RE; 100% attendance

[Hadenoughofitall441]

The other day dd6 got told she will be attending the end of year 100% tea party they throw. She had 99.8%. I’ve just asked her now as I didn’t pick her up but she told me they didn’t Let her go as she didn’t have 100%. Why tell her about it, I’m a bit miffed off aswell as the one day she did have off was the day her Nan died, they all know as my Nan helped out at the school. AIBU that she can’t help that someone died and that she should have been able to go? It’s was 0.2 for crying out loud. And also they shouldn’t have told her.

Poorly, not porky

Attendance awards are bullshit.

I have not hidden my feelings about them from my kids, so they too understand that attendance awards are bullshit.

I'm glad our school doesn't do this, it sounds rubbish. Dd only missed 1 session because of a music exam, if that made her lose a reward I would be angry.

@Justajot
Yes, the registration thing! DD was sent home before she got her afternoon mark, so lost attendance that way as well. If they'd kept her for fifteen more minutes then she could've had it done... If you have to take your child out for an appointment they recommend waiting until after registration so they don't lose their mark even if they won't be attending that session (IE leaving straight afterwards). So why can't they do that when they're the ones sending them home?

This is horrendously discriminatory and probably unlawful. I would be v upset and be making a complaint for that reason alone.

Very frustrating.
DS1 had 100% attendance all year until this last term. On a Friday lunch time he got sent to hospital straight from school, admitted for two nights on a drip. Home Sunday. Back in school Monday.

He missed out. I think very unfair

DS2 has attended everyday except medical appts ( Oncology, Neuro and general Paeds due to ASD ) always attends school around the appts unless is an Oncology as we travel for that. Always with a hospital Letter. Left out of all attendance rewards which I find really sad.

Uh I hate these things. My dd got a letter sent home with at the end of the year because her attendance was 92% this year. She caught chicken pox so was off for the whole week. She then went back to school for 2 days and ended up getting hand, foot and mouth. She was off for another week because she developed a chest infection with it. Non of them were her fault, just unfortunate circumstances.

How schools get away with this kind of discrimination in this day and age is beyond me. Blatantly putting children with chronic health issues and disabilities at a disadvantage. How on earth are they able to compete for this 100% tea party shite???!

Agree
Dreadful idea
This year I saw the photos from the 100% attendance party on the class Facebook page while my child was in hospital having the biopsy which has now shown she has cancer
I was so tempted to add a sarcastic comment...

It's ridiculous. One of mine has 100% attendance for this school year, the other has lower than 80%. Both are hard-working well-behaved pupils, both have attained well and both sets of reports are fabulous. The one with under 80% sustained an injury last year that could have changed his life and spent more than a month in hospital having surgeries. There was nothing in the world we could have done to change it; he had to recover, his body had to heal and school had to take a backseat to his recovery.

Personally I make more fuss over the parts of their reports that tell me they've worked hard, been kind and engaged in their schooling. The attendance percentage is nonsense.

I don’t think they are necessary but I can’t get worked up about them either.

I just teach my children that they aren’t a big deal and you can’t have/do everything that others have/do every time.

I think the parents care more than the children do to be honest.

Mine have been ill, just happened to be ill over school holidays instead. It just bugs me... that because of 0.2 they withdrew the invite. I seem more pissed off than her tbh. I do think it’s stupid but it’s all they go on about nowadays. I know being ill is out of your control. Luckily the head teacher is leaving. She was bloody useless anyway.

chinateapot That is just awful. And is proof that 100% attendance is utter shite

@midsummabreak she didn’t go to the funeral, the day off was becaus my Nan died in the early hours of the morning. She went to school when the funeral was on just DS had the day off. But either way your right.

@chinateapot. that would piss me off no end.

Not quite the same or as serious but I got a snotty letter from the school when my dd was being diagnosed with sn, she'd had lots of appointments and a few medical issues and had needed an op. She'd been such a trooper and it had been such a stressful time for our family, it felt like a kick in the teeth.

I wish your daughter well

Ds is currently being assessed for ASD. Unfortunately we are away for the physio appointment he has been offered at the end of the summer holidays. So Ds now has an appointment mid September (it's a long wait as he is in lots of pain, buts that's another thread). I already know he will not be getting 100% attendance next academic year and we are still in July!

It just winds you up because they mention attendance in the newsletters. In assemblies.... what gets my goat is when they message the kids. When DS was doing his sats, just before the head teacher told them no one was going to be ill otherwise she would come to their houses. An email went straight to county hall, DS has asd and doesn’t need that kind of threatening behaviour. Headteacher was an interim and she was bloody useless. Thank god she’s not staying. But when your telling the, not too worry the school is planting it I
Thier heads that it’s the most important thing ever. It’s hard especially when they worship thier teachers. DS teacher was the best, I used to say I’m taking him home when they had an event on he wouldn’t be comfortable with and she had no problems whatsoever ever. Getting it past Mrs trunchball was the problem.

Thing is it’s the same for any child
Especially at primary they miss school because of illness / unavoidable life events or because their parents make the decision not to send them. For some parents and kids that’s a well thought through decision with positives as well - for other kids their parents don’t get them to school because they just aren’t coping for whatever reason.
Either way it’s usually beyond the child’s control.
However I do understand schools are judged on attendance by ofsted and ultimately those priorities are a political decision. So I blame those in government.
To be fair the reason I didn’t add a sarky comment was because of how amazing school have been - right down to the headteacher offering help with walking the dog if we needed it!

That's shit. Complain.

Our school has started publishing weekly attendance for each class. Dd has a child in her class with ASD, school refusal and physical issues with her muscles or joints (I don't know exactly what it is). She has a lot of appointments. Some in her home city which is 2 hours by train so of course that's the whole day gone. Dds class will never get 100% because of her friend with additional needs and medical issues. I feel sad for the friend that she knows it's her "letting down the class" 🙄 and is being made to stand out even more than she already does. My own DDs have asthma and have had 2 weeks off in total each this year with asthma and viruses so their attendance is just below 96%. Their dad goes mad about their attendance they should only be off if they have d&v apparently. Not being able to breathe properly does t warrant time off

I loathe attendance rewards with a passion. DD got one in reception, she was the only child in her class to get one & she thought she was the dogs bollocks. It was just shear luck. Now we've had the 3 years following where she hasn't been taken out for the '100% attendance treat' because she's had illness etc & she's been fuming every year since. You cannot reward people did not being ill.

Last year DD didn’t get 100% because she had a hospital appointment. This massively pissed me off.
So in fact DD has had 2 days off this year. In the past I might have dragged her in for them or took her in for afternoon session (she had a bad headache one morning) but I didn’t bother. DD really tried last year to get 100% but if they are going to make decisions like that then they aren’t helping themselves.

I HATE these awards.

Children with long-term health conditions and disabilities already suffer from being ill, possibly in pain, and often restricted or limited by their condition. Never qualifying for these awards must be like a double kick in the teeth. Not only has life dealt them a shit hand already, now the school tosses them another crappy card. Nice.

I will be explaining to my own DD when/if this arises (she starts school in September and I have no idea whether the school have signed up to this rubbish), that this is one issue where the school have got their priorities wrong, and she is to ignore the relevant propaganda. She will never qualify for such an award, as she has regular hospital appointments. Which is not her fault.

As it’s now the school holidays I doubt you will get a response from the school.

Perhaps they shouldn’t have told her about it but it’s not a massive deal so she will probably forget about it.

If a disabled child can never get the cinema trip, the party or the ice cream by the very fact that their disability requires appointments then that looks like discrimination to me, and excluding the children who are most often excluded anyway.

Meanwhile the slack parents don’t give a monkeys whether their kid is late, off school so that Mum can go on a day trip or getting a certificate.

And the pushy Mums are sending their kid in to spread Noro rather than miss out winning something,

Really ill thought out.

Reward kids against individual targets if their attendance has been poor without good reason. Not this stupid system.

Have your own 99.8 % party at home