To think that attendance awards in primary are mean?

[schooltripwoes]

DCs were distraught (no exaggeration) earlier this term to catch chickenpox, because it meant they had to stay off school and wouldn't be able to get an attendance award. They're 5 & 7.

Their school makes a BIG thing about achieving 100% attendance for the whole year. The 'winners' get an award in the end of year assembly and then go to a special tea party with senior staff on the last day of term. Only 5% of kids achieved 100% this year.

AIBU to think that it's wrong to reward attendance at primary level because generally, kids aren't absent due to anything they control. It's either genuine sickness (which is more prevalent in younger children), or family holidays, which the parents have decided to take. Fair enough to encourage a truant 14-year old, bit not little ones. The kids are so upset when they can't go to school.

In some instances the attendance award appears to be good and encouraging but others it appears to punish children for things they cannot control i.e. having chicken pox or sickness bug etc. My son has epilepsy. He didn't get an attendance award but the child who did in his class is also the child with the parents who shout the loudest! Their child was also lucky enough to not have caught any illness during the school year. Achievement awards can be good and encouraging if done right and sensitively.

My school has it and my DS was upset that he didn't get it. I took him in to school for registration, then waited to take him to a GP appointment at 9.10. I was told to immediately take him to a&e and he had emergency surgery. 3 nights in hospital. He missed 4 days of school.

He came home saying, in his own words, it's not fair. Going to hospital and having an operation is important, I couldn't not have it.

I agree, it doesn't motivate children so much as it's an award for the parent who controls when a child goes to school or not. These should be scrapped in favour of something that actually makes a difference to unauthorised absence rates.

" Without a push on attendance many children will just be languishing.
This isn’t about a few MC parents with sick kids or going on holiday.
It is about parents who do not consider education to be important, for various reasons: poverty, aspiration or culture."

These kids have zero chance of getting 100% anyway, and therefore zero chance of getting the reward--so once they've had that first absence, what is the incentive not to take more and more time off? "May as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb," as they say.

If we are concerned about these families (and we should be), then we need to be directing resources towards getting their attendance levels up, not wasting money on Alton Towers tickets for a bunch of middle-class kids.

A school I worked in had a great (but complicated to explain!) Scheme. Kids could earn 'points' each week for things such as - full attendance, remembering homework & PE kit, not losing golden time, etc. Tallied up at the end of each term and gold/silver/bronze certificates awarded. 3 gold certificates and their parents got invited to a special end of year assembly. It was a way of rewarding the good kids who just get on with it but can fly under the radar sometimes and whilst perfect attendance was one way to get lots of points, it wasn't the only one, so a child could still achieve gold with the odd sick day. Sounds complicated but worked really well!

Agreed. If a primary child doesn't make it into school they are either:

1. Too ill to come in
2. Staying off to comply with school rules RE: sickness period
3. The parents have failed to take them in

All 3 are out of the control of the child and therefore they deserve neither sanction or reward. STUPID SYSTEM!

I have a facebook friend who's daughter has a lot of hospital appointments. She recently wrote that at just 2 days into the holiday and her daughter already won't get 100% attendance because of a hospital appointments.
I think it is unfair on primary school children when they usually get much say in whether they go to school, what with the 48 hour rule and other things. They're made to feel they've failed or succeeded for something they can't control.

Can push attendance all you want - still know we won't get 100% for dd2 as day before they broke up I got the schedule for her next batch of therapy appointments and there's one second week of term.

Could very easily get a family into thinking "blown it already so fuck it attendance doesn't matter"

Schools who are going to bully for attendance need to start putting something in place to distinguish these therapy/inflexible medical appointments (you wait months for a hospital clinic and they have a policy if you reschedule appointments and they will discharge you so there's no flexibility there) and letting them be allowed for the magic 100% calculation.

My DS's primary did scrap them , they will restart in high school.

He won't get one due to hospital appointments.

I can't see how parents who don't care about the childs education care about a scrap of paper or motivated enough to get out of bed for a full term to get a reward.

I have a parent opposite me who often is leaving the house when I am back from dropping my DS ( 20 minutes walk) ..She has had help, chaotic life. I am not sure the answer for these kids but a certificate is not one and a child not been stressed about not getting a piece of card is not one of them

My dgs school have attendance certificates but they are no big deal to the kids. There is no other reward apart from the certificate and they are given out along with other awards at the EOY assembly.

I think it’s very unfair. Some children will never get the chance to have high attendance because they have health conditions and illnesses that prevent them.

Even for children without underlying conditions, children get sick. This is allowed. If my child is unwell and will be miserable at school and struggle through the day they wou”d be better off at home. Why make children martyrs?

Some schools give progress awards for dome of these things (as well as or instead of awards for the highest achievement), to give recognition to those who have worked really hard at improving in something they find very hard.

Theoretically, yes. But in reality they don't. How does a school teacher decide that a child is "working hard"? The child that does not appear to try - because he is lost or unhappy or confused - just stays under the radar. The child who is quiet, no trouble but fails - no rewards - ever.

Those parents whose kids win other awards seem to think that their child, who happens to have good genes, should be rewarded for music or swimming or maths and have no trouble in accepting awards for that. It's no more luck than the child who goes a school year without time off for medical reasons.

And in the workplace going in when you feel unwell and it could go either way, (as long as you are not infectious), is a valuable attitude. We do need to struggle on and "just get on with it" sometimes. (If we are a parent or own our own business or on a zero hours contract when no work = no money). So that should be rewarded.

I was proud of my son for his 100% attendance. Proud that he got up and got ready and went in and was never late. And fwiw he does have additional needs and has never had another achievement award in his entire school career - nursery, primary or secondary.

Our school gives progress awards and also limits progress for those at the top in reading and maths so others can ‘catch up’.

Absolutely ludicrous policy.

It encourages parents to send kids to school when they are ill, and it basically rewards luck more than anything.

Having a child with 100% attendance is NOTHING to be proud of. One of two things has happened :

1. Your child has been lucky
2. You have sent your child to school when they are not well , which is irresponsible and selfish.

Also, as an adult, going into work when you are ill is not a valuable attitude, it shows that you are prepared to go in, infect colleagues and customers, and maybe make vital mistakes when you are there. Any decent employer does not want ill staff at work.

It has been stated, quite rightly, if a child does miss a day early on in the term then there is then zero incentive to have an ' attend at all costs' attitude.

The quicker these nonsensical ' awards' are done away with , the better.

I am proud that he did it. And rightly so. Yes he was lucky that he wasn't ill that year. Every other year he was having had several surgeries and years of assessments and various therapies. So yes he was "lucky".

And you don't think that the kid who is popular, who is funny and has loads of friends or the kid who is good at maths and top of the class and the kid who is the swimming champion or the football captain or the lead in the school play or in a dance show at the end of term is lucky???? If it is your kid I suppose s/he "deserves" the accolade for his sort of luck.

Our school seems to target pretty well - as well as house points scattered about with about as much logic and consistency as in Harry Potter - mine do well as its a point for every book donated to the library - there are attendance awards done on a class basis, but generally the only kids who don't get the marks for attendance are when the parent has said X is being a bugger in the mornings and not getting ready. Sickness and appointments are exempt. The idea is to try to get all the kids who can be, there on time, which then leaves more time to deal with the kids who can't be got there on time for good reasons.
I didn't care much but ds has struggled this year with ASD and not wanted to go to school, so a note on an attendance award saying we respect how you have consistently arrived on time, actually meant a lot to him.