School attendance certificates

[Purplebunny95]

DD is 5 and started school in September, so far relatively happy.
Today theyve handed out attendance awards for this half term in assembly, and despite never missing a day of school DD didnt get one. I questioned her teacher at pick up and she said it's because she missed 1 afternoon. Scratching my head I remembered they had sent her home at lunchtime one day as she "looked a bit peaky", when I picked her up she was fine, chatting away to the receptionist and running around but they insisted I take her home "just in case".

AIBU to be a bit peeved? She doesnt understand why some of her friends have certificates and a sweet when she doesnt. I do know it's not the end of the world but it has annoyed me!

My own dd loves school. She hates missing a minute, except for music class. More than once she has spent the night in a&e being treated for severe breathing difficulties and still wanted us to take her to school the next day. But the reality is that a mild cold to most kids means a week of monitoring her oxygen levels, breathing treatments, and runs to the hospital when the treatment we can give at home isn’t sufficient. And this is ridiculous, but I’m now typing through tears because I’m remembering the moment last month when all the color drained from her face and I saw the look of panic in the doctor’s eyes as they worked to keep her alive, all because the PE teacher thought it would be fun to have the kids run outside on a nice (high pollen) day. That was another week of education lost.

Sorry, rant over

Unless you are going to 'no awards for anything' why should attendance awards be any different to other things though?

My DD is a low academic achiever with poor motor skills. So art, music, sport, handwriting, academics are all out for her in terms of certificates. She had to sit through people winning art competitions, getting lead parts and praise in plays, getting pen licenses etc. Plus the ridiculous amount of recognition sporty kids get.

The reason they do attendance certificates is to encourage going in if feeling 'slightly off colour' and for parents not to take children out for holidays, birthday days etc.

I think it's all I how the school does things. Low key, fine. Making a big fuss, not fine.

I hate them too. Both my kids got a 100% certificate for a half term in which we'd taken them out for a day's holiday so they're not even accurate!

A good lesson about not everyone getting the same things and that life isn’t always fair.

This line always gets trotted out on these threads. A lot of the children who will never get one of these awards are probably much more aware than most that life isn’t fair.

and for some children, an attendance award may be the only award they ever get.

A lot of the children who will never get one of these awards are probably much more aware than most that life isn’t fair

I agree people with chronic health conditions and / or disabilities really don’t need additional lessons in the unfairness of life.

My dd has sn and takes a fair bit of time off for her therapy appointments. These attendance awards make me so mad. My DD takes school and awards and certificates really seriously and gets quite upset. I got a shitty letter about her attendance despite every single absence being because she had an appointment. Can you imagine the shit I'd get in if I didn't take her to her appointments? I'd be quite rightly reported for being neglectful.

TeenPlusTwenties

Good schools not only award academic achievement but also most effort, most improved, kindness etc. Both my kids are very academic but I wouldn't have sent them to schools that didn't value other things such as these too. All schools seem to award attendance so it's hard to avoid, I've just trained my kids not to care. In fact my eldest hates getting any sort of award, he just likes to get on and not be singled out.

I also hate attendance awards but schools are judged by Ofsted for their overall attendance and they need to be seen to be trying to improve it.

Encouraging the children to not want to miss days because of minor illnesses is one way a lot of schools go for.

I also hate attendance awards but schools are judged by Ofsted for their overall attendance and they need to be seen to be trying to improve it.

Yep. The downside is they forget that children are human, not just things that make up their attendance percentage. I've had an attendance officer tell me that my child shouldn't miss school because of a cough. When they've coughed so much that they are sore, have a headache and got no sleep in the night, my child will be off school. Only I get to make that decision. I politely tell them to mind their own business and teach my children that their health comes first. The schools ofsted report and attendance figure isn't my child's responsibility. When they're well they attend school.

My dd has only just started school in September so I am unsure if they do awards for attendance yet. We have already had a generic letter home about attendance this half term and I have had a note from the teacher about my dd's attendances figures. She has missed 2 days, 1 because they sent her home with tummy ache and the 2nd was because she had an appointment at her allergy clinic for testing. They suggested I only made drs appointments in school holidays and couldn't understand that it wasnt me that makes these appointments and I don't feel comfortable delaying them.
I also dont think my dd needs to be shown that life is unfair, I think she knows this when she doesnt get the birthday cake her classmates have brought in and has to take a packed lunch to a birthday party. Attendance is mainly down to luck most of the time surely.

Ofsted gets unfairly blamed for this. Doing something doesn’t have to involve termly or yearly attendance certificates and Ofsted are IME quite capable of seeing where underlying issues might be affecting the headline attendance figure.

Plenty of children with low attendance won’t be getting those other certificates either teen. As formerbabe says properly inclusive schools will manage this much better.

MonChatEstMagnifique

I completely agree with you and I am a teacher. I rang my DD’s school last year and said she wouldn’t be coming in. She was incredibly tired and just needed a day off because she’s 5 and can’t plough on regardless.

Children are humans and all deal with illness in different ways. If you send your child in with a cold, I (as their teacher) ends up with the cold and then I’m just grumpy!

Attendance for 6 weeks? When I was at schooL you had to attend for the year to get it. Hardly unusual to have 100% attendance in the first half term!

I think these work well for children who can achieve them and are carrot and stick types- after all incentives are used for all sorts of things at school and this is no different.

@formerbabe I've had these letters from the council - your neglectful if you don't send your child to school and neglectful if you don't take your child for treatment you can't win.
OP my kids all now know now that this is an unfair system and no reflection on them it's a horrible award I just down play and let my dc know I'm proud that they have attended school to the best of their abilities.
Unfortunately one size doesn't fit all and my chronically ill child who has a compromised immune system should not be classed in the same group as a child whos parents can't be bothered to take them to school or the fit and healthy child with luck on their side. As I said to my dc head of year when I got my first letter from the council my dc may only attend 80% of the time but the effort that takes him is never applauded because it does not make the school look good.

I got a letter from my senior manager thanking me for not taking a sick day over the last year!

It's the most ridiculous award ever

Thank you to everyone who has assumed her life is just peachy, and that she is a stranger to hardship and life being unfair! She has fortunately (thankfully) got lucky, and been well enough to have attended every day of this half term, which is not something she has ever managed throughout her 3 years at nursery/preschool. I've frequently been hauled into meetings at work for having so much time off when she is ill. She gets enough of "life isnt fair" in her daily school life when the children around her can eat/drink what they want and run around without stumbling constantly.

This wasnt to start a debate about the awards, I've already stated that I dislike them myself. The issue was the reason she was not given one, not that she wasnt given one. She is not precious about other children getting things, and we have talked about not being upset over something minor. She likes achieving and works hard all the time in school (or so they tell me), to be in an assembly surrounded by people getting various awards, and her to get nothing she was bound to be upset to a degree. Shes 5, and human.

That’s a load of crap
So kids like my son who have chronic conditions that affect their whole lives, hospital admissions etc get to sit there feeling even more shit and different whilst all the ‘healthy’ kids get a pat on the back for being well
Glad my school doesn’t do that

As I said to my dc head of year when I got my first letter from the council my dc may only attend 80% of the time but the effort that takes him is never applauded because it does not make the school look good.

Absolutely.

It's the reason I think more of effort awards/grades than academic achievement. Naturally academic kids could get an grade A with little effort/laziness but have underachieved as with effort they may have been capable of A*. For a child who struggles, getting a grade C may have took huge effort and work. Those children should be rewarded over the child who got a higher grade but was lazy. I say that as a parent of two bright kids.

Effort and hard work should be rewarded. Life isn't fair but I really think schools should try to be.

What would be a problem would be if the reward was totally disproportionate such as a day off to a theme park, or a £30 gift voucher each.

There is a similar reward for those who have 100% at the end of the year.

“This wasnt to start a debate about the awards, I've already stated that I dislike them myself. The issue was the reason she was not given one, not that she wasnt given one.”

But she wasn’t given one as she didn’t have 100% attendance- that’s obvious? You can’t have sessions off and expect to get one- that’s literally all they’re for

It's the reason I think more of effort awards/grades than academic achievement.

I don’t think it just has to be effort. DNiece’s school was quite good at awarding for things like demonstrating the school values or those kids that quietly get on and are just ‘doing the right thing’ all the time. I think there are plenty of things that you can legitimately award for that aren’t purely academic results or being lucky enough not to get very ill.

They suggested I only made drs appointments in school holidays and couldn't understand that it wasnt me that makes these appointments and I don't feel comfortable delaying them.

It amazes me that people think we can just pick and choose our appointments, there is often some flexibility (had to change one for ds as it was my due date for example) but it can only go so far and there isn't enough appointments for us all to be seen outside school hours. Add in that staff might be off in the holidays, because, well it is the holidays and they might want time with their children too and it is impossible.

I don’t think it just has to be effort. DNiece’s school was quite good at awarding for things like demonstrating the school values or those kids that quietly get on and are just ‘doing the right thing’ all the time. I think there are plenty of things that you can legitimately award for that aren’t purely academic results or being lucky enough not to get very ill.

Yes, I agree.

My friends daughter got a certificate because instead of walking over lots of coats that fell on the floor like all the other kids were, she picked them up and hung them on pegs. I thought that was a nice thing for the school to do. Her mum was very proud as the child was only 4 at the time.