to tell my DC good health is a gift, not an achievement?

[foolonthehill]

...and to get rid of the school attendance certificates they are given?

I am blessed with good health. So are my DC. They often get 100% attendance (and the certificate to prove it) ....DD3 is ill, proper vomiting ill...her first thought is "oh no I won't get 100%.

I am so fed up of school treating attendance like a competition. DS has been very ill in the past (you know...red letter ill, in hospital ill). First thing from school was a call to say he needed to look at his attendance...even though they knew he had been in hospital.

I am sure those with flakey attendance for spurious reasons aren't motivated by an almost unachievable 100% attendance certificate.

Oh God not this again. It's not a punishment for kids who are sick. Sports medals aren't a punishment for those who aren't sporty.

It is an achievement for some. DD got 100% for the whole of last year and there were at least 3 days throughout that year where she was run down, had a cold etc and I would have let her stay off. So yeah, I was proud of her for showing a good work ethic and going in. The year before that she fractured her skull and was off for a week, and believe it or not we were more concerned about her health at that point than the certificate. So I'll continue to be proud of her for getting her 100% last year if that's quite all right with you.

My work also do this. Encouraging people who are infectious to come to work and infect the rest of us, just to get a certificate at the end of the year!

YANBU. MY DD's school publish weekly attendance and number of lates, per class, in the weekly newsletter and percentage attendance overall by class and whole school. They "make allowances for children under long term hospital plans". AFAIK they no longer issue individual certificates to children in assembly. I think this is slightly less in your face than the certificate situation, which I detest.

Yanbu, this award system is terrible, shames kids for being ill of some sort. It's so sad. I desperately hope they remove it before my boy starts school in a year and a half.

Yanbu

My son started reception last year, first term he missed a day of school as he had a hospital appointment that with travel took all day. This resulted in an orange face in his attendance column at parents evening which upset him as its green for good result, orange for warning and red for bad ie.

He's been vomiting from 8.30pm to 3.30am last night and got upset he has to stay home for two days now, as that's 'more orange'. 5 year olds shouldn't be worrying over things like this.

Pseudonym none of those things are a guarantee, are they? Do people who eat lots of fruit and veg and wash their hands, never get ill, then?

I am all for celebrating good health for children, even more so because I've got child with chronic illness. Why not celebrate something so precious?

Cherry that's awful. I could understand these sort of things a bit more in secondary, but in Primary it's appealing.

I hate attendance certificates and love DD'S head teacher.

Dd was off for nearly 3 weeks last year. Hospital, scans, recovery. All very nasty.

Towards the end of the second week her head turned up at the hospital with an arm full of getwell soon cards made by her class and a lovely pile of books for dd. She told her not to worry about school and just to concentrate on getting better then presented ME with a basket of toiletries and told me to go and have a shower while she sat with Dd for half an hour.

Never once was the word attendance uttered until at the end of term Dd amd a few others who'd been very ill got letters from head ( privately sent not certificate in assembly) telling them how proud she was of them for "attending much as they could and being so brave while they were ill".

Private school though so perhaps they can afford totally different attitudes to these things

irvineoneohone

you might as well celebrate kids who don't have to wear glasses.

I am sick of them. They are so wrong and are just essentially a good health certificate.

My DS is five years old. If he is unwell. He stays home. He suffers ear infections and tonsillitis. A lot.

I will always put his health above some pathetic certificate and would never ever send him in unwell. Not fair to him. Not fair to his classmates. End of.

There are far too many parents who send their kids in unwell. Always an excuse too. They have to work or they're a SAHM but are still busy, their child was only sick once etc etc

YANBU.

I agree.

Awards should be based on effort not luck or whether you're the brightest in the year.

I'd sooner give Alex a certificate who decided to stay in one break a week to improve his reading than Harriet who aced all her tests, too.

Mambono5 it's sad isn't it. This would not have entered my head even in secondary school.

Listsandbudgets your school head sounds amazing. That attitude to effort must make the child feel brilliantly valued in their school

Yeah, right, thanks for suggestion, mambono5.
I was actually talking with my ds this morning, about that he spent his first 3 birthdays at hospital.
He has not taken days off school except for hospital apps. last year. Being healthy is something to celebrate for me.

YANBU. I bin ours.

Although our primary is better than most, certificates are given for 98% attendance or more.

Oh God not this again. It's not a punishment for kids who are sick

It really is, and you'd understand if you had a child with a serious illness or condition. You wouldn't be so eye rolly about it if you had to comfort your sobbing child, who has just got out of hospital for the 4th time this year, only to find out that children who have been in school every day are getting an ice cream party.
So he gets 2 operations, immense pain, a long recovery, an uncertain future and school tells him he doesn't deserve to go to a party. Your kid gets perfect health, better prospects and also a big clap on the back, a certificate and a fucking ice cream party.

If you seriously think that is not 5 kinds of fucked up, there is something wrong with you.

I had a friend who was given an award for perfect attendance in his entire school career. The thing is that he was always at school because his father was a violent alcoholic and the poor boy was afraid to be at home. (Not to mention the fact that most of high school was spent with him quietly out of his head on one substance or another, being there probably did him no good at all.)
I've struggled to take attendance awards seriously ever since.

Attendance awards are total shit. Some kids will be healthier than others and there's little you can do about it.
DD is very rarely ill, she's normally very healthy and had probably 5 days she missed in the 3 years she goes to school. Other kids are ill more often but it doesn't mean that they are worse when it comes to their performance at school. It's all load of bollocks.

mambono5 Tue 24-Jan-17 09:24:39

"you might as well celebrate kids who don't have to wear glasses."

That is a very good analogy. So why don't we do that then? Have a weekly ceremony where we celebrate kids who don't wear glasses, because it gives a chance for kids who don't win other certificates to win this one and it's not about the glass-wearing kids anyway, so why would they mind? Throw an ice-cream party for kids who don't wear glasses. Sounds fine, doesn't it?

irvineoneohone

but that's the point, your child misses out on an award because of unavoidable hosp appts, how is that fair?

Have an award for the most dedicated pupils (or something similar), who have shown perseverance and hard work by all means. Acknowledge a little kid with poor results but very obvious efforts, or the child who has done his best despite illness. Being congratulated for turning up regardless of your (lack of) work is pointless. Who gets that in the real world? Minor royals maybe.

This whole struggle on at all costs attitude is ridiculous.

I think it's a belief that this is ridiculous that has caused millennials and safe spaces.

I don't understand "Attendance Awards" by their very nature. The school is trying to promote attendance, sure.

See. You do.

Competitive awards aren't fair. Usain Bolt is fast because of his freakishly long legs among other things. Stephen Hawkings because of his intellect.

Participation awards make me sad.

mambono5

I think it's ok at my ds' school because they don't over do those things, like ice cream party or whatever. They give out certificate, that's it. So, not so much in terms of rewards.

And he always get rewards from us, after painful hospital apps.

It's a punishment for kids who are not gifted with perfect health. It's cruel. Especially when a child has suffered serious pain and trauma. God bless them all. They deserve a treat more than anyone.

I've questioned a Heads basic compassion over this. The requirement to get the treat was amended the following year to something much more pragmatic. Some do listen to reasonable counter proposals. Some don't. They hide behind mis-implemented OFSTED rules. I checked with OFSTED. They do not agree with punishing kids who have suffered enough from their health. They really don't.

user1484317265 Well said! I am so sorry that your child has been so ill.

I wish that all children with serious illness or chronic conditions had head teachers like istsandbudgets's child's head teacher.