To think attendance rewards suck.

[AG29]

The school Dc go to have a problem with persistent absence and are desperate to get their figures up. Making stupid changes like letting kids back into school sooner than 48 hours after a sickness bug which in my opinion will speed it around even more making more kids sick. Anyway..

A while ago the school introduced attendance rewards. Firstly for those at 100 percent attendance and then those over 98 percent I think at the end of the year. Last year DS only had one afternoon off the whole year therefore went on the over 98 reward trip. Fine I wasn’t going to say no but it didn’t seem fair to the other children.

Now there’s one every term and I think it sucks. DS’s attendance is quite high around 98/99 percent. DD’s is at 94 percent. She’s been poorly twice and has had a speech therapy app (school granted permission for her to attend within school and a doctors app). So I have one being rewarded and the other not. Both have additional needs so they struggle to understand concepts like attendance. DD is only 4 too.

Aibu to think it’s wrong they are rewarding kids for being lucky enough not to get sick or their are parents are sending them in sick?

It just seems like such a poop system. Good attendance is so important, I get that. Both mine are only kept off if absolutely necessarily.

Often younger children are going to get more sick as they start school and start picking up those damn germs.

In my sons first year of school he got 2 sickness bugs, chicken pox, numerous colds which at the time often lead to bronchitis for him and even impetigo. It was a nightmare but things have got better and he hardly ever gets ill now.

It just seems wrong to be rewarding children for things out of their control..

Same here.
I’ve said this before on similar threads but my daughters school also has an end of year party for 100% attendance. This year we saw the photos of it on their Facebook page, with the congratulations to the kids there, while my daughter was in hospital recovering from the biopsy that diagnosed her cancer.

I think it's awful.

I'm fine with a small reward for attendance (e.g. certificate and mention in assembly), just as I'd be fine with this kind of reward for doing well at maths or football.

However I think it's awful that kids miss out on a party or trip because they were ill, just as I'd think it was awful if those who struggled with maths or sport were not allowed to a party or on a trip.

Even punctuality rewards are unfair because it isnt the kids fault necessarily that they are late .. unless we are talking children over 14 years of age.. by then little certificates are stupid

Sorry nrtft but it's worked the other way for mine. Once they have a day off sick they know they won't get the attendance award and they are less inclined to solider on if feeling under the weather.

As a senior leader in a school, I completely agree. Well intended though they are(to increase attendance and therefore children’s attainment) they incidentally punish children who get unwell. Also -large scale rewards cost money that could be spent elsewhere. A far better idea is to make a bespoke intervention for those target families. Schools must track attendance and evidence what they have done to improve it -this is fair enough as good attendance definitely has benefits for the child. However, often a whole school’s attendance stats are disproportionately affected by a small number of children with very poor attendance and supporting these families can bring about very positive changes and have a lifelong impact for those children whilst improving the overall attendance stats.