To not understand the fuss over attendance?

[CestLeWhy]

disclaimer: I didn't go through the state schooling system in the UK, DS is in reception, so I have no experience of school quotas/ funding/ social services. I'm not trying to be goady, I'm genuinely asking.

What is the fuss about attendance? I see so many posters proudly stating their kids have 100% attendance, and that is to be celebrated as it shows they are very conscientious, but why is it such a big deal?

DS just received his reception report and got 'Exceeding' in every category and glowing praise (not even a stealth boast, I am so proud) but his attendance was below 90%. So what? He's only 5. If he's poorly, which he is often, I keep him home rather than send him in for a miserable day for him and disruption to the class. A large chunk is also accounted for as we are from a different country so I take 2-3 days off a year for him to celebrate our cultural holidays. I think it's more important for him to grow up assimilating both cultures than attend every single day. I don't want to drip feed, we had a family emergency which caused some of the days off, but even without, his attendance would have been below 95%.

I can understand lots of reasons to monitor attendance: it can be a safeguarding indicator, it's important in higher years where they learn at a very fast pace etc but I just can't understand why it's considered so important in isolation for all year groups.

Educate me, please, MN!

But no I don't believe a healthy child has 4 weeks of illnesses in a year, that's a ridiculous amount.

Dd, who has ME, fybromyalgia, was nearly kicked out of College (A levels) because of poor attendance, below 75%. Thing was, she soent all that time at home work8ng really hard, always had her nose in her books, generally kept up and never missed handing in work - for which she usually got As and A*s, so what was the ruddy problem? Her tutor was an absolute bitch and no help at all.

when I was at secondary school I had bad anxiety problems and my attendance was 70%. My parents did get a lot of phone calls and letters and stuff... but now days theyd probably be in court or something ridiculous!
I was a straight A student and got 4 As at A level.... But I hated the noise and crowds at school and only went in when I really had to.
I spent my time on the top of the 'low attendance' shaming list outside the heads office.... but thats nothing compared to the level of hassle idve gotten now days.
I hope my children dont have the same problems as me because they would face so much more and its in no way beneficial...
I dont actually see who this harassment over attendance actually benefits at all really? Its not actually going to address the problems of real school refusers.... and I honestly dont think there are really that many 'lazy parents' who cant be arsed getting their kids to school... I think there are far more families with children with serious issues who refuse to go to school

Don't believe it then. I've seen it plenty of times, it happens. I'm ill 2 out of 4 weeks of every month. Some people get ill a lot.

haribosmarties
School refusers are an entirely different situation.

There are people who are lazy and can't be bothered. I've also had more than a handful of parents who openly keep their child off so they can spend time with their child and go out / have duvet day.
The bulk of persistent absenteeism (in my experience), when you take out long term health issues, comes down to parents allowing their child to have regular odd days. If i look at my tutor group for example, most students have been genuinely ill at some point. Some have even had that horrible virus that swept through and had people off for a week or 2. Most of them haven't got below 90% attendance. The ones that do have below 90% attendance are the ones who'll have a random Tuesday off one week and then in 3 weeks time have a Thursday Friday and then in a fortnight have another odd day. Then they're in for a few weeks and then there's another odd day off. They had the same throughout school. It sounds awful but I watched as the ones who were taking odd days off started to fall behind, I did attendance mentoring, chatted with home to see what I could do but there wasn't anything. I know on results day who is likely to do not as well as they were capable of and it's those who've got lots of absences through school. Usually between the 85-90% so enough to hinder their education but not enough to end up on thr targeted list. What upsets me is that one girl in that situation really could do with a strong educational background to help her get out of the cycle others in her family have fallen into. I desperately want her to do well for herself, but the odds are against her.

DD will get 100% this year - it’s blind luck.
She hasn’t been unwell all year. One morning she was a bit headachy but asked for calpol and said she would see how she went. At 3pm when I went to school she was totally fine.
Last year she had a few incidences of illness and a holiday but her attendance never got very low.

I’m totally with @maisypops. DDs friend with poor attendance unfortunately has a parent who didn’t like school so thinks it’s accepable to pass that feeling along and say ‘she’s not academic’ as an excuse.
She also doesn’t work as she doesn’t like to have to do what she’s told - vicious circle.

My son’s attendance as of 04/06 was at 89%, due to two bouts of vomiting (thanks to the parents who decided there was no reason why their kids should be off for 48 hours - half of Reception was wiped out), a hideous chest infection with a temperature of over 40c that required two lots of antibiotics before it would clear up, and a raging urine infection. If school though I was sending in a 4 year old who needed needed alternating doses of calpol and nurofen to make it through the day just lying on the sofa, they had another think coming...

moomin
Sometimes that happens (especially in yhe younger years) and schools know that.

A couple of longer bugs isn't going to be the sort of absence that is wildly disruptive in later years anyway. A child who misses a week off school with a horrible bug will have to accept they missed some stuff but most will get caught up or borrow a friend's book to copy notes (secondary here). Sometimes parents even drop us a line to say they're off poorly but what can we give them if they perk up over the weekend so they aren't behind? Even if the overall % drops because of longer bugs if a child falls in that camp they probably have supportive parents and have probably had a reasonable attitude to learning promoted.

All the persistent absentees (excludong medical) in my form are really nice students, but they are the ones with sporadic days off, a haphazard attitude to learning so tend not to get caught up, have parents who'll be in for a meeting in y10 and say 'well i was off all the time and it hasn't done me any harm. Why should they have extra work for being off? You're punishing them for being off. It's not like they'll ever need to know maps when they leave here anyway'.
It's an attitude to education and ethos from home.

My DS probably had a totally of at least 15 days off in YR (having not missed a single day of nursery). He just seemed to catch every bug that year and would often either throw up with it or it would turn into an ear infection and would end up with the best part of a week off school. Y1 he only had about 4 days off.

I think attendance is more of an issue in families where the child is unlikely to do anything remotely educational over the long holidays. It's not like I force my Y1 child to do workbooks over the holiday but he'll read to me, I'll read to him, he'll end up writing thank you notes, or post-cards to family etc. so a lot of the basic skills are kept up. In families where children won't see a book over the 6 week summer holiday I think every week of school attendance becomes more important.

As people have previously said - if there is a medical reason then there is nothing you can do.
I do think 90% is low.
My DD’s attendance was really good last year until the end of summer term. She had 12 days off due to illness and then operation. The School understood and i did not get any threatening letters. As soon as she was given Ok by hospital she was back at school.
This year she actually had a bad couple of months and had a few viruses. The way it fell we managed just 3 days off.
I would have kept her off for more if needed, but she won’t be staying home for a cold.

@MaisyPops

whilst I don't disagree with the sentiment of your posts I would beg you to please not use the term 'school refusal'.

It is inadequate and quite offensive.

My son has never refused to go to school, there just have not been measures put in place to enable him to attend school without his anxiety being triggered.

There is nothing willful about it he just cannot attend because the environment is incorrect.

The term school refusal is very damaging and unless you are talking of truancy it should not be used.

Two things should be mentioned in the "of course it's different for real medical cases"-discussion.

One is that children's immune systems do not develop at the same rate: some children will still catch every bug going and get quite ill at an age where most of their peers have developed immunity, not because there is anything seriously wrong with the first lot, but simply because (like walking and talking) not everybody hits milestones at the same time.

I remember a long involved conversation with an immunology consultant about this when dd was going through a period of constant infections. He kept telling me that "there is nothing abnormal about this at all, it's all within usual parameters of development, it doesn't need any explanation" and I kept saying "the school won't accept it, please write a note and call it something". He couldn't understand what I was on about, after all he was the expert on immunology and what would the school be doing questioning his expertise?

Two is that it can take a very long time to get a diagnosis for both autism and various physical disorders. That means that a child who is seriously disabled may still not be able to count in the group of "but of course we don't mean you". For people with dd's condition, a survey undertaken at about the time she was diagnosed showed that the average time between first seeking medical advice and finally getting the diagnosis was 10 (!) years.

PitterPatter my DC don't do anything remotely educational over the summer holidays, because I think they need the rest, particularly DD. They're only ever off when they're ill. DD seems very prone to stomach bugs, DS2 was just off for 8 days with chickenpox. They also arrive at school early most days (at DD's insistence).

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks

Your kids don't read a single book over the summer? You don't read to them at all? I really don't think any child needs a 6 week break from all reading! Statically kids who do literally nothing remotely educational (and I'm talking about reading or writing a postcard here for young kids) are usually 6 weeks behind when they return to school so attendance is more of an issue.

Educational activities:
Reading
Talking about the world
Watching the news together
Writing
Drawing
Craft
Walks with talking
Bug hunts
Any exercise (that covers PE)
Cooking
Junk modelling
Playing
Discussing
Visiting museums/galleries/cinemas
Pond dipping
Rock pooling
Cave exploring
Chores at home

You really don’t do any of those things?

corythatwas
But schools can be aware of who is on the assessment path.
E.g. one of my y11s last year was almost certainly on the ASD spectrum. They'll end up being transferred to adult services before they get a diagnosis. We treated them as ASD diagnosis and accounted for it.

There are ways around it if school are confident enough to make the argument when the questions are asked of them.

Neither of my younger DC like being read to. DD used to read avidly but has now stopped. I have to remind her to read every day during term time, as in yr6 that's all they ask of them. DS2 hasn't discovered reading for pleasure yet.

Out of your list Rebooting they do:

Drawing
Craft
Exercise
Playing
Discussing
Chores at home

Apart from chores at home, all instigated by them, and they come under the heading of "fun". Calling it "educational" saps all the fun out of it, imo.

Perfectly I'd also call it fun - doesn’t mean they aren’t learning though!

But I don't call it educational. It's like I always have all the salad in Subway. They've now sapped all the joy out of that by telling me it's one of my five a day. I eat because I like it, not because it's healthy.

It’s s load of rubbish and means nothing. I couldnt care less what level my kids have. If they are well they go in. If they aren’t well (which is a lot) they are off.
They are well behaved and happy and attendance means nothing despite school telling me it’ll affect their attainment I’ve got 4 dc whosre exceeding expected levels in all areas. My eldest years ago got a 100% scholarship as did so well in entrance exams.
I Refused to even go in for the meeting with the ESW

I think the other factor at play is how supportive schools are. Many are just so stressful as places for children that even having a cold is just too much. In my childhood, if I felt a bit ill or even tired I could tell my teacher and go and read a book in the cosy corner all through primary. Now, I know lots of schools where a slightly poorly or just plain over tired child will be cajoled (read bullied) until they conform then go home in tears. Parents don’t trust schools to take care of their children so they keep them home.

Maisypops your example of odd days off here and there could have been me, but mine was due to migraine. It would develop from a slight headache to debilitating pain and light sensitivity with added repeated vomiting, sometimes as many as 15 times. Eventually I would fall asleep. When I woke up, I would be rights as rain, except for very hungry.

I had a couple of teachers who had the attitiude that I couldn’t be ill if I only had one day off, but luckily I had some more understanding ones too. (The school did suspend the 48 hrs for d&v for me because there was no risk of infection to anyone else)

baking
Yes there can be mitigating circumstances, but most aren't mitigating. Most people who aren't in school aren't going to be poorly on every occasion otherwise we'd expect to see the same pattern of absence in the adult work force.

It's why attendance discussions and behaviour discussions always go the same way. Teachers acknowledge that sometimes there are medical issues (which do require different approaches) but they are the minority. Most students who have medical issues get caught up and school are able to support (just like if someone is poorly for a bit).
Teachers acknowledge that some behaviour issues are rooted in SEND needs, but equally most behaviour issues aren't SEND.
Then time and time again there's replies of 'but in my situation...'

Someone who is routinely off in dribs and drabs and doesn't get caught up tends to have a pattern of someone who has parents who will keep them off for anything and aren't big on education.

I think attendance is one of the things where the school and some parents are a bit OTT. I fully support the school and my 2 DS are there every day without fail - unless ill. One of my DS is often ill (we were told this may happen as he had a virus as a baby) but the other is usually 100% attendance. Surely the school realise there must be a reason so why are they on my case for one son, I have assured them he is ill, I always ring in. I think they emphasise it too much because its an OFSTED point. But they don't take reason into account - who wants a child there who's had D&V for example?