To think that this jobsworth of a headteacher is a spiteful idiot?

[GlitteryRollers]

I know it's in the Daily Mail, and these school bashing stories are usually rubbish. But I'm pretty shocked by this one.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3363790/Boy-5-banned-attending-end-term-cinema-trip-classmates-poor-attendance-run-spend-two-weeks-off.html

What a nasty, spiteful cow! I'd be pulling my child out of that school ASAP. "Exceptions can't be made"? He was run over by a car you cruel bitch. Was he supposed to attend school when he was in hospital?

Why is it that so many headteachers seem to lack basic empathy and common sense these days? Even my very strict andy terrifying old primary school head wouldnt have done something so bloody mean.

Yeah exactly Simon!

I see your point glittery but there could be other reasons for absence too i.e. illness, funerals etc. Those children are excluded too, its just as unfair for them.

I guess the point is that this reward is only given for 100% attendance, irrespective for the reason for absence.

The mother, instead of contacting the DM to do a sadface article, should quietly sit her son down and explain that sometimes life isn't fair and some rules mean unfairness happens. It's not personal. This reward is only given for 100% attendance and, regretably, this year he didn't achieve this. Next year he can have another go.

I never fail to be surprised at the amount of dullards on MN who blindly agree with this kind of thing and insist "rules are rules" when it comes to small children and their school attendance. MN members pride themselves on their higher levels of intelligence but when it comes to school, It's like people on here have to be led around by their noses by the powers that be because they can't think for themselves. Any fool can see that this is wrong and that 100% attendance prizes contribute to and perpetuates massive stress around school and education that generally plays out negatively, with for example as a previous poster mentioned, ill children being sent in to pass their illness onto the rest of the school. Where is the sense in that?

Why not just an end of term treat for everyone? Why not just make school in general a happier less stressful place to be so that children actually want to be there?

I think rather than focusing on 100% attendance, it should be on unauthorised absences. So no one with any unauthorised absences get treats.

But Timri that's not the child's fault either, not at 5 years old.

At age 5, the end of term treat should be for everyone.

I hate hate hate linking attendance to treats for primary children.

Congratulations, you don't have a chaotic home life - have a treat.

Congratulations, you're not suffering from a long term health problem and all the social exclusion that entails - have a treat.

Congratulations, your mum didn't die - have a treat.

I agree that making school a more fun place so kids don't want to be off will work better than incentive schemes.

Dd hated school last year and was always throwing up, stomach aches, etc. I think the vomiting was self induced sometimes.

This year she's in year 10 so doing options she enjoys. She's got 100% attendence. They had a reward assembly yesterday where kids with 100% had to go out of lessons for a certificate. Which is kind of ironic. Anyway dd is enjoying lessons so much she didn't go to assembly as she didn't want to miss class.

I do wonder whether it could be discrimination if the absence is related to disability.

This child's isn't though.

Well I think its disgusting. Kids can't help being sick or attending funeral or in this case being run over.

god forbid the head teacher gets fired for poor attendance after spending a week their dying mothers bedside.

bloody cruel.

why are people like frickin sheep when ot comes to school. I swear you'd all stick your head in an oven if they told you too

Surely school attendance should be based on the child's ability to attend, if they are sick, or ill or have been run over by a car, they are not able to attend. It's al utter crap and teaches kids zero about empathy and involvement and all about petty rules.

Instead of indulging this stupid mentality of petty rewards for the lucky majority, who have not been run over by a car, the school should be instilling real values in the class. If the other mums, dads and kids know a child has been run over and therefore excluded from a 'fun' activity they should had call the head teachers bluff's and not join the trip, saying we would rather be with our class made who has had such a hard time. What are we teaching kids now!! Thanks Ofsted!

I don't like the way schools reward children for 100% attendance at all. However I also agree that an exception shouldn't be made for this boy as I'm sure most if not all of the children will have a genuine reason for not being at school. My DS4 has complex health needs that involve several hospital admissions and operations every year. He isn't old enough to be in school yet but when he does he will never get one of those 100% attendance awards. I doubt very much that an exception will be made for him either.

I don't know how to get the attendance levels up for the minority of children who take time off for holidays/duvet days/parent's hangover days but there must be a better way than this.

I think the head is utterly stupid to have this sort of scheme in place at all. If a child's absence is authorised, that's it, they can't come back and say the child should be punished for being kept off for a reason they've fully accepted was valid.

If anything it's a disincentive for good attendance - if a child has chicken pox on his first day back at school, he knows he's missed out on the treat for the rest of the term and there's nothing he can do to remedy that - it won't exactly motivate him to struggle in if he feels a bit under the weather, will it?

And no, just accepting this and the parents telling their son that life isn't fair is definitely NOT the answer. This is not a case of life being unfair, it is a case of a stupid headteacher. If anything, they should tell their son that his headteacher is an idiot and they're moving him to a school with a head who has some basic intelligence.

whois your hate,hate, hate post is excellent.

whois I back your sentiments 100%.

You've been dealt a shit hand so to compound it we're denying you a treat to really stick the knife in.

I think the "hate hate hate" post is spot on.

Our primary didn't have attendance rewards. I'd love someon to take a DDA test case on whether it's even legal to reward good health.

Exactly whois. Surely a child with a chaotic home life who doesn't get many treats is going to get more out of such a trip. I imagine too that such a child would develop much more positive associations towards school and education with a few huge treats thrown in, which in turn will lead to wanting to do well and building positive relationships with teaching staff. Which allegedly is what the education system is actually supposed to be for!

Agree with you too Giles.

Maybe it will teach him to be more careful crossing the road

For primary schools, children should not be punished or penalised for absences. It is very unusual for a primary school aged child, especially in infants, to have any way in whether they do or don't come to school.

Well perhaps if parents parked more considerately McColnel .....

can't possibly walk more than 5 metres to the gates can we

If you could show that a disabled child is disproportionately more likely to be disadvantaged by this - which is highly likely - there would be a cast iron discrimination case. I suspect the Equality and Human Rights Commission would be keen on supporting it.

I believe that children who have a chronic illness that classifies as a disability cannot be penalised for non-attendance for reasons relating to their disability - it does happen but it is illegal. The system still sucks for them though, as the attendance record pressure means people send kids in when sick which damages the health and education of children with chronic conditions.

For example, my DS who has Type 1 Diabetes just had 9 days off with a vomiting bug. Three days for the vomiting bug as we struggled to keep him out of hospital by nursing and testing him every hour day and night. Then the remaining days as we had to carefully adjust his insulin regime (again waking every hour in the night) to try to bring his blood sugar back under control without sending him into a hypoglycaemic coma.

Our school refuses to the 48 hour rule

I hate these sort of policies...so unfair and ridiculous. Luckily the head at ours feels the same.

Yanbu OP, she's ridiculous.