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.

Yanbu.

Our school doesn't include hospital appointments however no idea if they do them this term as his class was off self isolating at the end of term

Completely pointless. Makes sick children go to school . Those who don't care about attendance don't because of a sheet of paper.

I agree. My children’s school have a system where those who have 100% attendance each term are put into a competition for Thorpe Park tickets. 3 children win each term. It’s very unfair to the children who have health issues and regular appointments as they aren’t allowed to be included. My dd was upset about staying home with chicken pox one year as she wouldn’t get a certificate or be included in the competition.

@Miseryl

At my son's high school, any time missed due to COVID illness/isolating isn't counted towards their attendance rate. My son still got 100% despite missing a week and a half self isolating.

The thing with this though is it just highlights the ridiculousness even more. Isolating because you've caught covid is OK but what about chicken pox or empetigo? Surely catching either one is just pure bad luck.

@Miseryl

At my son's high school, any time missed due to COVID illness/isolating isn't counted towards their attendance rate. My son still got 100% despite missing a week and a half self isolating.

They're coded differently - a standard illness is coded I and is recorded as an authorised absence and SI/Covid symptoms are coded as X, attendance not required. This means that whilst being ill is pulled on reports on attendance, anything related to Covid isn't. (Reports on the numbers who are SI are pulled and notified to the DoE separately). This also means that for those who need attendance figures for references, etc, nothing Covid related can affect them negatively.

However, despite the MIS systems being updated to include other codes so SI as a contact/no symptoms, SI with symptoms/awaiting test and positive test results could be differentiated, the government didn't want that level of detail and told schools not to use them. So they're coded as X. Which rather annoyingly means that the opportunity to see exactly what the spread was like in schools and track it over the period was dismissed at governmental level.

@Miseryl

At my son's high school, any time missed due to COVID illness/isolating isn't counted towards their attendance rate. My son still got 100% despite missing a week and a half self isolating.

That still doesn't help children with long-term health conditions.

In some ways it's more insulting. You could as being 100% present if you have COVID, but not if you have epilepsy, narcolepsy, chicken pox or even cancer.

*count

Yanbu. When my son was age FOUR he had to go to the office to collect the certificates, then deliver them to the teacher, then watch as she gave a certificate to every child in the class except him (he has a health problem). She didn’t explain why, just congratulated the rest of the class.

He was very sad and cried at pickup. So I sat him down and explained exactly what had happened.

That was the day he lost all respect for his teacher, his headteacher, and the government. It has permanently changed how he sees authority.

No, they are not a good idea. They are cruel and achieve nothing other than to upset and alienate sick children. Many children can be seen crying around the playground on the days the certificates are handed out.

I think it’s shocking.

Gosh @Skysblue thats awful!

Did you point out to the school how awful they were?

its about time someone took them to court for disability discrimination.

@Noconceptofnormal. A 'pen' license was handed out in about year 4 to anyone whose handwriting was deemed good enough to use a pen instead of a pencil. The child would receive a certificate and a pen in front of the class. DS never got his so carried on using a pencil until in year 6 they must have forgotten about it. The annoying thing was DS found it easier to write with a pen as he struggles to judge the pressure he needs to use for a pencil.

Thanks saltn, I agree that is bad. My kid is in y1 but their handwriting is terrible atm compared to peers, I think it is because they are lefthanded. So I'm glad this isn't something done at their school as they try really hard with it.