Fucking BIKES for 100% attendance?? Has the world gone mad??

[FizzyCherry]

I know this is the whole 100% attendance thing again, but I have literally seen it all now.
Not one but TWO people on my FB time line have posted pics of their kids with brand new bikes awarded for 100% attendance. AIBU to think that's taking the piss now?

The weird thing is, it's not the same school, not even the same county - they don't know each other, one parent is an old school friend in the South West, the other a former colleague in the north.

In each case, every child with 100% attendance was given a raffle ticket, the prize was a new bike. Only one prize, apparently, so none of this whole class goes to the zoo thing.
Both are primary school age, one Yr 2, the other Y4.
So these are two that I know of, how many other children are being given something that some of their peers is can only dream of, just for turning up?

My school dropped attendance certificates this year as they were felt to be divisive. How divisive is spending £100 on just one kid?

Am I missing something here, or what?

Yanbu. 8yr old DD has now had two years of 100% attendance. Pure luck. She gets the right hump because she knows it's not fair. The school don't give out bikes though !

I also go back to my earlier example of my DD who had 99.6% attendance this year, she missed one hour of school because of an urgent drs appointment that meant she missed registration and I'd informed the school.

DS has a digestive issue which keeps him regularly. Dont get me started on the amount of arguing I had to do to get him allowed in the next day after vomitting because it was against the 48 hour rule

He cant help it, and yet it counts against his attendance I get THE LETTER every term.

I wouldnt mind but I was the one fighting to get him back in a day earlier than the school wanted! And if I was the sort of parent who views school as an "Only if I can be arsed to take you" kind of thing then I would ignore the letter anway! I wouldnt care that if he doesnt attend a cerain percentage then his education will suffer would I? Those of us who would care do all we can to get them in.

BAsically its a reward for never getting D&V, never injuring themselves and never having any sort of emotional or mental crisis.

Pressed send too soon. I don't really know what should be done, but there's no perfect solution. I also think in lower primary age, attendance, or lack of it, is to do with the parents, not the children.

keeps him off regularly

And isn't it a good life lesson that not everyone can be the best at everything all the time?

Not when it's about attendance, when you are not encouraging anything but would reward the lazy, the bully, the trouble maker for doing nothing else than being dropped at school by his parents. No lesson there.

Just as bad as encouraging "efforts" over "results", and rewarding the trouble element for being slightly less disruptive whilst ignoring the kids who are constantly putting the efforts and achieve great results.

Those of you with kids with 100% attendance: have your kids never puked or had the runs? Do they schedule this for Friday evening's or holidays only? Do you abide by the 48 hour rule? Are you just incredibly lucky?

9 year old here has had the Gold certificate for 100% attendance award and a gift voucher for two years running.
14 year old didn't manage it this year (2 days off with a bug at the beginning of the year otherwise would have done too.)
Think it must be luck. If they do have a sickness bug or whatever I always abide by the 48 hour rule.

The 'carrot' is giving out rewards because - you're all right.... in primaries it's the parents who say "you're going to school/you're not going to school" so we make a big fuss of those who do turn up so that (hopefully) little Jonny will say "no, I'm fine, please send me to school".

Nonsense reason for giving rewards for not being unwell or having special needs. Plus 'Little Johnny' might not have a say in it, depending on how unwell he is.

It is luck. Nothing more.

My uncle had a brilliant work ethic...Didn't fucking well stop him getting cancer. It didn't cure it either when he dragged himself into work in between bouts of chemo. It didn't provide him with anything at all, he still died.

A gift voucher Hudson? Seriously? For every child with 100% attendance? How much is it worth?

THere was a behaviour one that happened one year only at our school.

Bascially the kids who had shown the biggest improvement in behaviour were entered into a raffle to win something. Cant remember what it was now, but there was uproar. As I and many many other parents said, what about acknowledging the kids who had behaved themselves all year and so, by the terms of the prize, couldnt have improved at all? The kid that won was a nasty bullying little shit who just seemed to move his bullying from the school yard to the neighbourhood streets.

As I said, it didnt happen again and I heard via a school gate friend that the governers had been against it from the start and officially put a stop on it after all the complaints.

My DS1 has had 2 consecutive years with 100% attendance, sheer luck. He has SN and a disability yet managed it so it is a big deal for him as he hasn't in secondary and never had full attendance up to this point.

Friend's son won a big prize, similar to bike; for 100% attendance and he decided he didn't deserve it, so raffled it and gave the money he raised to a children's hospice.

Some parents keep their kids off for nothing!

This is the crux of it for me.

We are lucky that non of my children have had any serious or significant illnesses one school age. That is the only aspect of this that is luck though.

We also develop the work ethic that doesn't allow for days off because you're knackered, had a late night, feel a bit crappy, don't feel like it. The kids just wouldn't expect to be off for that kind of thing, they wouldn't ask. That's not luck; it's work ethic.

In addition we only take holidays in school holidays. Even though we are low income and holidays are a lot more expensive in school holidays.

It's not just luck.

We bloody do that Early and it's in the prospectus and on the home/school agreement that every parent/carer has to sign before their children start; and it's in every school newsletter plus posters around the school explaining why attendance is important. And it's brought up in parents evenings and it's on school reports.

All that happens. But parents don't notice it (until their kid doesn't get a bike, apparently!)

And I SWEAR, with the serious issues - the SEN, those with ongoing medical needs, and those with other needs or issues that we're aware of - we don't chase those, because we know there's stuff going on at home and we cut them slack. I've authorised loads of absences this year because I'm aware of the back-story; and I also know that within this group (of families with a genuine reason for not sending the child to school) there are absences which shouldn't be happening - the child should/could really be in school, but we let them slide because of everything else going on. (eg, you had a hospital appointment at 11, so your child should have been in at around 12 - 1, but you've brought them in at 2/not brought them back because you wanted to treat them to a hot chocolate or something). That's an unauthorised absence, but we'd always authorise it because we recognise that the child is going through something grim and the parent is trying to make it ok. We aren't vicious and spiteful - we do recognise what's going on and support you through it in the best ways we can.

But the family with the long walk (because they don't like their closest school so they come to us) who never comes in when it's raining or too cold?

The family with the 11th grandparent bereavement? [do the maths, people!]

The family who've been out partying last night and it's all over FB and you've 'friended' members of staff so we see this?

The family who've got loads of extra-curricular stuff, so the child is just so very tired every single Monday and has to leave at lunchtime every single Friday?

The family where the parent gives one reason and the child tells us something different? (eg - child "I'm not going to be in school after Friday because we're going on holiday". Parent "A member of my family has been taken ill and we have to go abroad to support them")

What do you suggest we do with those families?

I love these awards. My son never wins anything else. But he shows up. If he didn't win this he'd win nothing.

It's quite common to begrudge the attendance award but to stand behind the other awards, cheering, proud, encouraging.............

A friend of mine is very anti this award but her daughter is popular, invited everywhere, good at everything and yet she trashes this knowing it's the only thing my son wins

I once worked with a bunch of "non-attenders" at risk of exclusion in an informal education setting. Out of the 8 children, 3 were young carers looking after a seriously ill parent, 2 were being physically and emotionally abused by other children at school and 1 was a recent asylum seeker who couldn't speak English. These are kids who schools are failing with their reward shite.

Most kids go to school, most parents want their kids to go to school. The real problems aren't with the children who get taken out for a week to go skiing, or the children who need to go to a funeral. The real problem is with the kids i worked with. Is the promise of a certificate or a raffle for a bike really going to make a difference to children like this?

What do you suggest we do with those families

Something that doesn't lump them in with the children and families with genuine issues.

Rewarding 100% attendance doesn't work.

Something that doesn't lump them in with the children and families with genuine issues.

What?! They are "lumped in" with all children who didn't win a certificate, that's all. These few got this certificate, these many didn't

That's as nonsensical as saying awards for good behaviour certificates should be banned because it "lumps together" children who didn't get the award for a variety of different reasons.

Can we not congratulate anyone for anything, for fear of offending those who don't win?

Ok, Weebo, make some suggestions.

coddiwomple
Very, very much about your post troubles me. I can't remember it all now, but you talk, I think, about the 'bullies' and the 'lazy'. I promise you, most of those children have loads going on at home that you wouldn't know the half of, and the fact they're coming to school is fantastic, and if there are children like this in your child's school, and the school is 'recognising' them in some way, I can almost guarantee you that these children will be dealing with major issues on top of everything else and that the school is trying to support them.

ALSO, going back to the point of the threat, rewards DO work... giving a "difficult" kid a reward helps encourage that child to make that same choice again (and, perhaps, be less of a bully - or whatever)

But this line, coddiwomple breaks my heart:
Just as bad as encouraging "efforts" over "results"

You'll be very happy to know that I've go no influence at all over school policy, but if I had my way, I'd reward "effort" over "results" every time (OFSTED are the opposite). A genius child achieving? Whoop whoop. How marvellous (that child would achieve in any environment). A child who's behind (let's say a child in Yr 4 who comes in in September at Yr 1 levels but who leaves in July at Yr 3 levels) - that's FANTASTIC. I'm more proud of that child (a year behind where he or she should be) than the gifted who will flourish anyway.

I think your post deserves a

You document it. 11th grandparent died? Kid says they're going on holiday when parent says it's a family emergency? You document it. You document mitigating history. Then you target those parents who are taking the piss. You don't do one size fits all stuff that discriminates against kids with genuine illnesses, long term or not. And you don't make out that being ill equates to not trying hard enough to come in.

My sisters both had it almost every year through primary and secondary (possibly every year) and I didn't get it once so it doesn't always reflect on the parents, my sisters are just blessed with good health and I get enough illness for the 3 of us!

My parents never made a big deal of it, similar thoughts as PP have said, and all they got was a certificate. I picked up on this at 6 or 7 and it really upset me, the fact I was ill all the time I kind of just got on with it with a few tears because I was a teacher's pet loved school, but now I was even more upset. Generally the first few of a year, or the start of a new term. I kept most of it bottled up because I felt I wasn't as good as my sisters, no matter how hard I tried in school I could never live up to my older sisters

Add in a prize and it's just kick a man while he's down! I never really thought about classmates getting 100% attendance but if there was a prize it would have been discussed and I would have felt disappointed that I didn't have a chance at winning and felt that my classmates were superior

We also develop the work ethic that doesn't allow for days off because you're knackered, had a late night, feel a bit crappy, don't feel like it. The kids just wouldn't expect to be off for that kind of thing, they wouldn't ask. That's not luck; it's work ethic.In addition we only take holidays in school holidays.

Yep, agree with this too. Already today I've seen FB statuses how " (woo, it's last day of term today!) Nope it's not, we've still got a day tomorrow.
Also the late nights on a school night thing - nope, on a school night you go to bed at a set reasonable time.

I don't see any issue with congratulating people for their effort or achievement.

I do see an issue with congratulating people for their good luck to not be sick/disabled/in need of therapy.

The first one is well withing their control - they've put the effort and work in and they get a reward.

The second is outside of their control and does not deserve a similar reward. I understand that for some children it's the only certificate they might get, and ok then - while I disagree with the principle, a certificate hurts no one - but the rewards, the parties, the outings, the bikes (ffs), nope. Just wrong.

Yes, congratulations for being healthy and not having SN's. Wonderful.

Honestly, I am not the 'Everyone should get a trophy for everything' type of parent. There are lots of things DS will never be able to do and he understands that. He is a great kid who is happy for his friends when they do well.

But attendance rewards really piss me off.