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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

100% attendance

310 replies

AgainstTheOddsNo2 · 21/04/2017 06:43

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!

OP posts:
ThumbWitchesAbroad · 21/04/2017 13:05

I utterly despise this attendance certificate nonsense, especially in primary age children.
It's ridiculous.
First off, as has been mentioned so many times, it penalise children who are sick, or those who need medical appointments, or who have conditions that mean they absolutely will NOT get 100% attendance.
Second off, giving a fucking treat to those children who get 100% attendance adds insult to injury for those children.
Third off - at primary age, it's not really down to the children to be there, is it, it's their parents. So all it's doing is praising children for their parents getting them to school - which is not up to them. Load of crap!

What really gets my goat about it too is that it does encourage a certain type of child (like the OP's DD) to want to go to school, however sick they actually are, thus contributing to the general spread of germs and ill health.

They should be fucking banned. And the reason I'm so fucking irate about it is because they've just started with this shit system in DS1's primary school in Australia as well, and I thought we were going to avoid this extraordinarily shit set up Angry

grannytomine · 21/04/2017 13:05

FlyingSquid, good for her. I hope it goes well and that missing day 2 at senior school doesn't ruin her future but is the beginning of great things.

thesockgap · 21/04/2017 13:09

This is something that really riles me, rewarding kids for staying healthy and punishing those who have been unfortunate enough to get sick.
The new head at my youngest son's primary school is obsessed with attendance. He mentions it in every weekly newsletter and if we haven't hit our target he says "let's make a really big effort next week ", as though those who've been sick are simply not trying! Each term the class with the best attendance gets a trip out eg. Trampolining or soft play. My son is gutted as his class have never won it, and the other month he wanted to go into school with tonsillitis so that he wouldn't "let his class down ". This practice needs to be stopped, it's ridiculous and totally misses the point. Surely attendance problems are due to "sagging off " not genuine sickness! And the school would be the first to complain if we sent in sick kids spreading their germs around!

thesockgap · 21/04/2017 13:11

Oh and this same head who refuses to sanction term time holidays recently led a group of 20-odd children on an activity holiday in Europe, during term time! Slightly hypocritical I thought!

MrsWhiteWash · 21/04/2017 13:14

I've never been keen - only time they don't go in is when sick and there's nothing I or they can do about it.

However bad as individual attendance awards are DC current primary school has found a way to make it worse. Class prizes and trips for class with highest attendance.

On of my children is very upset as despite their 100% attendance class attendance is poor so no prizes or trips. I've heard muttering from other children in other classes moaning about individual pupils who aren't there enough - I din't think it will need much for the muttering to turn nasty. This is a school where many children have chronic health conditions.

Recent inspection praised schools attitude and program -.

CloudPerson · 21/04/2017 13:14

In many cases this is discriminatory, because it's not just illness that takes children out of school.
Ds2 had appointments (Paed, CAMHS) that he had to attend, and you don't have the option of ringing and asking for an appointment after school hours.
We also had the problem that ds wasn't supported at all, despite his diagnosis (PDA/ASD), which meant that his anxiety levels reached such a point that he was unable to go in. Had he been supported, his attendance would be better.

Attendance awards are pathetic, rewarding children lucky enough to not be ill, or mentally ill, or chronically ill, none of which are under the control of the child or their parents.

NeverNic · 21/04/2017 13:22

It's bs. Penalising children, especially at infant age is ridiculous. They are the most likely to get sick and the most reliant on adults getting them to school promptly. If a child has an unsettled home life, how likely is it that their parents are going to care about an attendance certificate? So realistically it doesn't make any difference to children with poor attendance and upsets the vast majority. So far, two terms in my son has missed 3 days because of chicken pox. He couldn't avoid catching it, and certainly couldn't go in if he 'felt okay', in a way you could with a sore throat or a cold. All the certificate teaches you is how you deal with good and bad luck.

blaeberry · 21/04/2017 13:24

It is even worse if when you have class prizes - not only are disabled children discriminated against, their peers are set up to start resenting them!

Meekonsandwich · 21/04/2017 13:26

Could such policies be considered discrimination and ableist?

I'm guessing people with disabilities and who need appointments/ time off because of proccedures and symptoms and physical therapy and the like don't get 100% and don't get these prizes??

It's rewarding those who happen to have good health!

ChaiTeaTaiChi · 21/04/2017 13:28

They ARE discrimination, no debate about it. How else can you call "disabled and sick children get nothing while the lucky healthy get rewarded with prizes, treats and praise"?
There is no question here.

Poppiesway1 · 21/04/2017 13:28

Ds2 recently broke his elbow and collar bone during school lunch time, after being pushed by another child we have complained about several times for bullying ds2. He had the following week off due to this and the hospital Visits. I then got "told off" by his teacher for his attendance being 95%!!! I soon told her that if they'd sorted the issue out sooner he wouldn't have still been assaulted by the other boy!
Ds2 was not happy he'd missed out on his 100% attendance certificate and extra house points.

Longtalljosie · 21/04/2017 13:32

Thank God my children's school doesn't do this. I'm still angry for my poor nephew, having Swine Flu and then coming back just in time to watch the other kids go to the cinema.

Frankly, the kind of families who bring the attendance record down won't be anywhere near 100% so the target is meaningless to them, and the kind of kids within shouting distance of it will only be denied it by unavoidable illness. It's utterly, utterly pointless and causes un-necessary distress.

beautygal29 · 21/04/2017 13:36

I'd rather there were prizes for being effective whilst being there success is down to more than just showing up.

sashangel · 21/04/2017 13:40

My DD missed out on 100% in reception by 1 day.
Year 1 for 100% she got a pack with a pencil note book rubber and got a McDonald's
Year 2 for 100% she got the same pack as year 1 and a £10 next voucher.
She is on for 100% this year so far but she is only ever I'll in the holidays.

user1485342611 · 21/04/2017 13:45

So true beautygal29. Again, an attitude that many carry on in the workplace; arriving early, hanging around late in the evening, deliberately sending emails out of hours, but spending large chunks of the normal working day arsing around, wasting time, interfering in stuff that's nothing to do with them. Then looking down their noses at those who work their contracted hours and still manage to meet their deadlines.

Goldfishjane · 21/04/2017 13:48

Do parents complain vociferously to schools and MPs? My MP knows what I think but I don't have kids so obvs not an important voice. It's an appalling policy.

zoemaguire · 21/04/2017 13:52

"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."

It is not standard school policy!!!! My kids school doesn't do it and neither do a fair few others around here. I think it actually speaks volumes about the culture of a school, it's such a revoltingly nasty and unfair practice. A certificate I could just about ignore, but a pary, film, chocolates and suchlike? I wish somebody with a child with a chronic condition would bring a case for disability discrimination against a school for doing this kind of thing, it really feels that bad to me.

CloudPerson · 21/04/2017 13:59

Goldfish, yes, I did, both to school and a letter to the MP.
The MP sent a bland reply pointing out the targets schools have to meet when it comes to attendance, and the fact that they are able to make their own decisions when it comes to attendance awards.
School didn't care. Ds wasn't in, he should have been, that was that.

Targets are everything, encouraging respect for each other in a nurturing environment don't come into it. Schools don't give a shit apparently.

ElisavetaFartsonira · 21/04/2017 14:01

It's awful. My kid has had an attendance certificate every term so far btw.

whomovedmychocolate · 21/04/2017 14:08

I get really angry about this. DS missed his because he had to go see occupational therapy (he has a developmental delay). DD missed hers because school insisted I keep BOTH kids off because one had an infectious disease (which btw he caught at school), DD didn't get it. She was sat at home whinging for three sodding days. ARRRGH

ffshurryup2016 · 21/04/2017 14:47

I agree it's not fair.

Kids get the odd bug - it's normal, from mingling and making friends to playing in the mud, there are germs, they will affect them.

And the kids who has long term illnesses too - do they choose to? for example, does a child with epilepsy choose to have a fit and have to miss a day?

Or even, God forbid, does a child choose to be involved in an accident, lose a close relative etc? Causing an absence?

100% isn't fair - it's encouraging germs into schools, and those with immune issues can't be around that, as it could be very serious for some to encounter certain viruses.

95% as an 'excellent' would be better in my eyes.

Particularly fitting thread today - DH has just come home from work with a letter - the annual pay rise offer - 2% plus CASH BONUSES if they do not take days off ... never mind the having to look after sick children, emergencies, genuine sick bugs etc. Oh and btw, this is a food storage/transportation environment he works in...Responsible...

Goldfishjane · 21/04/2017 14:50

Is it worth trying a social media campaign? Name all the schools and local MPs?
Amass the might of the SJWs Grin

Trifleorbust · 21/04/2017 15:20

I think this is a giant mountain out of a molehill, to be honest. Sorry to everyone who is likely to disagree with me vociferously (those using the rhetoric - revolting?!) but I just don't see the big deal. I can't get worked up about it when there are so many bigger fish to fry in education.

RaspberryIce · 21/04/2017 15:30

How old is your eldest Trifle? Just asking as if not primary age yet you never know, you might surprise yourself and be thoroughly miffed if your dc cries due to missing out on a film because they were sick. Grin

theSnuffster · 21/04/2017 15:46

I'm so pleased that my children's school doesn't do this. Children can't help being poorly- especially when some parents send their children in to school when they're too unwell to be there, passing the illness to everyone else. I totally understand the benefit of having good attendance but I don't think that awarding children for having a good immune system or for coming to school even when they're sick is the best way to encourage that.