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?

I had a letter like that in sixth form, even though my absence was the result of me having a doctors note because I had tried to kill myself

They treat teachers the same way. I got pulled up in front of SMT in my DDs first year at nursery. She was ill a lot, and passed everything to me (compromised immune system) so I knew it was a bad year but not that bad! It turned out that because I had managed to get emergency childcare from 8.30, so had needed cover for registration (but was in by 8.50 for my first lesson every day) they had marked me as a half day absence every single time. That was probably about 2 weeks of illness over the year, so counted as ten half days. I did wonder at that point why I wasn't just staying home with her myself if I was getting penalised for it anyway.

A sensible HT would use their discretion about who these letters are sent to. Alienating parents who have children with medical conditions is absurd. The problem with overall school attendance being low (which is what 'authorities' look at) is often associated with children with below 85% attendance. These children may have serious medical conditions, or may have inadequate or struggling parents. Sending out standard letters regardless is poor practice.

We had almost exactly the same when our then 4yr old son was in primary school - it was a standard letter that somebody in the office had just printed off, going by a computer report - taking no additional knowledge of the individual cases or common sense into account whatsoever! My son had also only had a couple of days of genuine illness & a couple of paeds consultant appointments for his then quite serious asthma condition which we were unable to get outside of school hours. The school knew all of this & already had plenty of documentation on file so I asked to see the Head & went over it yet again in person - I was so frustrated. I also made the point that on the flip side of the coin, they were allowing plenty of parents to send their children into school when they were very clearly ill & contagious as well as those returning before the recommended time period following a sickness bug. He soon backed down & we didn't get any more letters!! The letter you've received sounds very OTT - I definitely wouldn't take that lying down!!

Ha. I had one of those letters today. My dc has 84% attendance. She’s just started a brand new school. In a brand new area. And possibly has adhd. She’s incredibly anxious. I could t get her into school for a few of those first weeks. I wasn’t going to force her or shove her in the car and I made every attempt to get her into school. I had the head teacher come out and take her from my car a few times. They know exactly what’s going on. Yet I still got this letter. But it’s a brand new year. So your percentage goes down massively. Not the same as if at the end of the year

Also. @Tolleshunt. (I think). Since that guy lost in court. Trying to take his children to Florida. The courts had to define attendance. They said it had to be 100%. 100% means that even a min late would be w problem.....silly really

So yes. If they miss morning registration then it’s counted at one full session. Of which there are 2 in one day.

Yes i have had the same .Our one DC has an condition that can knock them off school for couple weeks at time .I have evidenced hospital letters etc .Our GP's have done what they can we are now waiting to see a specialist. Our DC has lost an awful lot of school time (secondary) .EWO has been super, very understanding and helpful .But their manager sent the red letter with the threats. They recieved a very direct letter with lots evidence back .We don't keep our DC off lightly they get extremely unwell .

The letters are sent to all to ensure no one falls between the cracks.

The Head should be checking the paperwork sent out is appropriately worded and if you find it threatening then you should speak to the Head.

Schools are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't.

This might have been mentioned already but I thought if your child was only 4 they can't legally do anything about attendance anyway?

Sorry just saw this had been mentioned several times!! That'll teach me to read the whole thread first!!

I wouldn't worry. It is in 2 parts the school day so they need to get 2 marks and I think it works like 0.5 for each mark so if you've missed 2 on the day she was ill and then 1 whe you had to collect her at 12 that's 1.5 an anything below 99 is outrageous these days lol

My DSS used to think he could go walk about and miss his morning registration being a little shit he was so can you imagen the letters we got it was shocking he used to get "L" every single morning as they gave me a breakdown of his full register an some they marked him absent that's when it went down and down an got to like 94 even though he hadn't had a day off ever!!w We even got to the stage where me or his dad would walk him to registration and sit in for 10mins till he was doing what he was ment to an when his appendix burst and we didn't Belive him because he used to try everything to stay off school and we still sent him to school 😩 felt awful but the whole boy who cried wolf story... you know !! He never did it again anyways hahah least your DD hasn't done anything wrong!! God sake it's unreal xx

If it's any comfort from all the posts OP you can see you are not alone. There are many parents who are constantly reminded by these shitty generic letters that they need to magically improve their DC's health or else. When the almighty OFSTED has deemed an attendance unsatisfactory then school MUST pander to this, logical or not.

When Ds1 was in Reception he fell ill in the first week (extreme anxiety we later learnt). He only missed a few days but very quickly we recieved a fairly strong worded letter that the acceptable attendance for the school was 97% and his was 96.5.

To receive this letter after wee Reception DS had felt so unwell, whilst seeing him overwhelmed with school and friendships, and all these changes, I was pretty annoyed. I spoke to his teacher who explained the generic business of it but nudged me to go ahead and complain to the relevant staff member. Later when I did, she was very apologetic but I questioned why someone with 96.5% attendance should be sent the same strongly worded letter as someone with say 80%. Also why were authorised absences not taken into consideration, what is the point of them?

Many schools still offer bikes, scooters, tablets to pupils with 100% attendance and it's just unfair for the many children with medical conditions or prone to catching bugs easily. Nobody chooses to be ill Fgs. Ds's teacher was off a full term with morning sickness (not her fault ofc), the swivelling door of supplies left DS very unsettled and anxious. But who gives a toss about the kids right? I doubt a strong worded letter to the HT would've made a jot of difference.

Surely that is a better use of resources than to send out a generic letter

You are missing the point. Persistent absence needs to be monitored. A letter will be the first stage of that. The school will need to create an evidence trail from their side first showing that absence is a problem and then showing that they have tried to tackle it. The letter is generic. Sent to everyone. If you call and say ‘well, you are aware of the medical condition and the 15 appointments this term because I phone every time and send in appointment letters’, the school will say thanks, all on file, the letter is just something we need to send, don’t worry about it’.

If the school didn’t send the letter and something happened to the child who was persistently absent, questions would be raised about why they hadn’t chased the parents. It’s arse-covering. Nothing more, nothing less.

It's ridiculous.
I had the same with my children: one child off for a week with flu (proper flu, not a cold) and another who had health appointments (which the school knew about).
Write a polite reply giving them the, dates, facts (including names of doctors etc). They should acknowledge this and you won't hear any more about it.

I actually think this is outrageous. At what point do we stand up as parents and refuse to be told what we are and are not ‘allowed’ to do when parenting our own kids?

I wonder if they would send a letter like that to a teacher who was ill, or apply the same punitive logic to a snow day? Of course they wouldn’t.

OP, your child’s absence is technically ‘authorised’ so there’s absolutely nothing they can do. Don’t worry. They’re just trying to be Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and the letters are a quick win. If you want to get turn off your back see if one of your child’s doctors will write something for the file.

Bloody rude TBH, automated or not. I wonder if this fall's foul of the Equality Act?

No common sense applied here by the sounds of it 🤦‍♀️ If it’s a long term health condition, perhaps the school could allow any appointments to do with that to be disregarded (regarding attendance figures I mean)

Did your DH really pop in after a day of sickness to pick up homework for a 4yo in Reception? I think you might need to chill out otherwise school is going to be very stressful

These things are often done by software the school purchases.

It's worth going in and checking (or getting them to email you) the absences that have been recorded, to check they have the right days recorded - AND your daughter hasn't been bunking off. Schools are often set a target

Attendance averages - when this is low for the school - triggers Ofsted inspections and a close scrutiny of their paperwork, so schools err on the side of caution. The Government doesn’t set specific attendance targets, but schools are expected to set their own.

An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; but still allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year.

Write back to the school and ask them what should you do about her medical appointments? Warn them that if they don’t answer you’ll be getting social services involved as the letter is suggesting she should not be off school even for important medical appointments

Cc the letter to the governors

Some of these letters are automatically sent out. I had this earlier on in the year as my son was off for two weeks with severe chicken pox and tonsillitis (poor boy) and when I spoke to the head about it, she was equally annoyed and has now put a stop to the system and only sends out letters where appropriate.

I Think you should make an appointment with the headteacher, and discuss your concerns in a friendly way over a coffee. You both want what is best for DD, all the letter is saying is, "Be careful" in that they dont want you to end up being targeted, as your close to their limit of attendance. Leaving a lesson early, can be just as bad as not attending, since summing up, giving advice about homework, and teachers final assessment at the end of the lesson, all play a part. It also disrupts this final summing up session, if DD leaves the class early. I understand your anguish, and feel for you with DDs medical condition, I hope DDs health improves.

I think the people that write these stupid letters are very stupid. All it does it create bad feeling.
My daughter got one after being off sick for three days, saying that her attendance rate was unacceptable.

I wrote to the attendance officer personally and arranged a meeting. At the meeting I asked if the school thought I should have sent in my daughter sick. She said no. I then asked if it was acceptable tgatvId kept a sick child off school? She said yes. I then said why had she written me a harassing letter implying that it was unacceptable to keep a sick child off school. She said it was automated after a certain level of absence. I asked her not to send me automated inappropriate harassing letters again and she agreed not to. All it did is create conflict and it’s bloody stupid.

You have a moral duty to waste the time of the person responsible for this letter. If everyone did that, they’d stop sending them.

Ignore the letter 🤷‍♀️

We had the same thing when our daughter was younger and needed to have time off because of reoccurring illness. This was stressful enough but to then also be sent a threatening letter about her time off was extremely painful. I remember being in tears about it. I couldn't even face the lady in the school office who had sent it!
I took the letter to our GP and he kindly wrote a reply to the school stating that what we had done as parents was in our daughters best interest. I then continued to let her have time off whenever she needed to and we never had a complaint again. Schools are worried about their attendance records and being pulled up about it by Ofsted. It is ridiculous, as the children's needs must come before that. Keep on being the caring parents that you are. Only you know how to best to look after your DD. Best of luck