To think the whole attendance thing at school has gone too far?

[storminabuttercup]

I maybe am, but parents at DS's school seem so bothered about the attendance mark that they are sending kids into school ill, straight after D&V, with all sorts of bugs etc. School actively encourage this, I mentioned that DS had D&V, was a Friday so hopefully if it stopped that day he would return on Monday after the 48 hour period, I was told 'oh we don't worry about that sort of thing they are fine to come back' this is probably why the school is rife with bugs. Just before Xmas lots of the kids came down with a stomach bug, school didn't mention anything but one kid has head lice and we get strongly worded messages.
I know kids need to be in school, I get that, but surely we want them to be healthy too.
Are other schools like this? I may be venting as DS was ill again last week, mentioned it to another mum who said her child had been throwing up and had diarrhoea the night before but 'school would phone if he wasn't right'

This is another area in which not trusting head teachers to lead shows badly.

Government targets are ridiculous, they turn head teachers into CEOs. Their job should be to lead teachers and teaching.

The doctors note is real, I've had that standard letter.

DS had to take a week off for scarlet fever. Not his fault at all but a massive chunk of attendance in first term!

We have kids with perfect attendance (minus a family break), achieving age related expectations or better and they get stung by a fine for going on 'that' family holiday!

We also have children who have 1 or 2 days off every week (I have one boy in my class that has days off every week and whose attendance is less than 80%) and they NEVER get fined!

The attendance clamp down SHOULD have been put in place for those families who continuously have absences. We have children having days off for shopping trips (the most common), parents slept in, tiredness, or simply couldn't be bothered!

This is not a new thing. When my daughter was in intensive care (in hospital 6 months) EWO turned up on my doorstep demanding I meet with them and threatened to take me to court.

It's gone to far. My DD sees camhs every other week and the orthodontist every 6 weeks neither ever have any after school appointments so I choose the time least disruptive like 9 so she'll miss 1.5 hours, not ideal but hard to get round. She has had a few days off with genuine illness , not just a cold. Her attendance is 93% and I have been called for a meeting with an outside agency over their concerns and needing to improve it ASAP !

My kids are now grown up, can i ask just what do they do if your child has low attendance?

I'm so glad we have none of this in Ireland. If my child is sick he stays home - i just put a note in his bag for the teacher explaining why he was out. There are no notes home from the school, no prizes for good attendance.

Obviously, children with very bad attendance are examined more closely but I think you have to be missing a lot of school before it gets to that stage.

My friends children have excellent attendance - hardly miss a day. She is taking them out for a few days to go on holidays - the teacher is aware - and it's not an issue.

If I want to take my child out of school to go to a wedding or a funeral - that is my choice. I would hate to be having to ask the school for permission.

Surely there has to be some common sense.

Common sense goes both ways though. Am I the only one who remembers other kids going off for weeks at a time? One was taken to florida for 6 weeks in y6. Another girl was packed off to birmingham to care for a sick relative for at least a month in y9. I think the same girl had a trip to india for several weeks too.

Am i really the only mner who remembers incidents like these?

I find our school quite hypcritical.

Dd attendance was 97%. One of the days she had off was because they had a damaged fence that came down in front of her and caught her head. They wanted her to go to hospital.

She got a 'bronze' award for the year so far and told she needed to improve.

But she has missed three days of lessons in the last two weeks. Two for rehearsals for a show they were putting on and one so she could be a runner. So she spent the day taking messages from reception to the students of teachers that they were for.

How is it ok to miss entire days to help out the reception and office staff of 97% isn't good enough.

Am i really the only mner who remembers incidents like these?

no, I remember them. But it's gone to far the other way.

Punishing all kids and parents because some didn't value education.

Ds school is great with this, perhaps helped because I keep them very informed. Last term Ds attendance was 72% but nothing was said because school know the situation and know he is in as much as he can be.

When my sons attendanct dropped below 90% I had a call from social workers....ok, this was November so he'd missed a lot IN just two months but he has recurring tonsilitis and they'll be getting whipped out in the summer. Every time he's been off he's been to the doctor but I was raging when they told me to send him in with calpol if sick! It's ridiculous.

It drives me mad as well

Ive got a temper as it is but whenever i get a letter or see something in a newsletter i have to be restrained from ringing or emailing

Ds2 off for two days (seperate instances) with D and V, get a letter saying that he is taking too much time off and would i like to discuss this with the head of year...are you a medially trained proffesional love? No? Then sod off

Newsletter comes out saying that a medical note is required for an absence of over 3 days

Dd has had medical appointments she has missed 10/15 minutes of school each time but the way they calculate the absences means that her attandence has dropped, w got two letters for that one and its been put on her otherwise glowing school report. And on last years report when she had four days off ill

I know its not the schools fault per se which is why i dont ring or email but if i hear them say "every child matters " one more time i will not be responsible for my actions. They do not care about my child they care about their attendence records

And this is another school which ignores the 48 hour rule

And breathe

Apart from that its not a bad school

For D&v they should be following the health protection agency guidelines which state 48 hours exclusion.

In my school we have the opposite problem. Kids being sent in who are blatantly sick and then spending their school day miserable and ill while we try to get in touch with parents.
In some cases we've been told by parents "ah shure send em down to Montessori"...so they can infect MORE, smaller children?

My Year 1 equivalent has missed 9 days this school year for minor illnesses. I am no longer in the UK and just so delighted that I don't have to face scrutiny over this.

iora

In my area that does appear to be the case with the infants school

Not with the seniors though

It's not all schools. Ours is sensible about it. DD1 has a D&V bug at the moment and the response wassympathetic and kind - we should just focus on getting better. It is utterly ridiculous that so many schools seem to lack basic common sense.

My daughter's junior school has some kind of attendance cup/award each week for the class with the best attendance. DD was griping that they never win it because there is a child who is off a lot so I was pointing out that people can't help being sick, she's been off herself, blah, blah. I hate the fact that it's getting so competitive this early! I may raise this with the school at their next parent meeting.

(the absent child does not suffer from a long-term health condition btw)

DD's school still has the 48hrs rule for D&V. I know of a couple of occasions when a child has mentioned that they were sick the night before and the school has immediately phoned the parents to collect them.

The school's overall attendance record is generally good, so presumably this approach works.

I'm glad ours are sensible and maintain the 48 hour rule.

OP, have a look on the school's website, there should be something on there about illness absence. If its not following health guidance - Goulash's link above - I'd be quite concerned /annoyed.

Should have said that the school does follow the 48 hour rule though, a couple of times I've been called to collect DD and have been told that she'll have to stay off. I do think it's sensible, to try and stop the spread!

I've got bad news, this now extends to Collage.

The Parents, whose Teens are on my DDs course have all had to band together to reinforce this and the rule that a GP note is needed.

We signed a piece of paper, which stated "If you fax all of our GPs to get their agreement that we bring our Children into the surgery with a Virus etc, just to get a sick note" and to also disregard the '48 hour rule' and they agree, then we will abide with it.

They're all keeping on top of their work and these imposed rules are ridiculous.