Bloody sick of reading of schools & associated staff forcing sick children into school!
I'm thankfully past that stage now but my own dd has the disability she was born with finally diagnosed the summer before she started high school. She didn't have low attendance rate at that point from primary as it hadn't affected her badly but it flared badly that summer (not unusual for puberty to cause flares with her condition) which is what led to us getting a dx at last!
Upon starting high school I informed the school backed up by both gp & consultants letters and spoke with the head.
For her whole high school career she and I and her drs were dismissed, ignored and mocked!
It was a nightmare!
Dd was a good student, high achieving to the point she was taking some exams a year early, but with some absence issues.
When she got an infection that landed in her in hospital on a drip for weeks and saw her lose nearly 2 stone that she could ill afford to lose the school were initially sympathetic but the DAY she was discharged they were on our backs about her returning to school - at this point she wasn't even able to eat solids or walk to the loo alone! We'd been sent home with prescription of fortisips and strict instructions to REST for at least another 10 days.
The schools attitude was absolutely appalling and in the end resulted in dd leaving school earlier than she or I had planned and completely putting her off education, my even raising the subject of part time college caused her to get a panic attack a year later.
She has fortunately found herself a good job and almost FOUR YEARS later is tentatively considering college/uni
Schools really need to back the fuck off and remember they are NOT medical professionals.
Our children's health (mental and physical) is FAR more important than their bloody attendance stats!
But it's not just the schools to blame,this govt has far too rigid an attitude to education and how schools should be run.