' that if the LEA had a cure for asthma id like to know about it. I do get those letters are generic though so tried not to let it overly upset me.

Isn't the bit about the law in the main part so that if the LA did end up taking a parent to court over non-attendance they can show that they have acted reasonably throughout?

In your shoes I would just sigh deeply and file it away (do keep it - as your draft shows, you do sometimes need to refer to official letters in the future, and it is always helpful to be able to quote exact details eg dates, %ages)

If you are the kind of person who doesn't give a flying fuck and takes you kiss out for weeks at a time this letter is not going to change that one bit.

All they do is upset and anger the parents who care about their DC and do what the schools day.

It does nothing to help the parent school relationship and more to harm the relationship with the parents who care.

agree - for someone who doesnt care, you obviously REALLY do!

I think your letter is too long, but the sentiment is perfectly reasonable.

Edit it to about half the length. You don't need any personal story or justification in there, just a request for written confirmation that the school no longer expects you to comply with the (often quite unnecessary) 48 hour D&V eviction, and a comment to the effect that it is not good use of NHS resources to have children with self-limiting illnesses packing out GPS surgeries.

Leave out the stuff about claiming back the cost of the doctor's note. It's irrelevant. They are not going enforce this.

Copy to the head teacher and the governors.

Teal, i will readily admit i am a crabby pants this week! I've buggered my hip and am on enforced inactivity and a lot of painkillers... i'd quite happily make the baby jesus cry by poking him today!

What i would like to know is if teachers and heads are soooo educated, why do they write such god-awfully rude letters?

It's not hard to write a letter that puts a point across without some jumped up toothless threat.

If the letter is a form letter devised by the LA, same comment applies.

I had a shitty letter from the librarian once, when ds had asked for and got an extension for a book he was reading. I sent a note back reminding them to check their facts and rephrase the book reminder NOT to sound so condescending and rude.

I don't see why standard letters need to be so poorly written and Ill mannered

I'd actually point out to your muppet EWO that OVER HALF of the absence was enforced by the school, and only the 4 days were due to actual sickness.

Firstly, if her flu lasted just one day, it wasn't flu! Secondly, I think you should impress on the your child the importance of hand washing because she seems to be picking up a lot of tummy bugs which are only transferred by dirty hands near food/mouth/nose etc.

I said she had 1 day off, not that it last one day.

FTR, she came home early on the thursday with a temp of 39, by midnight it had shot up to 40+ degree temperature and she was screaming/crying in pain with a splitting headache she was taken to the OOH where the Dr diagnosed flu.

As for handwashing, she's 5, of course i tell her to wash her hands, but at school its kind of hard to make sure she's doing it properly!

I sent a letter back once, after calculating the exact % of absence that the 48 hour policy caused stating I was not responsible for that % of absence. We have had the same amount of absence this year and I suspect the letter for this year was put in the bin.

it's pretty normal to get loads of bugs in reception. It takes a while for your immune system to toughen up and many four and five year olds just aren't that great at hand washing.

These letters are frustrating and I send them.

In my school I get a 6 weekly list of those whose attendance falls below 95% and a comparator for the whole term and the previous 6 weeks. I then then to go through and make a judgement over whether I think there is something worth raising, whether it needs escalated or whether there has been improvement.

The first 6 weeks I can have over 100 to go through. My issue is always where the days off are patchy - one day off a week bothers be far more than a whole week off.

I have had parents get terribly upset at the letters and others who ignore but the fact remains that I can't make 'too much' judgement IFSWIM? It may be that a child has been ill on and off all term and maybe I could meet the parents to see if there is anything I can do to help.

I would be a wee bit upset about the insinuation that I was 'box-ticking' to be honest. I do understand the point but hay ho

My DC's school only have 24 hour exclusion after D&V. It doesn't seem to cause more bugs than at most schools. Perhaps suggest the school policy to 24 hours.

My child was off sick for a week followed by a week of authorised absence. During the following week -which was school holidays - we received a letter about the absence and threats about why we hadn't sent a letter in, saying they were unwell wasn't good enough, either. At this point my DC hadn't had chance to go back to school to hand in the absence letter...

I got one of these letters the day after getting the "please remove your pestilent offspring from school" phone call. [Grin] I binned it.

Hissy posts like yours show what little respect people have for teachers and why we have such a hard time. 'If teachers are soooo educated". Actually we are. To post grad level.
Your attitude is why pupils have lost respect for their teachers - do you say that sort of thing to your kids ..??The op said the letter came from EWO. They are not teachers but employed by county.

I'm with you hissy. There's a polite respectable way to say everything. No need for a high and mighty attitude in letters.

Piece - many parents like myself are highly educated too to masters/post grad level. I think teachers sometimes forget that parents are knowledgable and specialists