To be a bit pissed off even though I know It's a generic letter

[Bloodyworldbookday]

My DD is in Reception and turned 5 in December (may be relevant). Up until January she had 100% attendance and then she was struck down with a really nasty cold and eye infection. The week of her illness I sent her in on the Monday and later in the afternoon I had a message from her teacher saying her cold was getting worse and I would need to "see how she goes over night". I kept her off on the Tuesday as, reading between the lines of the message, I perceived that the teacher was telling me to keep her off. I sent her in again on the Wednesday and had a phone call from the school at 2pm telling me her temp was 39 and to come and get her within the hour (when I took her temperature at home it was actually 37 but she was feeling unwell and had developed an eye infection). I kept her at home on the Thursday and Friday to recover.

Today I have had the generic attendance letter telling me her attendance "is concerning" at 87.5 percent and it is hoped that I will work with the school and welfare officer to ensure better attendance in the future.

AIBU to be a bit pissed of with this? She is 5! She is going to get unwell! I feel like I (and other parents) can't do right for doing wrong! I was told a couple of times by the school that she was unwell; even though I could obviously see it myself but I did send her in to avoid this very letter and issue occurring.

I also feel like for 3 days actual non-attendance to have dropped to 87.5 from 100 percent seems quite a lot? Is this right?

Sorry this is long but I'm not really sure what to make of it.

My advice would be to keep it in a file. Make a note ifvwhich days she had off & why, including the times the school asked you to collect her.

I'd call the school, or go in, and see where they get the percentage from. It's likely to be some mad calculation to the end of term or something.

It's insanity, the Govt needs to address this particular variety of stupid!

I think d270r0 has got it. It is very silly if they aren't taking the previous term of 100% attendance into account and I would query it.

ignore ignore ignore!

You know yourself it's a generic letter.

Schools are under a lot of pressure to do this : it's not done just for fun or to aggravate parents!

You know why you got it, so ignore!

I was a head of year at a large secondary school until recently. I was always trying to fish out letters and prevent phone calls to cases as yours, but the rottweiller line manager would never let me (I sometimes phoned parents up as an anticipatory measure!!) . Schools have to be able to prove they tackle attendance.

I have sympathy for people under your circumstances. Not so much the people who keep DC off for two weeks for a sniffle, or the ones who think 14 days holiday (looking at you PP!) have no consequences at all for their child...whether that be academic or social. 4 of those will never be authorised PP, unless you lie ...?

Yup, they're looking at this term rather than the whole academic year, which is ridiculous and is their error. In terms of fines for unauthorised absence etc (which this obviously isn't - illness is recorded as authorised absence) they would look at attendance levels in something like a 6 week block (different counties use different methods) which I guess is where the confusion has arisen.

I would just file it carefully in the bin and not give it any more thought than that.

My DD had 2-3 days off in three terms and I had a stroppy letter. One memorable time she and a week off, authorised, and we had a threatening letter about how I hadn't sent a letter in explaining her absence.

1. The head had authorised her absence
2. She hadn't been back to school yet for me to even send a letter in, not that I would have done, see 1. .

I'd chuck it in recycling and never think of it again. Pointless waste of paper.

beans obviously our holidays aren't authorised, our head believes that family holidays are equally beneficial to young children, so although she obviously can't authorise she doesn't issue fines. I totally disagree that at 4/5/6 missed school time has long term consequences. I wouldn't take them out when they're older but it doesn't matter a jot now, for my children, socially or educationally, or I wouldn't do it!

And I don't lie thanks very much! You have made a judgement based on my child's absence without even knowing what the family holiday is, how do you know that it isn't as socially or academically beneficial as 2 weeks in a classroom?

It's not about terms, the % will be from when she turned 5. So for example if she was 5 on Dec 15th it would count all the school days from then.

At 4 absence didn't count.

Just ignore it.

Blatantly place marking as I am going through this with DD3 at the moment. And a couple of days after that letter arrived, they managed to take her out of every lesson bar one, due to random trials for basketball. Am awaiting reply to my shitty email sent to HoY

just put it down to a poor grasp of statistics.

ask them whether this is a percentage calculated over the term so far, or the year so far. I would ask them for the cumulative absence figure for the year and the predicted absence figure if she attended for the rest of the year without being off. I would also ask for their illness/quarantine policies. Then ask them how you have broken their policies. follow that up with how they intend to minimise transmission of illnesses between children in the school. But then, I am that parent and am easily pissed off.

being absent for the 1st day of term would be 0% attendance, rising to 50% if in the 2nd day, 66.6%the 3rd etc.

we have been lucky in that chicken pox and conjunctivitis, signed off by the hospital have happened in the summer terms.. bit tricky this time with dc getting diarrhoea and being off for 7days.

Schools are now required to deal with absences and will be expected to show what they do about it when Ofsted or other official visitors ask. Chances are they wont be particularly worried about it either as they will realise its only a few days and not a common occurrence but they will have to send the letter anyway x

Thanks everyone. I'm going to ring the office in the morning and ask to speak to the head. I am very concerned at how they have come up with the figure of 87.5 percent, especially as I've since been reading that anything below 90 percent could be flagged with the EWO. I'm absolutely not having that for my 5 year old only having missed 3 days since September. DH has come home from work now and is also very very concerned.

I forgot to add in my original post that she goes to an OFSTED outstanding school so I'm guessing this over zealous approach is also to satisfy their rating.

I wonder if the percentage is being calculated since January as that is when OP's DD was legally required to attend school. I think absences and attendance are possibly recorded and monitored differently before that, as the child is not required to be at school.

They're going to love you at school

Don't bother the head about it to start with.
The head has far more important things to deal with.

Ask at the school office how it is calculated and whether they are concerned. Take the letter in with you. Be friendly and polite. Don't go in all cross.

They should be able to print out her attendance from SIMS (or whatever it is) there and then for you for you to check.

I can't go in in the morning as I'll be at work. I was going to phone up. The only reason I was going to speak to the Head is because the letter is signed by him.

Her attendance was only monitored from the term after her 5th birthday - compulsory school age.

My guess is they have calculated this 32 days into the new term and have her down as 4 days (or 8 sessions) absent on their records.

28/32 (or in school sessions 56/64) gives 87.5% attendance.

It's a load of nonsense as we all know but the school have to send it. I would send a polite email/letter outlining the specifics for the record and think no more about it. The % will improve as the term progresses.

Do you drop off or pick up at all? It won't hard to wait a few days when more convenient.

If you do phone I'd start off by talking to the office, or saying 'I've had an attendance letter and I want to understand how it was calculated, who do I need to talk to?'. The head won't be nearly as expert at driving the attendance database as the office staff, so I really think you should start there.

When you phone explain that you want to discuss the letter but not sure if its the head or someone else that you need to speak to, the office staff should be able to help you x

Ok thanks. I'll 'phone the office in the morning. I do Monday and Friday drop off and pick up so will speak to someone on Friday if I don't get any joy on the 'phone tomorrow.

I wouldn't waste any further energy on it. Bin it and move on. I've had a gut full of this BS with DS1 (he has SEN) and just don't care anymore. We're all still here!