To write a stroppy response to the "Amber attendance warning" received from Dd's high school?

[PingpongDingDong]

Last term Dd had 4 teeth out for a brace. She had one and a half days off for this. A few weeks later she had the brace put on. She had one day off for this. She then had a migraine so another day off for that.

All authorised absences, all pretty much unavoidable. Today we received the above mentioned letter with all sorts of doom laden predictions for those without 100% attendance ending with "we trust your daughter will aim for excellent attendance this term."

Is it me?! She was having 4 teeth out and a brace fitted and she had a migraine (the school know this). I really object to this heavy handed, ridiculous approach for kids who do not have a "problem" with attendance. Should I write and complain?

I agree with Thumbwitch. This really really annoys me, and my kids normally have 100% attendances. I think it's disabilist tbh.
I stick all my kids certificates on the kitchen wall (they're in primary) apart from the attendence ones. I've explained why, as in they shouldn't be rewarded for the blessing on being healthy, and they get it.

In Scotland, all medical and dental appointments are authorised. They don't lower a pupil's attendance. I guess the thinking is that parents can't choose appointment times.

Common sense you say?

On = of

I always got the 9:30am appt so I could get DS to school by 10:30-11am (20 mile drive). Boy was he annoyed, said his friends always got entire day off on orthodontist days.

DS goes truant though, so we're kind of used to the funny colour letters.

With the letters, "just ignore them" is easy to say, but it can take a certain strength of mind to do so. "Ignoring" is not easy for many people.

Echt thankfully I'm in Scotland where Ofsted have no jurisdiction and schools don't have to send out these needless pointless letters.

I think you might be right Ego.

HighwayDragon, I haven't checked their maths. The letter states her attendance is 92% and the list of absences attached only shows the 4 days mentioned plus an educational visit run by the school. She had no other absences last term.

Conversely, the letters seem to imply that by always being in school your child will be getting their expected grades. DS is very lucky health wise, and normally has 98%+ attendance, yet in Yr 9 is still working at roughly the old NC level 4. He is nowhere near his expected grades, and not because he attends but does no work (he completes his work as best he can, but struggles, a lot). Good attendance doesn't always mean good grades, just like bad attendance doesn't always mean bad grades. But of course, bums on seats means 100% A*-C, or whatever the new equivalent is.

My son's orthodontist schedules NHS appointments for school hours and private appointments for outside school hours. Don't you just love the two-tier system.

Fortunately last time I was able to get an after-school appointment as DS' school ends earlier than most. He's not having treatment yet, just yearly recalls to see what's going on but it's clear he'll need a brace at some point soon. If we are lucky enough to get it funded on the NHS it will take some doing to avoid missing school. Schools, LAs and Ofsted need to take a common sense approach.

I went to my dd's school one lunchtime to break the bad news about a family bereavement. She was distraught and I took her home, with the agreement of the school receptionist.

We got a snotty letter at the end of term about her half-day 'unauthorised absence'.

I went to school during the teaching strikes in the eighties. Attendance didn't bother them then!

Dodo that's horrible!

Sleepy - it's not the teachers. Op is a teacher. Appears to be govt guidelines south of the border.

Roughly the maths is correct.

10 week term = 50 days, 4 days missed means 8% missed so attendance is 92%. however last term would have been more than 10 weeks, and you say only 3.5 days missed, so attendance should be a bit more than 92%.

They obviously have a policy re sending out attendance letters/certificates.
They probably have a band 100-95. Then 95-90 then 90-85 etc.

Honestly no point whatsoever complaining. What do you hope to achieve? It costs them far more effort to sort out the deserving v undeserving, but the effect of missing time on the child's education is the same. I would rather time was spent following up people with persistent unexplained absence than sorting through each of the 'amber' level to decide which of 3 types of letter to send.

You know the absences were reasonable. So don't worry.

(But do try to arrange as many braces appointments as you can for half terms / holidays / inset days / afternoons after register).

If I got this type of letter, I'd be awfully tempted to send one back noting the percentage of lessons missed for dubious reasons, or covered by a supply teacher. Especially when you read on thread on here about children in their GCSE years being taught by a series of supply teachers.

It works both ways. If students missing lessons for legitimate reasons is so detrimental, then schools need to employ teachers who never get ill :)

My friend got one after her son had been off ill with stomach issues - it then turned out he had a grumbling appendix, which ruptured and he was in intensive care and then had recuperation after surgery.

She was not ammused given he had previous excellent attendance and school were obviously aware of why he was absent. She phoned them and they did apologise but said it's standard.

"the effect of missing time on the child's education is the same"

^That may or may not be true. But if it is, then this (in bold):

"(But do try to arrange as many braces appointments as you can for half terms / holidays / inset days / afternoons after register)"

Doesn't make any sense. Afternoons after register still counts as missed time of the child's education. Is the aim of these schemes to try and get 100% attendance at two specific times of the day or to keep children actually in school as much as possible? Because IMO they are not the same thing.

Damn, should have previewed

AllMyBestFriends, as ego said a while back:

Pupils are no longer individuals. They are data. As long as the data looks good, that's all that matters.

Dentists and orthodontists around here take all the school holidays off. All of them. So unless you have a rare evening appt you have to take the kids off in school time.

Will read the thread properly in a minute, but this comment:

Are parents seriously finding these letters "really upsetting?"

Yes. When you're banging your head against a brick wall, trying to get your (seemingly) healthy child into school, with no support and you know the school/LA/Ofsted's line of reasoning is that

a)your child is pulling the wool over your eyes
b) you're a feckless, lazy, parent who can't be bothered

And you're petrified of being taken to court, because you don't know or understand the system, as well as suffering with MH problems which exaggerate the threat.

Yes, they're fucking petrifying.

Even then, after 2 months off school "unauthorized" the fuckwit of an Attendance Officer admits that it's all about ticking boxes and tells you that maybe it's time to start restricting privileges to get your broken, mentally unwell 11 yo DD back to school. Even after doctors letters, CAMHS referral and a child having a true meltdown in the car because she couldn't go into school, witnessed by several teachers.

The only thing that keeps them from phoning for a progress update day after day, taking things to court, is the CAMHS Psychologist telling them in no uncertain terms, to back the fuck of and that education isn't our priority right now.

Attendance letters can get to fuck.

Crikey, let me explain the day the brace was fitted.

11.00 pick Dd up from school
11.20 arrive at orthodontist
11.40 go in for appt as they are running late.
12.30 leave orthodontist.
1.00 arrive home.
1.40 Dd finishes lunch and takes pain relief.

Had I dropped her back at school she would have arrived after 2 pm. Her final lesson was PE. Would you fancy doing that after just having braces fitted?

She had the rest of the day off. Big bloody deal!