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.

I loathe attendance awards for all the reasons already given. But I'd also reply to whoever said upthread that it can motivate you to stay healthy by eating healthily: do you really think it's the children themselves who are in charge of how healthily they eat, especially in primary? Some children don't eat well because their parents can't afford to feed them well or are neglectful. But hey - let's add to their woes by excluding them from getting a "Yay, I was lucky enough not to get ill" award anyway...

When this topic comes up, I always wonder why people never complain about art/music/ sports/drama/academic awards. They maybe a results from hard work, but also can be just luck of having a talent/gift, isn't it?

It's not remotely the same thing. You don' tend to get one of those kinds of awards without the effort as well as the gift, but even without that, there is no suggestion that everybody should be winning all those awards. There is no implication that you have failed if you don't get an award for music, and you're not told you should be trying harder to do something you have no control over.

Also, children with illnesses and conditions can still be in the running for some of those awards!

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.

This exactly.

Try explaining to the sick child that "it's not a punishment" that he didn't get a certificate or a party.

In exactly the same way, hurdles don't discriminate against people in wheelchairs

Of course they do, if the hurdle race is compulsory and the people in wheelchairs are told they should be able to get to the end.

If you're not getting this you're either stupid or completely lacking in empathy.

Annoys me big time... last term my son (8) got a 100% award....my daughter (5) didnt....why not....Oh because the first day after half term the teaching assistant was stood at the door telling parents how poorly she felt, that her throat was killing and she had been up all night because she was in so much pain and not been able to breath..... lo and behold within a few days it was spreading around the children, and my daughter ended up having nearly a week off with it.

maybe a "no unauthorized absences" award,or a "100% good behaviour" award would be better?

My DDs schools (2 different schools) don't do attendance awards and I'm bloody glad about it.

One is an academy and gives awards for perseverance, results and effort. It also gives awards to children for being kind and thoughtful, and for achievements out of school such as sports clubs and music festivals.

The other is a special school and I can't imagine there's 1 child in the whole school with 100% attendance due to hospital appointments, sickness due to underlying health needs etc. They also reward tangible efforts rather than arbitrary markers that rely more on the parents than the child.

user1484317265 Tue 24-Jan-17 10:55:41
"In exactly the same way, hurdles don't discriminate against people in wheelchairs

Of course they do, if the hurdle race is compulsory and the people in wheelchairs are told they should be able to get to the end. "

This.

corythatwas, I really don't know.

When he was younger, ds asked me why he is always ill and can't do lots of things others can. He is very mature for his age for that matter. But he doesn't envy others with good health either.
My ds has accepted that his health would be a issue for life.
But he is also blessed with other gifts.

In exactly the same way, hurdles don't discriminate against people in wheelchairs.

Great analogy. Consider the race. Compulsory participation. Everyone lined up at the start: the able-bodied, people in wheelchairs, someone who's just broken their leg and is on crutches.

They all have to make it to the end. The ones who do get prizes. The ones who don't get to visibly and publicly fail. They can't just not join in, they have to try. If they don't get nearly to the end, their parents get scolding letters.

Imagine being the parent of the kid with the broken leg. "I can't do it Mum" "Well you have to try anyway, it's the rules." "Yeah but seriously I can't get over the hurdles on crutches!" "Doesn't matter. You have to try." and you force them to line up with the others, knowing they are about to attempt the impossible.

Do you still think that's fair? I mean they won't get punished, right??

And don't forget, its a really long race, with people shouting from the sidelines about how important it is to try harder, even while you're lying on the ground in pain.
Then at the end, you have to line up and watch as the able bodied get praised and rewarded for finishing, and you get to told to try harder, because don't forget, you've got years more left of these races!

Nope, definitely not at all a punishment. Perfectly acceptable way to treat children.

Also, don't forget that some children will injure themselves further on this hurdle race. One of the most painful moments of parenting was when a doctor confirmed that it is very likely that forcing dd to "push against the pain" has permanently damaged her body. But when you are told you have to achieve x %...

Schools' HTs are obsessed with attendance because it affects their Ofsted standing (for some strange reason). The rest of the sane world couldn't give a damn.

I probably averaged 75-80% attendance throughout my years at school, not counting the entire year I had to take off. I'm so glad none of this attendance award nonsense was around then. My teachers recognised that I was keeping up academically, and that was what mattered.

Ill or disabled children being made to feel as if they're letting their class down isn't right. Infectious children being sent into school isn't right. Ordinarily healthy children being devastated if they have to take a single day off because they'll lose the award isn't right.

Not being ill isn't a talent. And aren't schools supposed to be inclusive? Even when actual achievements are rewarded - academic, sporting, musical - they're meant to celebrate individuals. If a school held a party just for all children who could run a mile in less than x minutes, or had achieved the expected level in maths, it'd be seen as unfair in a way that giving the winner of a race or the top mathematician a medal isn't. The party is saying 'everyone should be able to do this, and because you didn't, we'll exclude you.' That's why it seems like a punishment to those left out.

I hate attendance awards. My ds1 who has no health issues gets upset about "letting his class down" when he is off school. My ds4 is 3.5 and due to start school in September. He has 4 or 5 planned hospital admissions a year, at least 10 outpatient appointments and will need other time off when he is ill because of his chronic illness. Plus all the tummy bugs, flu, ear infections etc that all children get.

I'm dreading him starting school. Mostly because of how he and I will be treated because of his absences. Meanwhile some children at school get taken out for holidays. They don't get their 100% certificates but the parents don't get fined or the nasty letters as long as their attendance Is otherwise good. Surely the school should be trying to prevent parents taking term time holidays rather than harassing parents of children who have chronic illnesses

I have a child with a medical condition that makes 100% impossible. She is hugely keen to please and gets very upset about these certificates. At least it IS just certificates.

When my other child started at a different primary I immediately became THAT parent by quizzing whether attendance reward (a whole day out) exempted absences on medical grounds. The SENCO eagerly jumped up to assure me that hospital appointments etc were always treated as authorised absences. I replied that I'd be shocked if that were not the case but could they clarify on attendance? They hedged and ultimately refused to answer in that forum but the answer is that of course children with medical conditions won't be going on that sodding day out. Losers.

They hedged and ultimately refused to answer in that forum but the answer is that of course children with medical conditions won't be going on that sodding day out. Losers

Which is nothing more than blatant disability discrimination. Which as we can see from some of the answers on this thread, is perfectly ok with other people because its not their children that suffer.

Dd's school until last year had an end of term disco and only children who had over 50 house points or 100% attendance were allowed to go!

I had a thread on here and it gave me the courage to write to the board of governors about it. Dd actually had 100% attendance, by pure chance, and I think that helped my case.

It is now based on good behaviour and not attendance. Dd hasn't been to a disco since

I agree with you OP,it's an awful slight to all the poor children that suffer with bad health and believe it or not the schools still moan if your child is off and that child is disabled which really pisses me off!

We have 5DC and 2 of our DC are disabled and both attend mainstream schools and our second oldest DS18 had to have alot of time of school when he was very young because he had to have repeated operations on his ears,nose and throat and his school complained about that.

If they'd think of it with logic no good parent ever wants they're child to be ill,let alone have to deal with ongoing health problems and disability there really should be away that children that are trying but have problems/disabilities are congratulated on what they achieve,after all they have enough going on as it is!

for some children their consistency and willingness to come in on time, every day, is something to be celebrated

I am not sure how that applies to children in Primary School though. Teens can (and should) get ready and go to school by themselves, but most younger ones depends on their parents. It's not really fair to punish little ones who come from disorganised households.

I have no children so know nothing of schools but surely this is an award that is impossible for some to win. How horrible, rewarding the gift of good health or alternatively the spreading of your germs.

I hate this - I have no experience with the schooling system as I have no children, but in my last job you were "rewarded" for not being off sick.
I have a really crap immune system which meant that when people who were ill came into work I would catch it and I'd feel ten times worse!

After each absence you were called into the managers office and made to fill in a form detailing why you were ill, what the diagnosis was and what steps you would make to ensure this never happens again!

The amount of embarrassment I had when having to explain my endometriosis to my male manager who thought I was fobbing him off was unreal. When asked what I was going to do to ensure I wasn't off sick with this "problem" again I just replied with "invent a time machine, go back in time and ask my mother not to get pregnant with me because mine is hereditary and got passed down to me?"