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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To disagree with attendance awards

179 replies

LittleMissUpset · 09/12/2016 15:46

DS2 came home from school with some chocolate and a certificate DS1 didn't because he had a CAMHS appointment and is now awaiting assessment for ASD, therefore didn't get the attendance award.

I explained to DS1 that school are measured on attendance and they are just trying to encourage the children, but it's not his fault and it's unfair so I will buy him some chocolate too.

It really is unfair, as even if children are off ill it's not their fault.

AIBU to disagree with attendance awards?

OP posts:
JumpingJetFlash · 09/12/2016 16:11

At our school, they don't count official appointments as absence as long as you show them a copy of the official letter. This was great when our daughter took part in a social skills group one morning a week for 6 weeks as otherwise she would have been reluctant to go. I hate attendance rewards too as the penalise children with chronic and long term conditions :-/

DearMrDilkington · 09/12/2016 16:12

yanbu. I hate attendance certificates. If a child's ill I'd rather they stayed at home so they didn't pass on their germs to every other kid in the school. It's also very unfair for children that have hospital appointments.

OurBlanche · 09/12/2016 16:14

So... just remove ALL rewards and awards!

Wasn't that tried... non competitive sports days and all that weird Speshul Snoflake stuff?

Or is it still going on?

I harbour a hope that, like the banning of conkers, it is an urban myth that somehow escaped into the zeitgeist!

BorpBorpBorp · 09/12/2016 16:14

But SnatchedPencil all the things you describe about companies rewarding attendance are bad things. Good companies provide flexibility and don't encourage presenteeism. Why would you want a school to emulate bad employment practices?

OurBlanche · 09/12/2016 16:15

Personally, I'd be happy of school was allowed to emulate real life!

RichardBucket · 09/12/2016 16:16

SnatchedPencil Well my workplace operates in the 21st century where the bosses understand people get ill, and presenteeism is a pointless thing.

So I don't think it's a good life lesson at all, unless to teach children that schools act illogically and withhold rewards for things the children have no control over.

Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 16:16

BorpBorpBorp: Virtually all companies have sickness policies regardless of flexible working policies. If you are regularly off work you will eventually lose your job, so it's important to understand you can't just take the day off for every little issue.

Heirhelp · 09/12/2016 16:17

I disagree with attendance award but as long as Ofsted make attendance a key concern then schools will continue with them

Catlady1976 · 09/12/2016 16:17

Yanbu.

CrohnicallyPregnant · 09/12/2016 16:18

I can see both sides of this:

Schools need to encourage pupils to attend, partly to appease OFSTED but also because it instils a work ethic. Some children will make up or exaggerate symptoms because they would rather be at home.

BUT it is unfair that some children/classes are penalised through no fault of their own, maybe they have a disability or health condition that requires frequent time off (if they were adults they would have some protection through the equality act, but this doesn't seem to apply to school pupils!). Or maybe they have a shit home life and parents aren't getting the child to school (in which case an attendance certificate is just another thing that the child misses out on and the parent doesn't care about anyway).

I think I'd like to see confirmed medical/disability related reasons excluded from the statistics. And more support for those whose parents are struggling!

AmeliaJack · 09/12/2016 16:19

I disagree with attendance awards and my kids mostly have 100% attendance.

They aren't sent to school ill they just happen to be very healthy children. It's part luck, part genetics and there's no virtue in either.

They go to school every day because it's necessary not to be rewarded. Thankfully our school doesn't do attendance rewards other than a big star next to your attendance score on your report card.

DS's friend has serious asthma. Why should DS be rewarded for being healthy?

Between them my DCs have missed only 3 school days in 5 years. DS's poor wee friend misses more than that a year for appointments and hospital visits never mind days he's too ill to go to school.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 09/12/2016 16:20

YNBU. It makes me mad. Some may call it a disablist policy, after all a child who is frequently absent due to a chronic illness or disability are not going to get one. Also even if it is simply lazy parenting. The child can't get to school on their own.

gamerwidow · 09/12/2016 16:22

I don't like awarding children for things they have no control over. Primary school children for the most part have no say in whether they attend school or are punctual. I'd prefer to see awards for good attitudes to learning or most improved reader etc.

HaveNoSocks · 09/12/2016 16:22

God this does remind me of my friend's DD's school where the whole attendance thing got completely out of hand. As soon as anyone was off sick they'd get aggressive letters home from the school even if it was for an appointment or bug that the school had been informed about ASAP. My friend's DD had a D&V on the second week of school so missed 2 days while she was sick and another two to make sure she wasn't infectious. She came back to an aggressive letter from the school berating her for her 60% attendance record this term.

The school's attitude meant people started sending in sick kids dosed up on calpol, or kids that had been throwing up in the night etc and all the kids started bringing twice as many bugs home. A few mums with kids in the same class as friend's DD got a bee in their bonnets about this (fairly understandably) but decided not to contact the school but to police the classroom in the morning aggressively questioning anyone whose kid had a slight cough to check they weren't coming down with the flu, did they have a temperature had they been sick. etc. Completely ridiculous.

Verbena37 · 09/12/2016 16:27

Trifle we had a letter regarding DD through the post the other week saying her attendance was below the average.
I wrote back saying she had been poorly twice with two different bugs and that it was quite ironic that the week before receiving the letter, DD had been chosen as one of the year's top achieving students!

It's bonkers.
It doesn't encourage attendance because as soon as you've had one day off, there is absolutely no way they can ever get back up to 100%.
It's pure luck and it's exclusively for those kids who are lucky enough not to have annual asthma appointments or epilepsy hospital appointments etc.

If schools concentrated on good teaching (I'm .not dissing all schools or all teachers of course), and put more emotional support systems in place for those children who really struggle to get to school, then the attendance certificates wouldn't be needed.

maybeshesawomble · 09/12/2016 16:32

YANBU. DD(6) will not get one this term as she was sick at the end of school on a Wednesday and then not permitted to go the next day due to the exclusion rule (fair enough) despite the fact that there was nothing wrong with her by Thursday morning and she loves school so was desperate to go in. She is a child who takes rewards in the form of points, stickers etc very seriously, despite DH and I trying to downplay them, and she is upset that she won't receive the silver 💯 badge the school gives out at the end of term.

As for the comment about this emulating work life this is certainly not true of the bank I work for, in fact encouraging people to take time for wellness and balance is a key focus.

Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 16:33

Verbena37: Your DD's school won't have a choice about whether to flag up below average attendance - it is an Ofsted requirement. It may seem silly to you but there it is.

And as a form tutor I have to track my students' attendance on a weekly basis. Those students who have achieved 100% since the start of the year are motivated by that; other students praise them and are pleased for them. When attendance is aspirational, I think it's worth it overall.

Lweji · 09/12/2016 16:36

YANBU

All children who only miss school through perfectly justifiable reasons should get the award.
Even teachers won't have 100% attendance.

Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 16:36

Verbena37: And those students who really struggle to get into school aren't the targets of the reward systems. Their issues tend to be more complex and won't be improved on by the school going on about attendance. The targets are those students who take the odd day off that they don't really need, who have maybe 92-93% attendance but could easily have 97%.

And I don't think the quality of teaching is improved by sporadic attendance in the student body. Other than that, I can't see how focusing on teaching quality rather than attendance is that helpful. If the kids aren't in the classroom no amount of good teaching is going to help.

Sirzy · 09/12/2016 16:38

Verbena37: Your DD's school won't have a choice about whether to flag up below average attendance - it is an Ofsted requirement. It may seem silly to you but there it is.

That's strange, ds goes to an Ofsted outstanding school yet they have never "Flagged" ds attendance with me - even when last year it dropped under 80%. I work with school and keep them informed every step of the way but they have never felt the need to flag anything.

MyKidsHaveTakenMySanity · 09/12/2016 16:38

Oh I don't know, I have a 9, 7 and 4 year old. The 9 year old had a sick day in P1. She's in P6 and has never had another day off. My 7yo has never been off at all in her 3 years at school. They rarely get ill at all. It's that simple.
All 3 got chicken pox during the Christmas holidays a few years ago. They had D&V during Easter holidays. My 9yo has thrown up maybe 5 times in her life. My 7 and 4 year olds just once each. I'm a dick about healthy eating, strict bedtimes, rarely use Calpol and evidently for us, that shit works.
We try hard for our kid's 100% attendances.
My MIL once took the kids away for a weekend, later announcing that we were to pick them up on Monday and "A day off won't hurt". I picked them up at 7am and they were in school before first break, keeping their attendance unaffected.

I would hope my kids get a 'well done' at least for never missing school.

Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 16:39

Sirzy: I can't explain that. All I can tell you is that schools are required to track and intervene in cases of poor attendance.

Lweji · 09/12/2016 16:40

All 3 got chicken pox during the Christmas holidays a few years ago. They had D&V during Easter holidays.

Do you actually think anyone can do anything to restrict illnesses to holiday time?
Do you think anything you did contributed to that coincidence?

HaveNoSocks · 09/12/2016 16:42

Trifle what do you mean they're motivated by that? You think by sheer power of will they can avoid getting sick or needing to attend an appointment?

DailyFail1 · 09/12/2016 16:42

MyKidsHaveTakenMySanity - great, lucky kids not to ever get a sickness or illness or chronic condition during school time. It is luck by the way - nothing to do with all of the other things you mentioned. Lets hope their luck continues.