To think it's time to scrap 100% attendance awards

[ParadiseLaundry]

DS came home from school today with a certificate for 100% attendance this term.

This surprised me as his school is not one that uses reward/punishment charts or has 'star of the week' etc.

What does it actually achieve? You can't help it if you are ill, and if you are you should make sure you stay away from others. It isn't really an 'achievement' to not get ill and it's definitely not an achievement to get ill and then go into work/school and spread it around. Surely COVID has highlighted this?

Aibu to think it's time they scrapped this, particularly in schools.

To me it's disability discrimination. My dd has a disability and has many physio and OT appointments which unfortunately can only be arranged in school hours. She is therefore approaching the end of primary school and has never received one of these famous certificates and the associated pencil. Dd is devastated by this. The school could not care less.

@LynetteScavo

Does anyone even care about them? My Dad didn't miss a day of school frontage start of Y1- nearly the very end of Y6 when I took her out of school for the day when she had a different moving up to secondary school day from everyone else (so would have been the only child in her year in school) So, she didn't receive a certificate that year. If I hadn't taken her out would anyone have noticed she hadn't missed a day in 6 years? Nope. Does DD care? Not at all.

In many schools it’s not just a certificate. It’s extra golden time, special treats and even days out

Dd didnt get to go on the 100% attendance trip in reception class as she had regular hospital check ups, i complained as it was the only time she missed school and yr1 they changed it so appointments that cannnot be made outside school hours didn't count. Get rid of the award i think

Wow I never thought about it like that! They are shitty aren't they? I'm disabled but once ONCE I got a 100% attendance award. What a wonderful day that was.

@InTheDrunkTank

The irony is that it's the kids with medical conditions who often put the most effort into getting into school when they can.

Yes exactly!!

Dds' school have issued a new attendance reward of dominos pizza to the form with the highest attendance next month. Yeah, that will help limit the spread of covid won't it
I think if they are going to do this then covid absences shouldn't count not should any absences for any medical reason. Being absent for a term tune holiday or to bunk off so you can play on the Xbox all day are things you can control but being ill isn't and those with long term conditions are always going to miss some school time. These rewards are totally discriminatory and shouldn't be allowed.

The only argument I ever see in favour of them is that 'I have a non-sporty, non-academic child and this is the only award they won'. While I sympathise with that what about the child with medical issues who also isn't sporty or academic now this is just another award they have no chance of winning.

Instead of awarding for something that is totally beyond a child's control how about having awards for effort and kindness or for improvement?

Schools have to satisfy Ofsted that they are doing all they can to promote attendance. They have to explain the strategies they put in place to do that. I think a lot of these awards are as a result of schools proving they are prioritising attendance.

I completely agree with you. I also think it discriminates against children with disabilities.

Totally sends the wrong message on so many levels.

Completely agree. At DD's school a child was given a special award as he had not missed a single day of his secondary schooling.
All I could think about was how many colds and other illnesses he had passed to other students during that time.

As the mother of a child with a chronic condition I always disagreed with them, but in a pandemic they are totally irresponsible. It's exactly the kind of thing that might make a child not tell their mum that they're feeling unwell in the morning.

Worst one locally was year 6 girl whose mother died. Girl had day of death and funeral off.

School refused to let her go to the prom 6 weeks later.

Yes I also believe they are to please ofsted. We call them ' the congratulations on not being sick' awards in our house.

Fwiw I'm a secondary school teacher and have always boycotted the assemblies where they are given out. Attendance is important but certificates?! Crazy.

I hate them anyway but it's madness to give them out this year! My DS would have had 100% attendance this term if not for coronavirus, his cough was not bad enough to keep him home in normal times. Children and parents must not be penalised for doing there civic duty.

Our school only does yearly certificates, I imagine it will be a rare thing for a child to genuinely go through the year without one of the 3 symptoms.

*thier civic duty

I hate them. I’ve had vomiting dc crying because I wouldn’t let them go to school.
In my ds’ class there’s a child who missed lots of school (through illness and competing in a sport outside school) but who was brought in for a minute and signed out each time. He always gets full attendance awards.

Schools need to satisfy Ofsted unfortunately. My school had to argue to get our outstanding judgement - outstanding in all areas except attendance. You aren't allowed to get an outstanding judgement and have an attendance figure below national data. Covid isolation would count as exceptional circumstances so should not count either way. I disagree with certificates though.

@TooBored

Worst one locally was year 6 girl whose mother died. Girl had day of death and funeral off.

School refused to let her go to the prom 6 weeks later.

Had this happened at our school all the parents I know would have clubbed together to protest, and if necessary boycott the prom and hold an alternative one!

This year I agree but it's actually to encourage kids not to skip school/to get kids to encourage their parents to take them to school. Attendance in a normal year is only around 76% here, really bad and according to the school it's down to parents not prioritising education, keeping their kids home for company, to help with younger siblings, because they can't be bothered to take them or haven't bothered to do the laundry (all genuine reasons given) area of high deprivation, multi generational unemployment (kids at the school had parents and grandparents who have never worked, it's 3 years since dd left and I know some of those kids are unemployed themselves now, no intention of working and many of her classmates have kids of their own now.). Bit of a long answer but incentives do work, the prize for 100% attendance did encourage some

@movingonup20

This year I agree but it's actually to encourage kids not to skip school/to get kids to encourage their parents to take them to school. Attendance in a normal year is only around 76% here, really bad and according to the school it's down to parents not prioritising education, keeping their kids home for company, to help with younger siblings, because they can't be bothered to take them or haven't bothered to do the laundry (all genuine reasons given) area of high deprivation, multi generational unemployment (kids at the school had parents and grandparents who have never worked, it's 3 years since dd left and I know some of those kids are unemployed themselves now, no intention of working and many of her classmates have kids of their own now.). Bit of a long answer but incentives do work, the prize for 100% attendance did encourage some

They may, and only may, have an impact on older teens who can be responsible for themselves

However, none of those things are things that primary school children can influence or control. It’s simply punishing the children who already have the lowest chances further

I completely agree!! My son has an ongoing illness which required many hospital appointments and blood test appointments. Due to this he could never achieve 100% attendance. It was very high seeing children getting these certificates when you knew they would never be any chance of your child getting one.

We often got letters from school and college saying his attendance was too low, even though they knew his medical history.

Yanbu. I work at a school where attendance is bad. It's a primary school. If the children don't come in, it's not because of the child, it's the parent's decision. I think the incentive should be for the parent, why would they care about a certificate? But the children absolutely do!

I don’t agree with attendance records. Surly during the duration of the first year it’s easy to suss out who doesn’t come to school when they are ill and what kids don’t come to school because their parents are lazy and selfish.

My kids both got 100% attendance even though they were both off 2 days awaiting COVID results. So our school must not take that into account

In 2009/2010 we had a really bad winter. I also had two children in school who were on target to achieve 100% attendance. On the last day of term in December it snowed very badly and I should have sacked it off but no! We were getting that award.. after ringing the school to check it was open we set off in the car (faith school so not in walking distance) to inch our way to school in a blizzard. When we got there the headteacher decided that they were going to close.
Unfortunately, the conditions had deteriorated so badly it was not possible to drive so I had to walk 3 miles with a 4 and 6 year old in a fucking blizzard.
Headteacher decided to cancel the awards because it was unfair to those who got snowed in .
Yes, the attendance awards drove me to complete lunacy.