100% attendance

[AgainstTheOddsNo2]

My daughter has just been sick and is currently devastated and not talking to me because I said she will have to stay home from school and lose her 100% attendance.


Fuck that prize!

[CombineBananaFister]

x-post - took so long to write my rant!

[Vagndidit]

My son had 100% attendance last year and may very likely get it again if he stays healthy this term. The school won't issue any sort of reward for it, and rightly so. Luckily, they realise it's all down to bloody luck.

I'm a bit shocked at the attendance celebrations that go on at other schools per this thread.

[grannytomine]

I'm in my 60s but still remember how I felt when I got my end of year report in my first year at grammar school. I had a medical condition and had to attend an appointment regularly. I had a slot which meant I had to spend most of my lunch break travelling to the clinic, seeing HCP and then got back to school just after registration. Every bloody week was recorded as an absence. I voted with my feet and started going home after the appointment and missed Tuesday afternoons for most of the following year until I was discharged.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot and they couldn't even blame OFSTED or targets.

[blaeberry]

Absolutely Gandolf it is quite clearly disability discrimination. I cannot understand how schools get away with it.

[latebreakfast]

Many awards given out by schools - those for academic, sporting, artistic and musical ability are also for things beyond the pupils' control with some standing no chance of getting them. Should we also ban those? I never got any sort of award when I was at school, but if there had have been an attendance one I might have got that a couple of times.

[MidniteScribbler]

I hate them. Every so often some bright spark comes up with the idea (as if they are a genius who has thought of something that no one else has ever thought of!), and I flat out refuse. If your kid is sick, then keep them home. Because otherwise, I get sick, which means I need a day off, and it costs the school for a relief teacher!

[nothercupoftea]

awards for academic or artistic achievements are completely different!
They must be maintain, they encourage hard work, recognise the gifts of the talented ones, show that people have different abilities.

I want my kids to train hard and fight to get a 1st place in their chosen sport. If they are not naturally good there, then they just have to work harder than anyone else. If they have the wrong body shape or ability and can never win, it's a good lesson also. I do not want them to be encouraged to keep going through injury, making it a lot worst and delaying recovery.

We don't want parents to send their contagious kids at school either.

[user1485342611]

It's a really silly idea, which implies there's something wrong about staying at home when you're ill. I think some people also drag this attitude into the workplace and insist on coming in when they're clearly not well; not only spreading their germs around but creating a culture where people are afraid to take time off when they're sick.

I actually can't stand it when people start boasting 'oh I haven't taken a sick day in ten years'. I always feel like saying 'well either you've been extremely fortunate with your health or you're one of those annoying PITAs who inflict your stomach bugs and grotty sniffing, sneezing and hacking on everyone else'.

[AnnPerkins]

I argued against attendance certs when I was a governor, but the HT said she had to be seen to do something, others agreed and I was outnumbered.

They only give certs though, and for 97%+. I can't believe some schools hand out cinema trips. Nice way to exclude conscientious but less lucky kids

[angelnix]

I hate attendance awards for all of the reasons already mentioned. Penalizing kids who have a health condition, require various appointments and encouraging ill kids to be in school.

I hope your daughter feels better soon.

[corythatwas]

Trifleorbust Fri 21-Apr-17 06:51:22
"So many threads about this. It is standard school policy, implemented by nearly every school in the country. You need to work on her resilience so that she understands that this is neither your fault, nor the end of the world as she knows it. It's just a certificate."

But doesn't this depend on whether the school backs the mother up on this stance?

I tried this with dd until I was blue in the face: unfortunately, she had to sit through the regular assemblies emphasising that anyone whose attendance falls below expectations will have shot their chances at Sats/GSCES/any kind of future (and yes, before you ask, the school did tell them that Sats results were vital for their future).

Most children believe teachers more than they believe their parents, particularly if they are well behaved children who have been taught by their parents to respect teachers.

I would have loved the school to support me in regarding this as just another prize, like winning the hurdles or being captain at football. But that was never going to happen. Schools are haunted by Ofsted and Ofsted are quite clear that attendance is in a league of its own.

[Edsheeranalbumparty]

Do people really care that much about a stupid attendance award? There are so many threads about this on MN!

Last year DD was the only one in her class who got an attendance award and obviously she was quite pleased. This year she won't get one as she has had a day off sick and she completely accepts this and has told me matter of factly why she won't get one and I agreed that it's fine because it was more important that she stayed off so she didn't spread germs. She is in year 1 by the way.

If a child is disproportionately upset about not getting an award because they have additional needs then that is something that could be taken up with the school and an arrangement could be made perhaps.

Otherwise, people.need to chill the fuck out about an attendance award!

[RaspberryIce]

I don't mind it at secondary age as they are old enough usually to get it in perspective and realise you can't win everything. Primary age it's understandable they are gutted to miss out on a film their mates are seeing.

[AndNowItIsSeven]

There is a standard policy for that, which is to stay off until 48 hours after last bout.

It should be standard but it isn't , my dd school ( year one) just give them a bucket , they don't even get sent home after just one vomiting episode if they say they then feel fine.
If sick at home they are expected to come in the next day.

[nothercupoftea]

assemblies emphasising that anyone whose attendance falls below expectations will have shot their chances at Sats/GSCES/any kind of future

wrong on so many levels...
out of curiosity, do these teachers/school heads also lose a cash bonus if they don't reach 100% attendance and other targets?

[corythatwas]

Edsheer, it is not just about the attitude of the children and parents: it is very much about the attitude propagated by that particular school. Parents can't do a lot about that. If the school makes a big thing about it, then the children are likely to be influenced by that.

Do you know what my 10yo son said when he was diagnosed with a longterm chronic disorder which might leave him in permanent pain and confined to a wheelchair? He said "will they be angry with me?"

He had sat through enough assemblies to know that in that school children with chronic health problems were not encouraged to "chill the fuck out" about their lack of attendance.

[WomblingThree]

blaeberry it isn't disability discrimination. Please don't read that in to situations where it doesn't exist, as it makes it harder to show where it does exist.

It is punishing children who are ill or who have feckless parents. In a school where attendance counts towards a class prize, it is risking a bullying situation towards children who "spoil" it. This is wrong on so many levels. I would urge anyone who's child is in a school like this to take it up with the governors.

I understand that schools need to improve attendance. What I don't understand is how the onus for this is put on small children who have zero control over it.

[AgainstTheOddsNo2]

I couldn't give a shit about an attendance certificate. I send dd to school because a good education is what is best for her not some certificate.

Unfortunately dd does not feel the same way. She doesn't want to be left in the classroom while the kids who have got 100% go to the hall for a film, or whatever other treat they have planned. It's also 100% or nothing so even a single day off will rule her out. She, likely asd, takes things personally and no matter what I say will feel like she has been bad!

[user1485342611]

I can't understand how the teachers don't feel like shit, taking half the children off for a treat and leaving the others - whose only 'crime' has been to get sick - sitting forlornly back in the classroom. They must absolutely hate having to do that.

Really, when you think of all the things schools should be focussing on and rewarding - kindness, good teamwork, generosity - which will be genuinely useful in adult life, instead of embedding this attitude that there's something 'bad' about looking after yourself when you're ill!

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

Can't believe how much of a thing some schools make. Unless there is a huge ceremony that my primary aged DD doesn't tell me about (fully possible of course) she just comes out with the certificate, they usually get a pencil or some small prize (I disagree with this) and that's the end of it. We are very lucky that the school appears to have some common sense. They had an ice cream van one summer for all children, attendance is never part of the deal for things like that.

[MommaGee]

Certificates and treats are rewarding children with parents who care which is so sad except there are lots of examples on here of kids who can never achieve this because of medical needs. Implying you need parents who care rather then good fortune is bloody offensive.

Many awards given out by schools - those for academic, sporting, artistic and musical ability are also for things beyond the pupils' control with some standing no chance of getting them there's a chance for each child to find a way to shine, to recognize individual talent. Not having long term or complex medical needs isn't an achievement

[MommaGee]

Otherwise, people.need to chill the fuck out about an attendance award! except I assume parents are upset because their are not cos they really and the kids care cos the school makes a big deal so perhaps the school needs to chill the fuck out