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.

The ofsted crackdown on attendance needs adjustment I think. Some kids just get ill more than others and it's unfair to penalise them. The schools need to find a way to discourage unauthorised absence (truancy) without penalising kids who are ill more often than others.

tbtc Of course it isn't, I agree.
I thought that the trip was an incentive to improve attendance? So not fair to kids who have a valid reason. But then I suppose it's not kids fault if Parents decide to keep them of for a stupid reason either. Hmm

I agree with Whois post.

Children shouldn't be excluded from a treat because of some misfortune.
I fell very sorry for this child, it's a ridiculous and petty jobsworth attitude.

My DD didn't get her House Badge, which is worn all year on your school jumper, in Y8 because she was one percent below the "acceptable absences".
She'd had two awful bouts of tonsillitis and then she attended her Granddads funeral, 200 miles away and had two days off.
I spoke to her head of year and I got the "no exceptions" speech.
DD was absolutely devastated as she was the only one in her tutor group not to get the badge.

The one thing I would say is that KS2 children at least do often have a real influence in whether they go to school or not. At the higher end, a lot of them can literally get themselves up and walk to school - they shouldn't have to but if it's that or stay home then it's better for them to go.

Less drastically, some children malinger, and some parents give in to it.

And for struggling, hungover or slightly crap parents, the difference between a moaning, foot dragging, "don't wanna" child and a child who's up, dressed and saying "come on mum, we'll be late" might make the difference between 98% attendance and 75%.

I do agree with everything everyone's saying about the unfairness of 100% awards to children with genuine reasons for absence, but as the parent of occasional malingerers and moaners I can't agree that they're pointless - I think they can have the desired effect in some cases. Probably not for KS1 though.

I can't believe anyone thinks the head was reasonable. I hope those posters are being obtuse just because this is AIBU.

If a child is ill, she shouldn't be at school. Not good for her to be there, not good for her classmates and the staff to be picking up her germs.

If a child has had an accident, they may need time off for treatment and recuperation.

If a child has been bereaved, they need time off for the funeral and whatever else their family needs to do to help them all through.

What possible justification can there be for saying to these children that they don't deserve an end of term treat because they've been unlucky? What does that teach them about life?

These are such obvious points. I feel about this as I do about the idiocy so frequently mentioned here around lunchbox inspections. School staff should lead by example when it comes to common sense, keeping things in proportion, empathy, kindness, devising simple, sensible rules and sticking to the spirit, not the letter of the rule - and so on and so on. But that doesn't seem to be happening in all schools. It's not what I wanted my children to learn from school, that's for sure.

OP, I agree with you.

I'm going to have a rant on here, because it feels like the one place I can at the moment. Yes, I know it's a totally irrational rant, and I should just suck it up, but I need to let off steam.

This term DS has been ill quite a lot. Some of it has undoubtedly been genuine, including an instance where I sent him back to school before he was properly recovered (because I was worried about his attendance0 and they phoned up to say "take him home, he's ill". Some of it has been, in retrospect, "swinging the lead," but it turned out he was being bullied and it's taken a long time to get the details out of him. Most recently he's had a strange bug which has led to a couple of weeks of me being worried sick after the doctor mentioned "possible neurologist's appointment" - he's been in school most of this time, apart from doctor's appointments.

Today I got the "your son's attendance is unsatisfactory, from now on we want doctor's notes or we refer you to the welfare officer."

I am so tempted to write a really snotty letter saying "You are in effect saying that either you think my judgement is so impaired as to be useless when it comes to my own child, or that I'm a liar. Either way, I assume you won't expect me to stick to the 48 hour rule in future, since who am I to make a judgement call on something like that? Since responsibility goes both ways, could you also assure me in writing that when you call me to say that my son is ill and needs to be removed from school, this will not be counted as an occasion on which I have to supply a sick note. In the absence of such notification in writing, I shall be unable to take time off work to collect him, and he will remain your responsibility while in school, which is arguably for the best since clearly you think I'm a crap parent."

Of course I won't send this, but bloody hell I'm angry. Probably it's mainly displaced anger since I've spent the last two weeks trying not to let myself think about how worried I've been at my son's health, but frankly at the moment I would not be safe to attempt to have a civil conversation with the head teacher.

And breathe!

I dont agree with this at all, a 5 year old cannot make a decision to not be in school and more so when its an emergency hospital appointment!

I dont think its spiteful, I do however think it is WRONG!

I think that exceptions should be made for children with long standing health conditions that mean they are never going to get 100% attendance.

This is awful.
And more awful that the thing I am most struck by is that the mother is called Faye May.

It is a ludicrous system when, as MsJamie says, a 5 year old had no choice over whether or not they attend school.

If it were my DS, I'd buy a copy of Inside Out and have a viewing party for all his classmates before the school showing.

And if I'd stick a DVD of it in the party bags.

Targets for schools have been increased massively. My own son is almost a 'persistent absentee' - he has had three days off this term, two of which were because he had vomited once and so wasn't allowed to go to school for 48 hours. Anything below 95% attendance is investigated!

The mother seems to be complaining not because it is wrong to link attendance to end of term treats but because an exception wasn't granted for her child.

I agree with everything NickyFury said. It's ridiculous

Absolutely disgraceful, the boy was run over by a car, is he expected to come in when he is in hospital . Yes there shoukd be exceptions like illness or accident like this. In the adult world exceptions in the work are allowed.

Yes it is spiteful, leaving a 5 year old out of his class celebration because he was RUN OVER BY A CAR, and was in hospital. Nothing he or his mother could do! His health comes first!

Lurcio rant away! I'd feel the same. And of course Drs have nothing better to do than provide sick notes for every illness a child gets

I don't understand it.

There always used to be a difference between authorised and unauthorised absences. I don't understand how a school can be penalised for authorised absences. No school has control over sickness, accident or bereavement for its pupils.

And no child should be rewarded or punished for things outside of their control.

Thankyou Bakeoff. Yes, not only is my doctor overworked (like most of the NHS), are the school really suggesting I take a child who might have, say, norovirus, into a GP's waiting room where there are all sorts of people some of whom might have compromised immune systems or be vulnerable to that sort of infection? It's insane!

Lurcio if I were you I'd write to the Ht and tell her there will be occasions when a Drs appointment will not be appropriate therefore you wont always be able to fulfil her stupid request for a Drs note.

The mum felt an exception should be made. Most parents would also feel exceptions should be made for their kids.

Certainly at secondary level, there are quite a lot of kids I've know whose attendance is really poor - some taking at least half a day off school every single week. Setting them targets and having rewards in place for those kinds of kids can be very effective.

Making an exception for one child whose attendance was dictated by something as serious as being run over by a car, is not a problem at all. It is easy to explain and justify.