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!

Sorry, typo, DD's in yr5 for another week! 😂

In most cases, attendance brags are basically saying 'my kid has a good immune system so doesnt get sick often!' or 'I send my kid to school sick so he/she can infect everybody else even though they won't actually learn anything anyway as they're too focused on feeling miserable and not letting their snot drip onto the desk!" Side note: I had an attendance rate of 53% in my 5th year of high school and managed to get into first choice university a year ahead of my peers. Attending every day doesn't make a difference: generally working hard on the work you're given and being bright does. Being aware of national holidays relevant to their culture is very important - think of it like religious education or geography but more in depth and hands on. It's helping him create a sense of identity that will make him a more confident and well rounded person. You should be proud of what you're providing him with, don't worry about silly stats, he's only 5 and has plenty of time to worry about stats for the rest of his life.

Thanks Maisy and Superbird.

We had a meeting lined up with the head and some other bod, but the parent had a lot of seizures a few days before and we had to cancel. Then it kind of went quite quiet, but if they start getting arsey again, I'll bear in mind what you've both said.

The headteacher is vile, a proper little Hitler.

"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."

This was where dd's immunology consultant found himself disagreeing with the school. According to him, it is not at all uncommon (or indicative of anything) that some children of primary school age have not yet developed the strong immune system they will have as adults, just like not all 1yos have learnt to walk. It doesn't have to indicate they will never get there. It doesn't go by the name of any syndrome or condition. It is, as he said, "within normal range".

And of course there is no assessment path for "late developing immune system".

Children frequently cope less well with being ill than adults do so I would not expect to see the same patterns of absence in children and adults. My own son's autism and learning difficulties mean that he will cope less well than most people and more likely to be off school because of it.

cory
But if a child picks every bug up and is poorly then they'll be off for a few days being poorly. It's common mainly in primary years.

The attendance/absence pattern of typical poor attenders in secondary is odd days here and there. Never normally off for more than 2 days in a row. Always the same reason given that doesn't tally with what the pupil says.

In the work place randomly having odd days off is a sure fire way to trigger an absence meeting

That's what I mean when i say you wouldn't tend to get the same pattern at work. If I'm unwell and off work then I'm unwell and off for 3-5 days usually. One year I got everything coming through school abd had an attendance meeting. No issues at all because they looked at my file and my work attendance had been great before. I can't imagine they'd be happy if I was calling in for a day with a bad head thrn another day feeling sick then a few weeks later another 2 days because i feel tired and run down.

sleepy
And the school will be aware of your child's needs and have notes on his SEND profile to account forthat.

It's a good work ethic to instill at an early age if at all possible

Possibly because I'm from a union family, but I think that a good work ethic needs to be tempered with an appreciation for what is reasonable and healthy expectations from those in authority, and with solid justification for those decisions - and 'cos targets' is not solid justification.

I think that being taught that education is important (not just academic education) is a very reasonable and healthy expectation.

Surely it's fairly obvious kids get sick more than adults: their immune systems aren't as strong and they spend more time in close proximity to each other than adults (which why they get nits more often than adults).

Pipedown your comment doesn't seem related to the topic at all. Considering education important doesn't mean you magically can prevent yourself getting sick or that you should come in sick and infect everyone else. That would be incredibly selfish.

I agree though about taking odd days here and there like Maisy says of course it's possible to catch lots of one day bugs but it's unusual unless you have a chronic condition so I can understand why the school would chase it up in that case.

So, my job involves tracking, reporting and tackling attendance. One huge misconception on this thread is that the minority of people take the piss. It may be the minority amongst your friends and people on mumsnet because you are generally like-minded ie you care enough to discuss it. It is in fact the vast majority of low attendees that are not in school because of some very damaging situations. I would say maybe 5% have long term medical reasons. In these cases they are entitled to support when they return. Another 10% are taken on holiday by well meaning, but economically struggling parents who want to spend time with their children. Most of my time is spent chasing children missing in education, children at risk (drugs, alcoholism, prostitution etc) and other safeguarding issues. Most of these family will have social services involvement and be from backgrounds with little or no education. They are not off having lovely experiences. Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. We encourage attendance to safeguard children, but has someone has already said-we cannot have one rule for the disadvantaged and one for everyone else.

But also attendance awards just mean that some children didn't get sick and that is just silly. Children generally cannot influence their own attendance until they can walk to school in year 4 or 5.

As a teacher and a parent I hate them. And I have never in 20yrs given extra stuff to a child to either take with them or catch up. I utterly disagree that missing one wk of school a year in primary due to a family holiday will directly correlate with poor gcse results and a life of failure.

It smacks of nanny state and is used to try and raise the attendance of those kids who habitually miss every other Friday but they’re never fined. Instead it’s the parents taking a week off in early July. It’s bloody madness.

@Blondebombsite83, why can’t the government just come out and say the issue is with these kids? There really isn’t any evidence that shows poor long term outcomes for well supported children missing 1wk in June/July each year of primary. There is a weight of evidence showing poor outcomes for children who arrive at school at 9.30am most mornings and miss one or two days a fortnight. Yet it’s the former whose parents are fined.

@lookingforspace who knows why the government don't do more! A 9.30 attendance would count as non attendance for official figures so they can be fined just as much as someone who takes a weeks holiday. I very rarely hear of anyone being fined at all but it varies between local
councils. Head teachers are not allowed to make a distinction between absence for holiday and persistent non-attendance. It is all unauthorised. Medical and family emergencies are the only exceptions.

I know; I teach. In our school/authority, lateness is recorded separately from non attendance partly because it is endemic. This is not the case where I live and where my children attend school. In the authority I live in attendance as a whole is high yet we (as a LA) fine more than the authority in which I teach where poor attendance is a problem. I feel it’s one of those catch all rules that penalises many parents who are supportive of school and whose children have otherwise excellent attendance records yet it does nothing to improve the attendance of those children who regularly miss random days and for whom we often have real safeguarding worries.

"And the school will be aware of your child's needs and have notes on his SEND profile to account forthat."

We get the same letters home as everyone else. This is despite the school suggesting that he doesn't come in because he is distressed and is getting nothing out of being there.

sleepy
Because the letters come out centrally.
School are clearly not concerned or they'd have done something.

Just had my daughters end of year report thing, seems her attendance has been 88%. Which is obviously way below the target but this has been a very tough year with regards to hospital visits and such. Oddly enough, they have marked a 3 day absence as 'exceptional circumstances' and I have no idea what on earth they are on about with that one as all of her absences have been because of illness, and the rest are all marked that way.