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?

You've missed work in both cases but the mark and the data to say you were in at registration is fine.

why should parents be hassled so schools can tick boxes? Boxes that benefit a small group but hassle everyone?

My DD(14) attendance is poor (89%). She has anxiety surrounding a sick phobia which seems to be worse around school. Presumably as lots of pupils are off sick, have bugs etc etc. School know this and know that I am doing my utmost to get her there, but it doesn't always work. It's horrible to see her so anxious, and as others have said, her mental health is more important than school at the moment, until this improves.

She's much happier to go to school if I'm at home, but this isn't always possible with work, and I'm lucky enough to have a very flexible job.

Haven't had a letter yet though, I'm expecting one after reading this.

If a child is present for the registration (say at 1pm) but then takes the afternoon off for an appointment, does that count towards absence?

That is how my DC last school handle it - so would do late morning have back by dinner or late afternoon - getting back to pick others up.

Makes no sense work wise.

They did try for reasonable though when they had a bad ofsted that went out the window till they were reinspected and were back at old level. Same time major employer - local hospital was clapping down on staff sick days/days off so many parents were in double bind. Winter vomiting bug spread like wild fire - hospital was closed for visitors but patients wrote into paper complaining about staff in work being mildly ill but "working" and school had record numbers of sick staff and pupils.

It's like common sense was bi-passed as everyone was under such pressure to attend and be present what ever the cost.

I'd write a polite letter to school and education officer stating all the times off and why they were unavoidable- just to ensure everyone was clear they were unavoidable and reasonable. It shouldn't be necessary but it is how the system is at the minute. I do loathe 100% attendance awards and at new school they do gifts as well .

There's no way he could go to school, register, then to the ortho as the school is even further from home in the opposite direction to the orthodontist. And at 8:30 his dad has gone to work with the car (roughly in the direction of the ortho which means son can at least get a lift there)...

I'd be happy for the school to pay for a private ortho nearer to them. ;o)

It's not the school's fault that registering in the morning then leaving is better for attendance records than getting in slightly late. The am and pm registrations are the legally required ones. You can't complain to the school for using the legal definitions of attendance, they don't have any choice in the matter.

Schools putting pressure on parents to improve the attendance of their kids is also because pressure is put on schools to improve their attendance statistics.

Write to your MP if you think it's crap or nonsensical. Schools already know.

I know. It's Kafkaesque. Either attendance in lessons is important or it isn't.

it just shows that learning is not the goal of any of these policies. The government rightly sees that performance of our kids on a global scale is lacking, but isn't willing to make some of the real changes necessary to fix that, so what we have is a classic box ticking exercise. I have found this quite a common thing here.

of course, the outcome is that parents who already care about their children's education get hassled, over issues as legitimate as medical ones.

Ego we take a register every lesson but that's to check kids aren't bunking off, it's not looked at at all in the attendance figures, just am and pm registration which are separate columns on SIMs to the class registers.

I haven't yet had the letter, although I am half expecting it. Last term was DDs first at secondary school. She had a really nasty d&v bug, so I called, explained, double checked whether they used the 48hr rule (yes), and kept her off accordingly.

Two days later I got an automated text, so I replied, politely, quoting their 48hr rule back to them.

Poor child had been back at school for seven days when she caught bacterial tonsillitis which needed antibiotics from the OOH doctor. She was properly poorly. I called the school, explained, called each morning to update them and lo and behold two days later I got the automated text.

DS is due to start in September and has type 1 diabetes. I am already worrying about their blunt approach.

I had one of those letter in June last year as DD had 9 days absence, 5 of which were due to the schools 48hr sickness exclusion policy.

I sent a rather PA letter back about it, asking if i no longer had to abidecby that policy and it the attendence officer was going o reimbursevme the cost of a drs note as our gp charge for them if they think theyre unnecesary. XD