100% Attendance Award

[user1489094655]

Hi
Today, the school my dd goes to rewarded the children with 100% attendance with a trip to the cinema. In a school of about 90, there was 7 from various years.

My dd didn't get 100% because we took a two week holiday in June. My husband has holidays allocated by his work which this year was the first fortnight of June. Total lucky dip and not negotiable. She had NO other time off.

It also doesn't seem fair on children who are poorly, why penalise a child because they had, for example, chicken pox.

What about religious festivals, bereavement, family weddings etc.

All of these situations are out of a child's control.

If it's an incentive to come to school, for some families they don't care about the cinema trip or school so the incentive doesn't work yet for some children like my dd, it is a disappointment.

Any thoughts?

They need to get rid of these things.

Willow

If you attended 100% your comprehension would be good enough to understand

Husk your posts are pointless tbh

My DD has SEN and finds school a struggle but she gets up every morning and goes in and tries her best, even if she often comes out in tears. She has 100 percent attendance and if she gets a prize she will bloody deserve it. So YABU.

Amusingly, the only 2 kids in DS' class who had 100% attendance were son's of teachers from the school.

Demented

WGAF what you think tbh

No one is be

No one is being left out. It's a reward for 100% attendance.

It's really not difficult to understand.

Do you usually have a persecution complex op? Perhaps focus on not passing it onto your kids if so.

1/10 Husk

My DD has SEN and finds school a struggle but she gets up every morning and goes in and tries her best, even if she often comes out in tears. She has 100 percent attendance and if she gets a prize she will bloody deserve it

And if she catches chicken pox, or breaks a limb, or throws up on any day but a Friday - she will bloody deserve absolutely no recognition whatsoever for all those days she did get up and go in and try her best, despite finding school a struggle, right? Because anything less than 100% means nothing...

Husk, you look cute in that hat.

@Husk, re your taxes, obviously the parents themselves pay taxes just like you do (if they're going on an expensive holiday presumably they are earning) so it's actually their own tax money they're wasting by going on holiday during term time.

There are children benefiting from the lessons so there isn't actually any waste of money.

Just to clarify, my DH and I have never taken our DDs out of school to go on holiday. I don't agree with doing that but the argument about your taxes is just a little bit pompous, you need to get over yourself.

If your child got an attendance award - they deserve it. If they didn't get it maybe they could aim for it next year, or for the sports award or the maths award or the reading award.

Or perhaps they might go their entire school career never getting an award because, you know, sometimes in life we don't get awards and we just have to suck it up and do our best. And perhaps that lesson in resilience might be 100x more important than getting an award for attendance in the long run.

If your child got an attendance award - they deserve it.

It's akin to giving out awards for being pretty.

Often the kids who have a lot of absence will struggle to keep up academically, so if they are unlucky to attend a school that gives out a "maths award" they are screwed for that too. Many kids who have long term health problems will never be able to get a sports award either.

But hey ho, life sucks- they can always try harder next year.

It's akin to giving out awards for being pretty No that's being academic or good at sports - pure genetic good luck.

Or giving awards out for being fast at running or having a mathematical mind....Hang on....

Option A - get rid of all awards.
Option B - explain to children to aim for awards but if they don't get an award then be satisfied with knowing they tried their best.

Yep - teach children to find their worth intrinsically rather than extrinsically.

Husk
The whole point is that attendance awards are not based on anything the child actually did themselves.

Whether they get to school every day is not within their control.

It's down to good luck they didn't get I'll, have lifelong conditions or crap parents.

Other awards given out are for doing well or putting in that extra effort for something they can control. As I said our school gives out certificates for things all the kids have done. Helping others, improving thier writing, trying hard at long division this week etc. Little things to encourage and support the kids.

Being sent into school by their parents whether they should be there or not is not an achievement.

(And has absolutely nothing to do with whether the teacher is paid or the school is open or not so nothing to do with 'your'taxes at all)
9
And yes they get stickers at sports day for 1st 2nd and 3rd just like we always have but all the parents and kids all cheer on the slower kids too. They are trying so they deserve a bit of support even if the will never win.

I heard today our school are stopping them as someone complained to the governors there child should not miss out due to medical appointments.. Ours was only a certificate..

I for one am pleased

I think awards should take into account external factors. If a child has a weakened immune system for example then give them a reasonable target to work too e.g 85%.

My daughter had 99% attendance right up until summer term. Not 100 % as we discovered she had nits one morning so I chose to send her to school late so I could treat it. Maybe I should just have sent her in lol.

But then this term she was poorly for a couple of days and also needed an operation and we were told by Hospital not to send her to school. In total she had 12 days off and her attendance dropped right down.
I feel sorry for her but she got a certificate at end of last term for 100 % attendance.

A holiday, I'm sorry I don't see it as a justifiable absence. If we couldn't go on holiday then we wouldn't go.
And I find it hard to believe you couldn't have had a holiday at any time during the school holidays over the year - they have so many of them!!!

OP stated quite clearly that their OH only gets set allocated holidays which the company decides, they cant pick and choose when to take them. So they cannot decide to go on holiday when schools are shut if their job does not allow them.

How can a child who has regular hospital admissions and is under 15 different medical teams even try to aim for 100% attendance!?

Think the 100% attendance award is a bad idea... Do they really want kids with flu/sickness bugs in or back sooner than they should be, striving to take no time off? I think not.

My 7 year old is upset again tonight as yet again she hasn't received the 'reward'. She has a medical condition which results in her having to attend a few physio and OT appointments each term. I really don't know how schools get away with discriminating against disabilities like that.