Really bloody sick of schools going on about attendance.

[TheMuggleStruggle]

I have 4 kids. Eldest is in college.
We have NEVER been pulled up for attendance prior to 2020. Never. Always had over 97%, for each child every year.

2020 they were hardly in school alongside the whole coubtry. But attended when they were open.

2021. Well since September it's been an utter shit show. We had symptomless covid, which meant we had to isolate 10 days from PCR test.

They seem to have had every cold and stomach bug known to man.
One of DS's bust his knee and couldn't put any pressure on it for 3 days.

And I think the pressure of everything that's been going on really affected DD, who has SEN, and she's had a few days off when she's just been hysterical and so, so tired.

So I've had letters from 2 different schools about attendance. And I know DS college aren't happy with his.

But we've gone 12 years so far, with 4 different kids having constant attendance certificates awarded and it's not intentional!

What are we supposed to do if they have a temp/couch/have vomited when we are getting letters saying keep them home if they do?!

It pisses me off even more when they had the schools shut for half the year. They know things aren't normal right now.

Just fed up of worrying when someone gets a bug that I'm going to be threatened with another letter or even a fine!

And that child’s death was tragic, but people are losing their shit here, using it as an example of why anyone should do anything about anything.

And so they should. Every Child Matters.

Oh wait, Gove got rid of that policy (which was written in response to poor love Victoria Climbe) so darling Arthur must not be ‘forgotten’ in the same way. We’ve seen what happens when things slip, budgets are cut and services are scaled down rather than follow what Every Child Matters was.

Our children don’t deserve responses like yours. They deserve more.

Medical evidence can be proof of a gp appt.
School admin are low paid, overworked, undervalued and have no say over attendance policies.
A letter is only the first step in a safeguarding procedure that ends if the child returns to school and escalates if the child doesn't.

I thought these things were obvious!

[quote LittleDandelionClock]@TheMuggleStruggle

YANBU. It is very frustrating getting letters when your child's absence drops below 95%. It's not exactly bloody low is it, if it drops to 93%! Problem is, as has been said, it's just sort of 'automated' so will come out to everyone.

@underneaththeash

We had a letter once a few years ago when one of the children started school (and had every bug going) and I just said that if I ever got one again I'd stop the parent voluntary contribution we paid every year to the school - we never got one again!

I don't even know where to start with that one.

So you blackmailed them so they would stop sending letters about your childrens absence? [/quote]
Yup.
I have no intention of ever sending an ill child into school and really wish that other parents wouldn't either.

@BoredZelda

Probably because someone in admin just had the job of sending them all based on percentage and didn't know the backstory, but if you kept school informed the actual attendance officer did know and therefore didn't follow it up as it was unnecessary? (I'm just guessing obviously)

We don’t have an attendance officer and schools don’t send them. They come from the local authority and when I spoke to the school they have no idea who the letters are sent to.

That does seem daft. Definitely not how it works around here! Not the school's fault though and the attendance stuff can play a helpful role in safeguarding (as well as an unhelpful one in paperwork and covering your backside for Ofsted purposes). I suppose it's like most safeguarding measures - only useful if used in a meaningful and thoughtful way.

However, I had a case this week where a child wasn't in and turns out mum was bed ridden with covid and he was fending for himself, he's 7 with autism.
If our admin hadn't bothered, he would still be sitting there. Those calls and letters do count and do matter. Someone may really need it. During lockdown I had another where a mum was being beaten by the dad but couldn't tell anyone until I called and flagged that the mum was acting suspiciously.

The regulations schools ate expected to follow with monitoring attendance are madness and ate no different in a pandemic.

My daughter has only just started reception and she's already had eight days off - ridiculous amount but she has asthma and has been awful with it due to loads of bugs. We've also had loads of days waiting for PCR results - one took 50 hours to come through.
I haven't had a letter yet but I'm expecting one. Maybe it's because she's under five so by law doesn't even have to be in school yet.

I think a lot of people here are missing the point. The letters are not the only thing the school or local authority does - they are just part of a process and one of many things they do to try and improve attendance.

So child has poor attendance, it gets below a certain percentage for whatever reason, it triggers a letter to go out.

Reasonable parent will get the letter and will ensure they inform school of reason for absences / send in medical letters / ask school for support if needed. Sometimes parents don’t realise just quite how much school the child has missed.

It is the parent who ignores the letter, doesn’t give reason for absences, and child is still regularly missing school for no reason, that is the worry. Then that would warrant phone call / visit from welfare officer who will pick up on issues at home eg parents gone away and left child / parent suffering from mental health issues / family moved away without informing school etc etc.

@Soontobe60

Schools are heavily under pressure to monitor attendance for various reasons. The most important one is safeguarding. Did you hear about Arthur, who wasn’t attending school when he was murdered by his father’s partner? Please give the schools a break, they’re damned if they do chase up attendance, and dammed if they don’t. If you can justify why your children have been off school then why stress about it?

Arthur wasn't attending school as it was during lockdown.

So what happens to the parents who are abusing their children but diligently call in sick for them?

Attendance when it has been properly documented by parents calling in etc..... is nothing to do with safeguarding and everything to do with attendance targets.

Children who do not attend with no phone call are the ones who need chasing up for safeguarding.

It’s basically all due to the shitshow that is ofsted. Poor attendance figures can trigger an early ofsted inspection which Possibly could jeopardise the head teacher’s job/reputation. If they’re ill (or tired or overwhelmed or anxious) they’re not going to learn properly anyway.

So what happens to the parents who are abusing their children but diligently call in sick for them?

These situations are not held in isolation from attendance checks but yes, you are correct that additional services do need to be working together to pick out these situations and attendance letters on their own are not enough. But they help.

What it doesn’t mean is that attendance staff should never follow up attendance because some parents could be absuing the system. In actual fact it makes more of an important cog in the system to prevent abuses, which currently is under threat from this government’s cuts to funding, services and support.

We should be angry and fighting back to the government/DforE about this. Not taking the viewpoint that ‘it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t work all the time anyway” stance. Attendance is to do with both educational outcomes and safeguarding.

But I don’t think the OP has considered that in their inconvenience as have many other posters.

Schools have to track attendance and act on it. They have to. They are held accountable for this. I don’t know why this is so difficult to understand. It has to be a blanket policy for everyone.

Just ignore the letters. The set procedures that have to be followed have trigger points for those letters being sent when certain attendance levels are reached. The trigger points were set pre-covid and they aren't going to bother re-writing the rules to say that none of this actually applies during covid but so long as you are being reasonable (and you are) you won't actually get any fines or other sanctions. It's less work for the letters, which are automatically generated, to just go out than it would be for every case to be individually assessed to check for real issues. Meanwhile the most vulnerable children whose wellbeing is the point of the attendance legislation would be more likely to fall through the gaps if the procedures were set aside because of covid. Quite rightly, it is those children who the limited and overstretched LEA staff will actually prioritise. So just carry on and do your best.

OP - regarding the Covid isolation, schools should be recording this in a different way so as long as you have informed school properly (sent them the PCR result) it won’t affect attendance.

It will be the other absences due to illness that have triggered the letter but if it’s a one-off I wouldn’t worry. there’s a lot of bugs around at the moment, it’s that time of year, and the isolation last year hasn’t helped as the children are all getting them now.

OP - regarding the Covid isolation, schools should be recording this in a different way so as long as you have informed school properly (sent them the PCR result) it won’t affect attendance.

Not if it has been since September sadly. Government guidelines changed so that only an X is put if waiting for a PCR result but if positive, the rest changes to an I for illness and therefore is counted.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1012256/Recording_non-attendance_related_to_coronavirus__COVID19__sub-codes.pdf

Attendance monitoring is important for encouraging progress and safeguarding, but the standard target send a letter approach is pretty meaningless. It scares or pisses off well meaning, engaged parents and is ineffective at intervening in concerning situations. The example of the ill mum struggling to care for the 7yo would not be resolved with a letter (or dealt with in a timely fashion) and a phonecall to check the situation in a personal way was by far the best way to monitor/ intervene.

The standard government target/ OFSTED culture is not very helpful. Some children for ongoing physical/ mental reasons just can't achieve the targets and they apply additional pressure (I wish there was a more meaningful individualised target system). Early in a school year, the data is easily distorted. Some years as OP is experiencing, you just get runs of one thing after another. Dialogue (which letters don't provide although they can be useful as a summary document) is the best way to actually look after the child's interest rather than being a tick box exercise.

It is frustrating to be berated for following policies on attendance (e.g.48hrs sickness, Covid testing/ isolation) and puts parents in a no-win situation.

@Annabellerina

Medical evidence can be proof of a gp appt. School admin are low paid, overworked, undervalued and have no say over attendance policies. A letter is only the first step in a safeguarding procedure that ends if the child returns to school and escalates if the child doesn't.

I thought these things were obvious!

And how do I get evidence of a GP appointment?

@ChloeDecker not at my school - or my son's. All still get an X code if they are off with covid

We have I2, which is ill with COVID, we don't include absences coded I2 in attendance figures.

My DC school is cracking down on attendance, after calling me to collect one of them due to vomiting they had to have a discussion on if I was allowed to take the others home as it would be an unauthorised absence as they weren’t unwell. I did point out that if I didn’t collect them then they were welcome to keep them till the next day as I was not dragging sick DC 1.5 mile walk in the rain each way to collect I was told attendance is more important

[quote Pieceofpurplesky]@ChloeDecker not at my school - or my son's. All still get an X code if they are off with covid [/quote]
A school can go against the guidance of course and take the risks with doing that but that wasn’t what I was responding to in my post and also won’t help the OP if their school is following the updated guidance, as shown in my link.

And how do I get evidence of a GP appointment?
Do they not send you an email or text to confirm the appointment? Or like my GP do they have online system showing your appointments? Could you ask them to email you the appointment details?

And so they should. Every Child Matters.

Yes they do. But this doesn’t help any of them as it has nothing to do with safeguarding.

But to suggest that reporting something you’ve seen must be reported to social services because it might help prevent one situation of abuse, ignoring the harms that can come with over reporting, is ridiculous.

Funny how all of a sudden every child matters but there are inequalities and injustices happening to kids every single day but those don’t have people up in arms, shouting that everything should be done to help them.

Attendance is to do with both educational outcomes and safeguarding.

Except it isn’t. Because the safeguarding of abused children from chaotic families is dealt with in a different way. Or at least, there are other processes which is supposed to do that.

“Safeguarding” is the same kind of excuse given as “health and safety” or “insurance” when organisations want to do something for reasons they don’t want to admit but they know is unpopular.

[quote FindingMeno]@Soontobe60 actually I've thought on more.
You're right.
I need to remember that it's not a lot to tolerate if there's any chance at all of an abused child being helped.
Well pointed out. Its not up to me to assess the effectiveness of these measures, but instead I should be glad of anything being done that may help.[/quote]
👍🏻