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?

Thankfully our school stopped these a couple of years ago
Basically kids being rewarded for something they have no control over

And yes some of them should have been off school instead of passing their germs around the others who were then off sick cos we are responsible parents.

If kids are ill its not a failing on their part neither is it an achievement to not be ill its just luck. Give awards for measurable success and effort but not for luck or crap parenting.

Actually - turning up to work or school everyday when you are exhausted or a bit under the weather does take effort.

Imagine how much more effort it takes for those dc who are chronically sick, and even then they know they'll never get the award.
Dc who are good at maths etc have still done something towards that. It's not about every child getting an award in everything, but about children getting awards for something in their control. It's about equality of opportunity - and sending dc with 100% attendance in trips is against the DDA because it is discriminatory. I repeat that schools who cannot find awards to give to dc for something they have worked at are lacking in imagination and empathy.

You might see it as your dc making effort but they have your support. Some dc don't, and then don't get the attendance award because of their parents. The system is utterly flawed. This is not fair on them, and yet they may naturally be desperate to make an effort.

Attendance awards recognise luck and good parenting.

Not children's achievements.

I'm a teacher and I think attendance awards are disgusting. Most attendance is beyond a child's control. Also, to discriminate against unwell or disabled children is against the Equality Act. A child's worth isn't measured by attendance.

And that's not an assumption about the sick kids. Parents forget that kids tell friends and teachers lots of things they wish they wouldnt and telling your peers and teacher you spent the day before throwing up with the runs is pretty good evidence they shouldn't be at school and when they are throwing up within 15 minutes of being at school confirms it.

Our school gives regular certificates for good effort by the kids in all areas of school so no one gets left out.

Actually - turning up to work or school everyday when you are exhausted or a bit under the weather does take effort
Actually most children with ill health will do this more than the average child because they have to have time off for things like appointments of more serious illness. So they cant just take time off for common cold/mild illness ect.
When my dd was suffering a year or more of intense stomach gastro problems yes she had absences but also went into school the majority of time feeling very ill, sick, exhusted dizzy and generally unwell and under the peadiatrician. She's quite often shocked when mates roll off home just for feeling sick alone.

I don't think any of ds' reception year got 100% this year as an idiot of a father sent his son in with the winter sickness virus knowing he was ill.
Was like 'cheers mate' especially as he put two parents in hospital when they also got it.

Btw child then threw up less than an hour after drop up all over the floor. Teachers all caught it too.

You're not U
My son was given days as authorised absences as we went in 10- 15 minutes late because either I had severe pain due to my condition or because of the district nurse turning up late.

It is a very strange idea.

Congratulations on not getting norovirus when it went 'round this year! Those weak willed children who caught it can stay in school and the strong of constitution will be rewarded for their luck clever germ dodging with a trip to the cinema!

Obviously very motivational. Try harder next year.

A term time holiday is a bit different though - would be properly illegal where I live, you can be arrested for depriving your child of their right to be in school :o , you wouldn't be allowed through passport control unless your child was on a foreign passport or you had a hefty raft of official paperwork showing a very special exemption (not a holiday), and the fines are far, far higher than in the UK.

How odd!

Where do u live 5 or more minutes?

I dislike attendance awards, but honestly, I dislike any public awards. There are so many factors at play in whether children achieve one thing or another, be it attendance, concentrating in school, academic attainment, whatever. Our school does them and I always wonder whether the joy one child has in receiving them is worth the others' disappointment.

When a child wins a sports award or an award for maths or whatever, it is because of something the child has done. Even if natural talent comes into it.

...but it's still luck based. My kids get academic awards because they are 'lucky' to be academically minded and because they are 'lucky' they have had parents who were able to facilitate their academic tendencies. Kids who get sporting awards are 'lucky' they are naturally talented and I bet a lot of kids who get sporting awards are helped by having parents who encourage sports for example by taking them to clubs. It obviously requires effort too but so does pitching up for school 100% of the time.

Example
A DC is autistic and dyspraxic. Their autism manifests itself with mild learning difficulties and difficulties with paying attention. Why is it ok for them to be unable to get an award but it's not ok for a NT kid to get an attendance award because they were unlucky to get sick.

I think it's either ok to have awards for all aspects of school including absence, academic, sport and 'effort' based or you shouldn't have any.

DS was sent home sick in Reception then had chicken pox...since then he has had 100% attendence but blotted his copy book this year as we took him to see family for two days this year so it dropped to 98.89%

I still think rewards are bonkers

@Sirzy When it comes to children with ongoing medical needs it is also illegal under the DDA

I didn't know that, what can parents of children who that applies to do? My DD missed out on a day out at the swimming pool because she'd missed 1/2 day due to a medical condition that she has.

@RainbowsAndUnicorn, pulling sickies isn't really an issue in primary school as it's the parents who decide whether the child goes to school. And as has been said, attendance awards will simply reward parents who send their children to school when ill and pass their germs around to other children and teachers.

My DD1 (8) has hospital appointments for her eyesight and hearing. We try to arrange holiday time appointments but it isn't always possible.

I don't think a child should win an attendance award and treat if they have had a term-time holiday, though, they got the holiday instead of the treat.

I understand encouraging attendance (and something that children value as a reward, maybe do not get ordinarily: I worked for years in an a PS in an area of urban deprivation, and kids there had both poor attendance/time keeping, & had rarely been to the cinema).
However, yes, attendance in Primary at least, is mostly dependent on parents' diligence to the matter and not the child (ditto uniform, timeliness), and it is not fully approp. to but a burden of responsibility for attendance/timeliness on any child below the age of say P7/Year 6.

Then there are children who cannot attend fully either due to health issues or hospitalisation or (later, in my son's case) exclusions or p/t timetables (due to then undiagnosed ASD/ADHD).

Your daughter - that is just tough luck, I am afraid: some children do not get or cannot go on holidays (for health/mental health reasons) far less for a fortnight, whether holidays in these islands or abroad.

I understand that your husband cannot book his holidays at will - and there are employments where even prioritising workers with families some lose out on the lottery of holiday allocation.
That said, your husband might have been able to have taken two weeks holidays at Christmas/Easter Holiday/October break (if you have that where you are) and planned a holiday from home then. Or it might not have been possible.

The bigger issue is whether rewarding pupils for something largely beyond their own remit (in primary) is appropriate.

My dd's high school had a policy of 'working from home'
If you Ill with something contagious but not really feeling to poorly or any other reason you couldn't attention school but could still could work. As long as you could provide proof of your work you wouldn't loose attendance. I think that's a fab idea!

If only 7 kids went I'd look at it like 7 kids managed full attendance so got an extra treat rather than your child was penalised.
You could argue any prize is unfair to others, what about those that can't swim/run/sing/write /do maths as well as others who are rewarded for it.

Equally children with even mild colds or gastro illnesses (throwing up/runs) can pass on infections to immuno-compromised children or adults (in the hot house of smallish overpopulated overheated classrooms where hygiene is not always high standard with children coughing, sneezing, wiping snot on chairs, putting Duplo/or whatever in their mouths).

My school used to give this award......I hated receiving it as it made you a bully target.

Equally children with even mild colds or gastro illnesses (throwing up/runs) can pass on infections to immuno-compromised children or adults (in the hot house of smallish overpopulated overheated classrooms where hygiene is not always high standard with children coughing, sneezing, wiping snot on chairs, putting Duplo/or whatever in their mouths).

Dd1 has got one every term so 9 so far.
The op dd got a holiday.

Yes. Not sure of the value of certificates that say "well done for being born without ongoing illnesses/disabilities that need medical attention" have much value really.

I don't really get the point of begrudging another child a certificate. If a child gets a maths certificate, does that mean everyone who doesn't is rubbish at maths? Or does it mean, that year, that person excelled at maths. Sometimes you get certificate / award; sometimes you don't. Day trips etc is a bit much.

For the earlier post; yes I do know how difficult it is to attend school when you have a chronic illness but I also know how easy it is to get into a cycle of not wanting to go to school because I missed school. I also think there should be awards for improved attendance.

Attendance is an achievement (I do understand that it is more so in secondary school) and I think adults undermining a child's achievement by suggesting it is 'just good luck', is quite sad.