AIBU to say i know my own sons health - school asking for sick note?!?

[givemebooks]

My son is 11 and in his first year of secondary school (he does have some additional needs and has and EHCP)

On friday afternoon school phoned, he had developed a raging temp and could we come get him no problem we were surprised as he never gets ill! Think the last time was over 5 years ago!

The temp developed into a sore throat and on sunday we saw an out of hour GP who said it was all a viral infection and to let it play out keep up with paracetamol and rest.

Over the past 2 days he has remained off school the temp comes back if meds are not given (we have taken to alternating calpol and ibuprofen so he has something every 2 hours ish ) over night he developed a hacking cough bringing up green phlegm he has been up with me most of the night as could not settle sat up but could not lay down, poor fella is very poorly and we got him booked i to the gp as soon as the surgery opened this morning

This morning i phoned the school to say he would be off again and the women was so rude said they would accept today but they want him in tomorrow no matter what as over 3 days is unacceptable!

I explained he was ill and shattered that his cough and chest sound awful she would not listen said it did not matter he had been ill since friday 5 days was long enough to get over anything and if needed the school will give medication, i stated i will be going on the doctors advice when we see them and she stated they would need a sick note then??!?

Like doctors have nothing better to do that do sick notes for kids? Like my decison as a parent is not good enough! I am fuming if i was as unwell as him i would not be going to work!

We have now been to the doctors and he has a massive chest infection issues both sides when listening so is now on antibiotics, the doctor just laughed when i said what the school had said was a joke.

I called the school after and said i wanted to talk to them about the situation as my son will bot be in tomorrow and possibly not friday, i am now waiting for the welfare officer of the school to ring me as they will "deal with me"

Doctors have given me the appointment letter for today and i have a copy of the prescription! The school are saying a sick note or letter (which will cost £25 from the GP!!)

What a drama out of nothing but i am bloody fuming!

Anyone know my rights or been in the same situation! How do i tackle the school?

Thank you

[Smellslikemiddleagespirit]

There was an almost identical thread like this just a few weeks ago, so it seems like an increasingly common situation, schools bullying sick pupils and their parents.
The ridiculous thing is a sick child in school could infect others then the attendance rates would be even lower.

Don’t be bullied by them, OP.

[MattFreisWeatherReport]

Synmpathies, OP. Schools behave ridiculously over genuine absence ime and you'd be perfectly justified in telling them to fuck off. If you want to get them off your back less confrontationally, one solution would be to get the GP to print off a summary of the consultation from your DS's notes, which they are obliged to do free of charge since GDPR came into force. HTH.

[VeraWangTwang]

I think that what you have provided is enough . I hope your son feels better soon

[givemebooks]

I have just had the call back i requested from his head of year

I explained said my son was still ill and that the GP did not do sick notes for under 16s and the BMC guidance states this (thank you to that poster!

Appointment letter and copy of prescription will be fine apparently i said the women who spoke to me this morning was very rude

She asked if it was the attendance officer i said no idea said proberly was as she is always harsh!

I was kind and said i also understood they light be pressured at this time of year with people been on holiday but the appointments and the fact i am dropping all this info in person tomorrow morning( her request i said i would come up straight away!) should prove we are not away!!

I still have to call him in sick tomorrow!! Wish me luck if its the same women and she starts again i am off to the head!

It is an academy a top one in the area all bells and whistles fantastic reports and has been so amazing for my son they have been fantastic at supporting his additional needs as he had no support in primary it was awful but that's another matter!! so i don't think low attendance is an issue at the school i think they want to keep there outstanding attendance but that is leading to them over stepping in my opinion!

[Smellslikemiddleagespirit]

That’s ridiculous, MamaAffrica! You wouldn’t normally take your child to the Drs just because of one day of sickness. And if you do, it’s because you’re worried, no because school demand it. And not many can even access same day appointments.

Hope you told them to naff off.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Well what can they do if you fail to provide evidence? Tell you off for being naughty? I would just ignore them to be honest.

[cantkeepawayforever]

The thing is, honest parents are penalised for the actions of dishonest ones.

If all parents only reported their child sick when they were genuinely too sick to attend school, the system would work well - because a reasonable level of genuine sickness is built into overall attendance expectations.

However, many parents DO claim 'sickness' because it's an authorised absence, even when the true picture is 'we're on holiday', and many children are absent with levels of illness that are entirely compatibl;e with school attendance 'they're a bit tired / got a sniffle / think they might be coming down with siomething'. That then slips a school into 'danger area' with respect to overall attendance, and then they start clamping down indiscriminately on all 'sickness' absence, whether genuine or not.

[Acis]

Get the sick note. Stop ‘fuming’. Stop blaming the school for doing what they are made to do.

No, they aren't made to do it. The official guidance says:

Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness. Schools should authorise absences due to illness unless they have genuine cause for concern about the veracity of an illness. If the authenticity of illness is in doubt, schools can request parents to provide medical evidence to support illness. Schools can record the absence as unauthorised if not satisfied of the authenticity of the illness but should advise parents of their intention. Schools are advised not to request medical evidence unnecessarily. Medical evidence can take the form of prescriptions, appointment cards, etc. rather than doctors’ notes.

[ASauvignonADay]

Well what can they do if you fail to provide evidence? Tell you off for being naughty? I would just ignore them to be honest.
Mark it as unauthorised and it could lead to a fine or a prosecution.

[Acis]

If you get the same woman again and she is still being rude, point out that the Head of Year has already confirmed that she is mistaken and say you are not prepared to discuss it further with her.

[AllTheFunAndGames]

The school won't be able to get the sick note themselves. It's a breach of data protection. I assume they think you are on holidays and having an extended midterm. This is why they are being so strict.

[hazell42]

Schools are very fond of this. They tried telling me my son would never be allowed a day off without a sick note. I told them to jog on.
Massive waste of a doctor's time. They didnt train for 7 years to be a truant officer!
And in any case a doctor can neither prove nor disprove headache, stomach ache or any of the other common illnesses, so what would be the point

Ignore

[cantkeepawayforever]

(As a teacher whose pupils are only too open about where they / their friends REALLY were when they were said to be 'ill', I do quite frequently change 'ill' to 'unauthorised holiday' on the register. It definitely peaks in the last couple of days before a holiday. Ii suspect being an attendance officer exposes one to an awful lot of the worse side of human nature!)

[Tolleshunt]

Great stuff, OP. Stand firm.

When you speak to her tomorrow, you could give her some free career advice, along the lines that if she's discovered a miraculous cure that prevents any illness lasting more than five days, she should hand in her notice, and start flogging it out of the back of her Ferrari instead

[toweringheights]

You are being very reasonable.

Total waste of NHS GPs time to issue unnecessary sick notes for pupils. As if GPs don't have enough to do already. Schools are passing the buck of the pressures they are under to GPs and parents.

[ALLMYSmellySocks]

As a teacher whose pupils are only too open about where they / their friends REALLY were when they were said to be 'ill', I do quite frequently change 'ill' to 'unauthorised holiday' on the register. It definitely peaks in the last couple of days before a holiday. Ii suspect being an attendance officer exposes one to an awful lot of the worse side of human nature!

I'm confused. If you know a particular child is truenting or on holiday than fair enough. If you're making an assumption based on the time of year that you're obviously unreasonable. Yes lots of people aren't honest about absences and yes you're justified in having suspicions but I'm not paying a fine because of other people's dishonesty.

[continuallychargingmyphone]

Does that make you feel powerful, cantkeep?

[sarahC40]

As a teacher, I’m used to kids grassing up others by saying, ‘oh they’re off because x or y.’ However, I also hear their excuses for not having done their homework and so I tend to be a bit sceptical and would not be allowed to change marks on the register to unauthorised holiday. Not my job. Hope your son is better soon and that he has a good rest over the hols, op.

[Fiveredbricks]

@barryfromclareisfit err no love adults can self certify at work for a pretty long while actually. Maybe know what you're talking about before opening your mouth 😂

[humblesims]

I am fuming for the way i was spoken too
This is what would make me most cross. I understand that they have to keep attendance figures up and that some people play the system but they cant assume that everyone does. Its the rudeness which speaks volumes about how the school views parents. Schools seem to forget that they are there to provide a service to the community, they are not there to lay down the law about how we parent or whether we keep our children off sick (or heaven forbid take them on holiday during term time). I would be fuming. I am fuming on your behalf.

[Fiveredbricks]

Bullshit @cantkeepawayforever... if you have ever done that then it's instant gross misconduct. You can't take the word of a random child against that of the absent child's parent, stop being so fucking idiotic.

Can all the phoney teachers please piss off now 🙄

[thesnapandfartisinfallible]

Tell them the GP does not provide sick notes for children's schools as they have better things to bloody do. What a cheek. They must know you're not lying as they sent him home!

[mirime]

GPs also charge for passport verifications, for example, whereas a school would do this, and any other written evidence of anything for free!

My GP won't do it at all, and the gov.uk website says GP's shouldn't do it unless they can definitely recognise you.

[Piggywaspushed]

Really? I know now why I am always inundated at school! If I charged £25 a pop, I wouldn't have to be a teacher any more

[Iruka]

My GP won't do sick notes for children at all or for adults at less than seven days sick. Not even for payment. They won't sign passport forms either. There are signs in the waiting room.