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?

Do not feel the need to justify these absences to us, the school or anyone else - treating your childs medical condition is MORE important than her education.

I would reply to the school saying you realise this was an automatically generated letter but you are really disappointed in their lack of understanding and empathy in not having a system where these letters are blocked for children with a known medical condition. Its not rocket science it just needs a note on the computer of the half doz or so children in the school. An extra 30 sec check before the letters are sent out so an insignificant amount of extra work to develop an ethos of caring and understanding in a school does not seem to much to be expected. Imagine the hurt this could cause a family with a child undergoing cancer treatment - its basic politeness and decency in my opinion.

I really do think we should be expressing our concern at this heavy handedness to the schools - its the only way to move back towards the more common sense approach that worked successfully most of the time for 150 years.

I think it is unreasonable to send letters home when absences are due to medical conditions or disability

Also probably disability discrimination so against the law. The Equality Act states people shouldn't be penalised due to their disability.

I would be tempted to have my lawyer draft a letter to the headmaster and governors pointing out the ramifications of harassment and discrimination.

Maybe our LEA doesn't send these out then as DS had two full weeks off in Y1 (authorised holiday plus chicken pox) by early Feb and would have been well under this threshold with the odd clinic appointment.
They'd better not as he's been excluded (including informally i.e. illegally) several times this term, we are not keeping him off on purpose!

Your dd is 4. As others have pointed out, she doesn’t legally have to go to school.

I’d send an email to the main email address stating your dd has a medical condition, she missed 3 sessions in total and asking them to 1) justify hounding a mother with a child with a known medical condition for missing 1 1/2 days for a combination of illness / hospital appointments and 2) explain why you have been sent this letter as she legally doesn’t have to attend as she is not yet 5.

If your dd only did half days to begin with, perhaps that could account for the lower than expected percentages. A half day is one session. A full day 2.

I used to love hearing the paediatrician phone calls to the headteacher when the school had been bullying the child's parents over attendance. We even had some kids with life limiting genetic conditions who were treated like skivers. Apparently hospital departments should fit round the school.

Even if she doesn't have to be at school yet, surely the fact that she is means that "the rules apply" though?

(Not that I agree with the letter, but you either go full time or don't enroll at all?)

I suspect it is a generic letter. Speak to your GP and explain that your dd's important medical appointments are causing a situation at school, and that you do not want to be charged with school non attendance, please can they accommodate your dd outside of school hours. Most surgeries will understand this is compromising you and your dd, and will try and help. You won't be able to change the school's percentages, these are fixed at a national level, but you should be able to ask the surgery to help you organise them, even in advance, so that you can manage her attendance.

If you have supporting evidence of medical issues it will not be an problem even if the worst happens, so please don't worry.

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if others have already said this many times, but this sort of thing makes me fume.

We live in a target-setting culture. Targets are set and once set have to be hit. Anything that isn't part of the target is low priority, and often the people trying to hit the targets concentrate on the easy ways to do it, not the tricky ones. So they don't separate out sickness absence from unauthorised absence for other reasons. They don't look in a sane, sensible way at the cases where they know full well that there is an excellent, entirely unjustifiable reason for the absence. They don't take into account that a child of just 4 with a chronic medical condition is never going to have a 100% attendance record. No child of just 4 is likely to, even if she's in tip top health!

I want our schools to be places where children learn from staff how to think critically, to look for evidence to support their views, to use common sense and also to be kind and understanding to others, treating people as individuals. I don't want them to learn that one size fits all and that rules must always be followed even when they're stupid rules.

A school that sends out letters like this to everybody, regardless of the reasons for a child being absent, is not modelling that kind of behaviour to its children. The OP and many other parents like her have made the effort to keep the school in the loop about her child's medical issues and has been assured face to face that it's fine. Then she gets a letter like this telling her she might be prosecuted. This is so stupid and damaging to parents' goodwill and confidence in the school and the school system.

Rant over!

Justifiable! Not unjustifiable.

I’d be so cross if I’d had a letter like this. She’s 4 what’s she going to miss?
I would go in to school and tell them she has a medical issue( I know you said they know but just to make sure) and tell them in no uncertain terms she will be having time off for appointments they can like it or lump it.
Good luck I hope you daughter is well.

I missed the fact she was 4! Ridiculous that the school are even sending you a letter in the first place....it will be printed off with all the others as part of their policy. Ignore it.

Phone the school. It’s a generic letter they have to send. Im sure once you have spoken to them you will feel happier. Ask them to remove (if they can) the times you picked up ten minutes early as that does seem ridiculous.

Schools can get into bother with overall low attendance hence the over excitement and ignoring of factors such as medical appointments/illness preventing pupils going in.

They tend to go on percentages. Early in the year a day off has more effect on the % attendance than a day off in July. But this is sometimes overlooked in the excitement.

I and my head of house sometimes had to intervene to stop letters going out late sept/early oct when a child had been off for for a couple of days. Its an office thing.

4 weeks in =20 days. 2 days off = 90% attendance ..... alarm bells ringing. I knew why they’d been off they weren’t children from families who put in guest appearances.

Hope your daughters problems get sorted.

It’s also not about what he deserves. (Which is obviously to burn in hell whilst piranhas devour his dick!) It is about what’s best for your child. A baby now but not forever

What many schools don't seem to realise is that if you don't take time off to take your child for their hospital appointments their worsening condition might result in a much worse attendance score.

I got any amount of grief for the time my daughter spent in a specialist clinic. The point of the treatment was to sort out her lower back problems so she could sit up= attend school. But no, I was supposed to let her deteriorate to the point where she couldn't attend school at all (or in the future hold down a job or go to uni).

As a pp said, it is very much about individual schools though. This was dd's junior school: her secondary simply noted her disability and agreed not to mark her absent for disability-related issues. The junior school could have chosen to go down that path, instead they wasted endless resources sending for EWO, SS and even forcing dd's paediatrician to come out. They had the evidence from the start.

I get these letters every year and sometimes multiple times a year. As others have said they work on percentages and as soon as its below a certain level they issue a letter. In my county the letters are standardised from the county unless you are in a academy so I wouldnt worry its a medical condition you cannot change that.

School used to call before posting the letter to apologise and say they know why he's been off (also Medical condition) and we do all we can to get work for him and catch him up.
I also had the welfare officer call who was a moron saying I needed to get appointments outside of school times 🙄 yep that's a piece of piss and also a lot of his are emergency hospital admissions.

Sorry this has been long but don't worry no court would uphold a fine because of low attendance when there is a known medical issue. I hope things improve for your daughter.

I also don't think it's an excuse that the system and the letter are automated. I would feel angry and stressed in OP's position.

Parents and children are not automated. They are human and have needs and feelings. Schools should demonstrate a proper concern for their pupils and not harrass parents who are looking after their child's wellbeing.

They like all children to have attendance above 96% I hadon't the same lenter 6 times due to my son having fevers they have to send them to show they are cracking down I would request a list of missed days incase she has missed a mark as well

My daughter had a stomach bug the first two days of school, so I automatically got a letter AND a call from the LA as she had 0% attendance. It is totally based on percentages. Just send an email so you have a copy saying the reasons and think no more about it.

It’s Ofsted, not ‘schools’ - poor attendance will hit a school’s rating and it has to be shown that the school is proactive about attendance. The annoyance/anger/irritation should be directed at those who force schools and LEAs to take these measures.

Obviously from your perspective this is nothing to worry about. The school are in the wrong and you know this. I do feel like you should respond because this is appalling behaviour on the part of the school and could cause serious stress to some families.

It's annoying how they don't seem to take chronic conditions into account when calculating absence. DS has a chronic condition, and has two hospital appointments in December, one of which is at 11.50 (because you don't chose your hospital appointments!) so I'm fully expecting a snotty letter about that, even though I've taken the appointment letters in to be photocopied and popped into his file.

If she's only 4 I thought her attendance is irrelevant as she's under compulsory school age.

I would definitely go back to the school either way. The tome of that letter is completely inappropriate given the circumstances. The fact that it is automated is not the point. It is possible to check whether automated letters should be sent.

While it's true that there's pressure from Ofsted not all schools act in such an aggressive manner so the school has to take some responsibility for sending such a threatening letter to a parent who has done nothing wrong.

I wouldn't ignore the letter, I'd use it to arrange an appointment with the EWO & SENCO. Your DD has a long term health condition and the school have an obligation to support her. It sounds as though an Educational Health Care Plan or whatever they are currently called is needed.

Have you been able to source a support group online for your DD's condition?