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.

But unfair on the other children who also had valid reasons for being off school.

What if a child had to go for dialysis or Chemo? Would the same line be trotted out by the headteacher? Very wicked.

honking tge boy in question had a valid reason, he was in hospital after being run over!!!!!!

Of course exceptions should be made in these circumstance. Why are people being so awkward.

Yes he had a valid reason but so did every other child who had been off because they were ill.

My youngest daughter has a brain tumour and has been on chemotherapy treatment for the last two and a half years. She sees endless consultants because she has other complications as a result. She is fortunate that her Head Teacher has a greater degree of common sense than most. On the days when she has appointments she is marked as medical. Days other than relating to her medical issues are absent, this way she can still have her attendance certificates along with the other children if she is only absent for medical reasons. This attitude clearly does not do harm to their ofsted rating as they have been outstanding for years.

Nobody's saying the boy didn't have a valid reason, they're saying that once they've instituted a policy that penalises the genuinely sick along with the truants it's illogical to say that child X who was run over should be exempted but child Y who had chickenpox and child Z who had food poisoning just have to suck it up.

I can't believe that anyone is defending this :-/

These schemes are phenomenally dumb, because

• you can't incentivise behaviour that isn't under a person's direct control (the offer of a reward never stopped any child getting ill or run over)
• it's discriminatory
• it incentivises antisocial behaviour ie parents sending sick children into school
• it's counterproductive for children who have one valid day's sickness early in the year and who may feel that their attendance record no longer matters.

We have government targets to reduce both authorised and unauthorised absence. It is bollocks.

Yes, what Mistigri said ^^ With knobs on! Ridiculous to incentivise in this way.

Yes he had a valid reason but so did every other child who had been off because they were ill.

All the more reason not to have the policy at all, or to limit it to children whose absences were unauthorised.

Lurcio, I suggest you tell the school that if they want doctor's notes they'll have to pay for them.

I agree that the policy is wrong.

Totally unfair. Punishing a 5 year old baby. Has the poor little lamb not been through enough.
. How dare he inconvience the school and their clean as a slate attendance.. It'd be calling it discrimination if it were my child.

Also I didn't think schools were allowed to single children out. Ofsted are red hot on inclusion, are tgey not.

Exactly poppy is as it should be, no common sense or decency at all! It shoukd have been marked down as medical. What if a child has dialysis or other condition that reqires regular hospital attendance! They shoukd be penalised as they will never or for a long time be able to have full attendance. It's one thing having a serious illness, or accident, but to be punished fir it like this poor boy.

Flicking idly through this thread I can't help but wonder if the solution is to offer rewards for 0% unauthorised absences.

Would still rely on an element of honesty from parents regarding holidays/sickness but since the point is to motivate the kids is this really the issue?

Arrggh, a 5 year old is NOT a baby.

As you were.

Wether he's a baby of not neither here nor there. I'm sure peoples feeling are still the same. No matter how old he is.
As you were.

Apologies in advance for the rant but this stuff really boils my piss!
I work with children with severe mental health issues. I'm heartily sick of these schemes that reward kids for being mentally and physically healthy and make the kids who aren't that lucky feel like absolute shit. I'm also sick of the obsession with achieving 100% attendance at all costs and the stress it puts on already vulnerable families.
I've had parents of kids on my caseload dragged into meetings, sent VERY strongly worded letters and even threatened with legal action because their child missed school for such trivial reasons as being admitted to a paeditric ward having taken a massive overdose of painkillers and needing medical treatment to prevent liver failure, the child's older sister being murdered, the child being on a secure inpatient unit as they are suffering from a psychotic episode, child having to go to court to give evidence against her sexual abuser...the list goes on and on. In each case, the school were well aware of the reasons for the child's absence. On several occasions I have also had schools giving parents absolute hell over a child's attendance, due to them counting their weekly CAMHS appointments as unauthorized absence, even though school were the ones who referred them to CAMHS in the first place! As if the poor kids don't have enough to worry about. Drives me up the wall.

Sorry. Rant over.

You speak 100% sense. York.

Exactly, Ego but they don't seem to see the irony. They also fail to see that haranguing a depressed or anxious child about their attendance is only going to make them more depressed or anxious which of course means they're less likely to manage fulll time attendance at school. On the other hand, some schools are incredibly supportive and go out of their way to be accommodating to these kids so that proves that some flexibility is possible if the will is there, despite the less supportive schools claiming its not up to them and their hands are tied!