Threatening letter from school regarding DD's attendance

[Sofi88]

We received a letter from DD's school yesterday saying DD's attendance is below average, and hence not good enough and had to be improved. The letter was threatening, and the words "Be Careful!" was highlighted in huge letters. The letter goes on to say that we have to make sure DD is in school every day from now on, so that her attendance improves. It also states they may contact the Education Welfare Officer if it does not improve.

Thing is though, DD has been off sick ONE day in the period this letter refers to, and I have picked her up early to go to medical appointments three times. One of these times I picked her up at 12 (only available appointment), but the other two I picked her up at 3:20 - ten minutes before I was due to pick her up anyway.

DD has a medical condition, which she has so far been treated for by her GP and a specialist nurse. She has actually had less appointments than normal this term, due to her now being transferred to a specialist paediatrician at the hospital. Our first appointment there is in December, so her GP and the nurse have told us to simply wait for that appointment unless there are any concerns in between. The school knows about her condition.

And also, she had one day off due to illness, where we phoned in and explained she was too ill to go in, which they said they were fine with. DH then went in at 3:30 to pick up her homework. Apart from this one day and the three times I've had to pick her up early due to medical appointments, she has had no absence!

Doesn't my child have a right to get treated for her condition, as well as a basic right to stay home when she is too ill to go in? Apart from this letter, we haven't received anything else - like them asking for medical evidence, doctor's notes etc. We have simply got the impression everything has been done right. The teacher has not mentioned anything when I've picked her up early for a GP appointment. You'd think they ask for medical evidence before sending out a threatening letter like this? A note from her GP would be no problem at all to provide. Would be a lot nicer to have them ask for that, rather than this threatening letter!

Does anyone know anything about this?

Go in and talk to them. My ds in year one missed a week for sickness in first term and had about 7 half days due to medical appointments with paediatrician dietician cardiologist etc. I thought we would be in trouble. We never received anything. Maybe it's because school new how badly anemic he is and that any bug knocks him for six. If I phone in saying his over tired they put him down as sick because even now at 9 they know ifi bring him in he will get ill because this is a sign his immunity is lo. They told me that one day of to rest is better than the week once he picks up a bug.

Just because it is generic doesn’t make it right. It is their responsibility to treat children as individuals. I would complain to the governors. I really don’t agree with these letters that just leave a bad taste in your mouth. It makes you feel that you are nothing more than number or a target.
When are heads going to realise that most sensible parents don’t even care much about offend. Our school has good and I would much rather that than the pressure of maintaining outstanding. Schools that get outstanding sacrifice a lots of important things for the sake of results and attendance levels.

It would be interesting to add up the cost of posting all these letters to children with legitimate illness related absences

We had a letter after my daughter was off twice for 2 days with vomiting. It wasn't something I had any control over, we work so are hardly likely to be keeping our kids at home for fun. It just makes people send their kids to school when they are ill or lie about when they stopped vomiting to send them back a day early as they feel guilty about them missing a day. Sometimes you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. My daughter's friend had 10 days off in the first term as she had diarrhoea, the poor girl hadn't been to nursery or preschool so was suddenly hit by everything that most kids got when they started nursery. They had a lot of heated conversations with the head and I'm not sure it really helped.

So glad to hear many of you agree it’s an unfair letter. The priest approached me in church yesterday and asked how we were doing before saying “I’m so sorry about the school” or something like that. He knows us and should know that we would never keep her off for no reason.

And I agree with those saying I need to toughen up, but the letter is more of a ‘tip of the iceberg’ than anything, as we’re already regretting not waiting until next year with starting reception. She’s an August baby with a medical condition and who also is very sensitive.

Just heard the school’s Ofsted report from 2016 days ‘Requires Improvement’, and this is why they’ve got the new head in. The school has always had outstanding or good reports, so suppose that’s why the strict regime has been put in place

If your Dd is not yet even 5, she has no legal obligation to even be at school yet. So the school should definitely be looking at the 'absence' a different way. Maybe they also need a reminder of her young age to.

Toughening up is good- but coupled with keeping an eye on the school, making sure you leave a paper trail, and keeping all correspondence with them in case you do need to prove anything further down the line.

That % doesn't sound right to me, OP. I'd ask to see her attendance record.
I understand that schools now send out generic letters as they are under pressure from OFSTED regarding attendance. However, when a child has a medical condition that requires frequent appointments, the school need to accommodate this. In your situation, I would arrange a meeting with a suitable member of staff to discuss the letter, your daughter's medical needs, and how you and the school can work together to support her. Then you won't need to go through this stress again!

I've just seen the post about medical evidence. When my DC's have had routine apt's in school time, the school has asked for a copy of the apt letter which I've then provided.

You could pull her out and reapply for next year but
You need to apply by the deadline
The school need to agree to a CSA start (as will any other school on the application form)
You may not end up with this school next time
You wont get funding for preschool as school will have got it after census day.

Re the pre-existing illness the schools' opinion may depend on what it is. If say it's asthma and other dc are managing to get appts at GP outside of school hours etc.

Imo school should also calculate the rolling illness (obv not for yr r though)

OP we had the same.

One day off sick and all the rest were hospital appointments.

Sorry school, I can't make a host of paediatric cardiologist and team wait for 3.15, we get what we're given!
Same goes for all his other hospital appointments in different departments, some on London (we live in Brighton).

Annoyingly, the school are well aware of his medical issues so I'm guessing they are obliged to send the letter out to everyone.

I chucked it. I give no fucks.

I think this was reply to the Head when I got one.

“I received a letter from the school yesterday, informing me that my daughter, Name Removed, has missed a number of days of school and that her attendance is 96% or below.

It goes on to inform me that if her attendance doesn’t improve you will take some kind of formal action action against me.

It ends with the passive aggressive statement “I will continue to monitor your child’s attendance and I look forward to seeing an improvement.”

Even though it says “I”, the letter is not individually signed which means I’m not sure who to reply to.

Attached to the back of the letter is my daughter’s attendance record for the term. She had three days off in a block at the start of term when she was sick with a bug which she caught at school which caused vomiting for 2 days.

My husband and I take decisions to keep children off school extremely seriously and would not do so unless warranted. The school was informed in timely fashion and in similar circumstances, I, or any other responsible parent would do the same thing.

The implication of the letter is that she should have been sent to school while ill, which I don’t believe is an appropriate message to be sending.

The tone is overly officious and is the kind of thing that leads to a break down of faith between school and parents.

I strongly encourage you to review the wording of these “informative” letters and actually consider whether it is appropriate for them to be sent on the basis of such an unsophisticated data filter.”

Some schools are ridiculous about this. Dd1 has regular hospital appointments upto 4 a month all during school time, so long as I show a letter the school don't harass us about it.

It’s a computer generated letter based an attendance and punctuality recorded in register. Just ignore it.