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?

We have had one years ago ignore it

My ds had three weeks off post op as he developed sepsis and was in a pretty rough way. I kept the school informed yet the head of attendance collared him in the corridor and told him to shape up. He calmly said that sadly, his appendix was not aware of the school attendance rules but if he would like to write to the said organ care of the hospital waste disposal department, he was sure it would try harder. Teacher did not know whether to laugh or put him on detention. Never asked my kids again! Schools don't communicate sometimes. Contact the writer of the letter and explain your dd has an ongoing condition which the school is aware of so please ensure they liaise with the welfare officer before writing to you again.

Schools have to report attendance to the local authority and the DfE. Headteachers can be dragged over hot coals for poor attendance, it can also affect Ofsted ratings.
The letter is a generic one that gets automatically sent once attendance is below 95% (DfE and Ofsted want all attendance above this).
This early in the year your daughters attendance will appear poor because they’ve only been in school for a few months - attendance data percentage is worked out in a funny way that means just a couple of days off early in the year mean you fall below the 95%, but several absences throughout the whole year barely make a dent in the percentage - it’s not the best system!
If your daughter’s only off a few times between now and summer her attendance % will even out.
Don’t stress about it, it’s all government bullshit that Heads have to jump through hoops to meet and subsequently ‘threaten’ parents about. Then when schools fail to meet these ‘guidelines’ (Cos kids get sick and have medical conditions!!) school fails Ofsted, goes into special measures and very quickly becomes an Academy and yet another school becomes monetised.
It’s all a big con.
I used to work in a school office.

Schools don't need appointment cards etc as evidence for ofsted.

Ofsted do ask to see these if we tell them a “persistant absentee” has to have medical appointments.

People, the school HAS CHOSEN TO HAVE THIS SYSTEM

The way absence is recorded is legislated NOT chosen by the schools

Ofsted would clobber the school if they WEREN'T sending these letters

Definitely... we have to PROVE that we addressing ALL attendance below 97%

But my kids have been in 2 outstanding primaries and not received the letters.

Either your children never hit the threshold or the letters were produced and put in file (for EWO and Ofsted if they checked) and never sent to you.

The last time we had Ofsted, our attendance officer was really interrogated about one particular child with very low attendance, we had tons of medical evidence as the absence was due to cancer treatment. We got rated as “good” but the report still stated that the school should make more effort to encourage carers not to keep children away from school with non contagious illnesses.

Parents are quick to complain and point fingers if we get bad Ofsted results.

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!

Sorry, I stopped reading at page two as I was irate and wanted to write a reply!!
Your hold is not of compulsory school age until September next year. She is not required to be in school and you are well within your rights to flexi-school her should you wish to do so and they don’t have a leg to stand on (they may not like it but can’t do anything to stop you)
Ignore the letter. They can’t do a damned thing even if your child’s attendance was 30%!!

I would clarify with the school that the attendance has been influenced by a medical condition. Usually schools send these for kids who go on unaothorised holiday. Medical appointments should be exempt, although the bring attendance down.

It's a appaling symptom of the latest school system. Ignore it and don't let it get you down. Over 90% attendance is great. In reality over 70% is fine.
They will not fine you for medical appointments.
Schools only care about their own place in the attendance league tables. It's quite immoral imo.

As these people are responsible for educating children you would really think the super qualifoed people who run schools could exercise their intellectual capacity and wrote on a case by case basis and with a degree of good manners and sensitivity.

I got one letter like that. I replied to the effect that my dd's attendance overall needed to be considered against absence in one term and asked them to confirm in writi g if they would prefer her to be sent in next time she had d&v before 48 hours elapsed.

I am a teacher, and safeguarding lead. The education welfare officer will only become involved (in our Local Authority) when attendance drops below 83%. This letter may have been triggered by lowered percentage, and may well be out of school’s control. We do not inform our EWO, they contact us when attendance is poor. Don’t go in all guns blazing at school!

I'd say that is the right percentage for 1.5 days absense since September.

My ds has had 1 day off (related to his medical condition) and his attendance is 97%.

He has an appointment in December and that may well mean being late for afternoon school (or me not sending him in first thing to then have to go wrong direction from hospital to school from work an hour after he starts!)

I ignore any letters 🤷‍♀️

But then my son missed 3.5 weeks of school in his old school after a knife was pulled on him in a classroom due to school not dealing with bullying in first place and school and la playing stupid blame games so if I did .......

Over 90% attendance is great. In reality over 70% is fine.

70% really isn’t fine! That is a huge amount of learning time missed. Our student with cancer had higher attendance than that!

I never had a letter but she our son was in year 1, we went to parents evening and the teacher told us that my sons attendance was below average. It surprised me as he hadn’t had much time off. Teacher said that she had no concerns and was surprised by it herself (she was just reading it off a sheet of paper) BUT there was a chance a education offer might contact us but they never did. So I assume it’s just routine and the school are just promoting good attendance. Nothing ever come of it. A pupils Attendance is usually flagged up if it goes under a certain percentage and letters are probably automatically sent out.

As long as they are only kept off when generally poorly or attending medical appointments then you shouldn’t have an issue.

My sons attendance was 99.5% last year. He was lucky enough not to get ill. But this year he’s had 3 days off but the school know that he is generally poorly and I wouldn’t keep him off for no reason.

I agree with the others that this sounds like a mistake. 3 sessions of sickness absence shouldn't be enough to trigger a letter like this.
Check her attendance record.
It's hard though when you have a child that has regular sickness because often these records come out automatically and don't reflect that you're doing your best but your child is just more sick than the average child.

Probably generic. If she has a condition, does she have an EHCP? I would recommend one as we used to get this and was dragged in to see the Educational Welfare Officer twice until we sorted our son out with an EHCP.
I would also recommend asking to see her attendance record- we got a warning out the blue for my DD. She had had one afternoon off, after they sent her home.
They had her attendance at 91% which was completely incorrect, and when I asked to see each session, I proved it was completely incorrect. The school apologised of course.

But it will trigger currently as we are only 9 weeks in.

So there's approx 45 days of school so 90 sessions (give or take the few days at beginning of term and any insets).

So 3 missed sessions will be approx 4%

Once that's out of 180 days and so 360 sessions it's a completely different statistic.

I just realised half way down that your DD is FOUR!!! And in reception? Christ almighty. When my DD was four and in reception, they played all day and went to the Sunshine Room if they were tired. What has happened to schools??? It's insane that they should be worrying about this with four year olds. I don't think they even start school in Finland until they're seven. We're creating over anxious, over achieving, nervous wrecks of our kids. I'd bin it and tell them to shove it.

This will be a standardised letter, albeit a poorly worded one. Feed back to the School that you don’t feel that this communication is appropriate in the circumstance or particularly professional in tone. Keep your records (as it sounds like you are doing) and don’t worry about it.

Don't worry about it, your child has been ill so it's tough. No judge would find fault with what you've done your childs ill simple as that. I ended up with meeting attendance officers and said to them at the end of the day it's tough, can't help it whens he's ill. He did have alot of absences due to repeated tonsillitus which made him really ill with dangerously high fevers for 10 days at a time, then chicken pox and couple stomach bugs and flu. He didn't have much luck that year. If your concerned just keep all evidence for them. They won't take it further as like I say the courts would be on your side. ;)

Speak calmly to the head/ attendance officer about the medical condition and reasons for absence. The letter is probably generic. They are always quite harshly worded because schools have attendance targets to meet etc.

I would say letters like this should not be rude and unprofessional.

Get the GP / specialist to write a letter say it she needs time off sometimes.

This would really upset and annoy me. It sounds like a generic letter sent in error or triggered by a single absence. But pointless imo - why upset and set parents against the school when they are diligent and making every effort to get their child in, like the OP. There are certainly children whose attendance is a concern and the efforts of the school and authorities should be focused on them. This sledge hammer approach had my dd with an attendance of 96% for the year before last, despite never missing a day! She had been marked out for the school trip and a few sports events the kids had been taken to by school (not optional). After that I was so irritated I have decided to suit ourselves in future and not bother about attendance!

Send me one letter like that and lose my goodwill for the rest of the school year.

Don’t pretend that the person who’s signature is on that letter has to sign them. If they sign the letter, they are responsible for the letter. If I had that job I’d refuse to send them out if necessary.

Celestine, unfortunately, GPs generally charge £25 and upwards for letters.

Send me one letter like that and lose my goodwill for the rest of the school year

Indeed. It's a sure-fire way to foster a less than amicable relationship with parents.