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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed offer that dd is on attendance watch.

182 replies

Fantasticday69 · 17/10/2017 09:37

So Dd2 is in year 7. She had a really bad tummy bug near the start of the year. So she had the required 2 days off.
Now because her attendance is only 89% she is on attendance watch.
Aibu to be annoyed as it is just bad timing. 2 days off later in the year would not trigger such an event but it is still the same level of absence.

OP posts:
SlipperyLizard · 17/10/2017 09:39

Yanbu.

DDs school has a reward for 100% attendance, every half term. Last week she was sick in school and got sent home, off for the required 48 hours. So this Friday she'll miss out on the reward, even though school know it was genuine illness.

florenceandthefig · 17/10/2017 09:42

I really really don't agree with rewarding children or adults for good attendance

It's your bloody luck!

NataliaOsipova · 17/10/2017 09:43

It's all a bit ridiculous. Yes - children should go to school whenever they are not unwell and should never be taken out for holidays etc. But children who are actually ill need to be kept at home - apart from anything else, to stop disease and infection spreading. The attitude that schools take at the moment just encourages people to send in sick children. There must surely be a way of differentiating genuine ill health from unauthorised absence due to holidays.

TempStamos · 17/10/2017 09:46

Understand you would be pissed of but as you know it was genuine illness don’t let it worry you. It’s just the schools policy and it won’t affect your DD in the long run throughout school. All my school aged DC have been on attendance watch at some time as their school is quite strict but as long as they have reason to be off and catch up on work ok, it’s always been fine and their attendance has been caught up on. Smile

Original poster
Fantasticday69 · 17/10/2017 09:55

Tbh I don't really know what it means. She has a note in her planner so fire attendance officer will be checking her attendance until it reaches 97%.

OP posts:
whitehorsesdonotlie · 17/10/2017 10:04

A fire attendance officer? Shock Seems a little OTT! Grin

I don't agree with ruddy attendance awards either.

Migraleve · 17/10/2017 10:06

What’s attendance watch?

WhatwouldAryado · 17/10/2017 10:07

Children who have low attendance are often without adequate support at home.
The school has to tackle that fairly without creating some sort of 'profile' about what a struggling pupil looks like. There has to be a number, a flag, a warning and some effort to be involved from the school. As well as the schoolbeing monitored for their efforts or failings of students in their Care.
If that monitoring picks up another child who is going without in someway and provides them support would it matter that you had a letter that got your back up?

LikeTheShoes · 17/10/2017 10:07

DS missed the 2nd day of school for a hospital appointment (the school were aware and had authorized it), we got a letter saying his attendance was 50% and we would be investigated by the LEA and would probably go to prison. Obviously their system is automated and stupid. His teacher agreed. Attendance awards are stupid too. "Well done you for not being ill."

Llamacorn · 17/10/2017 10:09

I hate that schools have a reward for 100% attendance. Dd3 had a disability and is off school quite often due to that. She had to watch her sister get a certificate and a bag of sweets at the end of last term for 100% attendance whilst she got nothing - it's certainly not her fault, she was gutted!

Totally OTT, illnesses happen. They'd be breathing down your neck if you send her in before the required 48hrs for sickness, can't win either way.

SuburbanRhonda · 17/10/2017 10:10

There must surely be a way of differentiating genuine ill health from unauthorised absence due to holidays.

When you find out what it is, please let me know. It would make my job managing attendance so much easier Smile

Whatsername17 · 17/10/2017 10:13

The school is covering their back. It will show the action they are taking to improve attendance. If they do nothing, they will get crucified by Ofsted. It is annoying but please try not to take it personally. Your dds attendance will improve because her absence was bad luck and the school will tick the box that makes the government happy. I would imagine every pupil who has been ill this term is 'on watch. It doesn't mean anything.

FairytaleOfNewBrighton · 17/10/2017 10:13

LikeTheShoes - "DS missed the 2nd day of school for a hospital appointment (the school were aware and had authorized it), we got a letter saying his attendance was 50% and we would be investigated by the LEA and would probably go to prison "

Really? Hmm I very much doubt that.

SandyDenny · 17/10/2017 10:14

What does attendance watch mean? Sounds like some admin kind of thing, is that right? If it doesn't affect your DD then I wouldn't bother about it.

Schools realistically can only have one size fits all policies and of course there are people who it doesn't fit, not worth getting worked up about, sounds like work for the fire officer but no impact on your dd

fizzthecat1 · 17/10/2017 10:14

*I really really don't agree with rewarding children or adults for good attendance

It's your bloody luck*

Exactly, and people are supposed to REST when they are ill. The doctors always say rest and plenty of fluids etc so they're not doing themselves any good.

DunkMeInTomatoSoup · 17/10/2017 10:16

Its not difficult

(a) Present = attendance
(b) Not present (no matter the reason) = non attendance.

Not sure why people cant get their heads round this.

Whether you have bubonic plague or bunked off, if you arent there for the register, you're absent. This isn't an election where you can send in a postal registration or attend by proxy.

Non attendance subdivide into

(a) Authorised = bubonic plague.
(b) Not authorised = bunked off to Spain in a cheap out of season deal

Both of which are the polar opposite of being present.

notacooldad · 17/10/2017 10:19

It wouldn't bother me. I'd let the school crack on as it's not going to change anything.
I do think the reward scheme for 100% attendance is ridiculous. Every year D'S and a few others went to Nandos for a 'celebration meal because he didn't have any time off. DS said ' I don't get it, I'm supposed to be at school anyway and I'm lucky that I wasn't I'll so why do o need a meal?'

A few years ago my work (local authority) introduced certificates on a quarterly basis for staff who didn't have any time off due to sickness. It was a farce! If you were off sick you are allowed to take it as annual leave or swop the shift with someone so the figures are distorted anyway. The certificates cost money to be printed out and we put them straight into recycling because they didn't actually mean anything!
The idea was quietly scrapped!

BertrandRussell · 17/10/2017 10:20

I know people always think it's about targets, and of course it is. But poor attendance is a real red flag for other stuff as well. So it's really important that schools monitor attendance for the good of the kids as well as the good of the school.

And the letters have to be standardized, or neglectful parents who need to be pulled up on it can claim they haven't been treated fairly.

daydreamnation · 17/10/2017 10:22

whatwould you're basing your information on what may I ask? 'Children with poor attendance have inadequate support at home'
Really?! My dd had fairly awful attendance at primary school thanks to glandular fever knocking her immunity out for a few years and later struggles with severe anxiety. Guess what? I was 100% supportive and despite her appalling attendance over the years, she aced her gcses this year and is now at 6th form.
Op, you are definitely nbu, attendance awards etc are just wrong and massively unfair (and I work in education)

RedSkyAtNight · 17/10/2017 10:22

And how exactly does being on "attendance watch" affect your DD?
If it requires her to jump through lots of hoops and makes her life unduly difficult, then be annoyed. If it just means that some admin person has to keep an eye on her attendance figures, is it really such a big deal?

SuburbanRhonda · 17/10/2017 10:25

daydream you've misquoted.

whatwould posted:

Children who have low attendance are often without adequate support at home.

So nothing to do with your DD's situation.

WaxOnFeckOff · 17/10/2017 10:26

So, by earlier this year you mean since school has gone back in September? If so that is a bit weird that you've got the letter now. Presumably they review it monthly then as surely the percentage would have been higher immediately after she was off and her rate is lower now? So if she isn't off again then her absence level will be above the required rate soon.

I agree it's wrong and also agree it's because everything is standardised and people aren't allowed to think.

My friend got a letter about absence after her son was in hospital with a ruptured appendix. That went down well.

Mantegnaria · 17/10/2017 10:26

I find this kind of monitoring depressing. Surely it's possible to go after the real non-attendees without penalising the sick ?

And sending a letter home about it a few days into the term is just daft. There's no excuse for unintelligent reactions like that.

Still, I suppose this is all a reaction to some parents who brazenly take their children out of school for holidays.

Zaphodsotherhead · 17/10/2017 10:27

notacooldad - the place I worked had those attendance certificates too! We recycled them as well.

Although, when I left, I collected mine up (I had LOADS because I'd been part time, mornings only, and you can pretty much work through most bad colds, sprained ankles, headaches if you only work four hours a day) and showed them to my new place of work, to prove I was a good attendee.

x2boys · 17/10/2017 10:27

I thought they did it on a term or yearly basis ?They do at my childrens school.