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!

On these threads have the posters say “it’s automated just ignore” and the other half say “its really important for safeguarding” - it can’t be both!!

On these threads have the posters say “it’s automated just ignore” and the other half say “its really important for safeguarding” - it can’t be both!!

Exactly.

@BoredZelda

On these threads have the posters say “it’s automated just ignore” and the other half say “its really important for safeguarding” - it can’t be both!!

Exactly.

It can. An automated letter sent when data triggers it.

Flags as a possible safeguarding issue, either through safeguarding electronic systems or through leaders. Instigates triangulation as part of a range of evidence to evaluate risk and identify next steps.

Part of my job is to chase attendance. For 15+ aged, so not little kids. We never ask for medical evidence. We encourage kids going home feeling ill and won’t chase repeated ‘sick bug’ or ‘cough and cold’ absences we might have wondered about, not since covid. Before, often many absences were down to kids missing class to work and pick up extra shifts at PT jobs, which we were often told we should allow because they ‘can catch up’ and earning money is important…. For every four or five parents who put the phone down on us, send a one line reply that makes me feel like my existence in this planet is pointless, or accuse me of wanting to make their child come in when they’re poorly (never would), there’s one who makes the act worthwhile. One example is a quick video call I did with a parent who’s child was on 60%. Turns out they were struggling hugely with their mental health and anxiety and parent couldn’t cope with them and other kids, and was at wits end. GP and CAHMS not interested. We were able to set up a phased return to learning , offer free counseling through a charity and sort out free transport that made the whole act of getting to class easier for the whole family. Result: a child going to university with infinitely more security than they would have before. That’s what makes it worthwhile.

Those who’s kids are genuinely struggling with repeated illnesses etc just write a clear, direct but polite email explaining the situation and assure the school you want your child to succeed and are supporting their health, and appreciate they need to chase but you won’t be sending your child in when Ill. You might want to add that you appreciate any help in their education- sending work home when appropriate etc. They might not be able to stop chasing attendance because of local authority rules but they will appreciate it. And no reasonable attendance officer or teacher will think you’re doing anything wrong. My niece is type 1 diabetic and she will not always be able to attend because of health reasons but her mum assures school she’s still supporting her education and the school, because it’s good, will send bits of work and check in where appropriate.

I’ve had a threatening letter because my daughter is sick since she started her periods, resulting in blood transfusion after her first period would not stop, and she’s been unwell since - 18 months on. Wait to see the peadiatrican is 6 months and they keep sending her home, yet asked me for evidence. Made me so angry as no-one wants her in school more than me. It’s not even that often she’s off - drive me potty

Our school is amazing.

They'd rather we keep ours off when they're unwell and frequently remind us of this...

Cos there are lots of selfish twats who bring theirs in come what may.

I adore our head.

It's a fabulous school.

[quote underneaththeash]@saraclara - officious people in school offices who ask ridiculous things from parents deserve to be derided. GP's are not going to want to have a child with a sick bug in their practices, so how else would the parent be able to "prove" the sickness.

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![/quote]
That must have made you feel really big and clever.

only going to get worse

100% ridiculous to be hassling people about attendance during a pandemic. So we send them in instead of testing and infect other people? And last thing people with long covid or just getting over it need is the stomach flu or a bad head cold (we've had one or other every week this term in my household!)

My SN child is also really struggling now on the brink of full on school refusal because of pandemic stress basically. So now I'm managing the SN, massive decline in mental health, school refusal, PCR tests, LFD tests, and trying to work sending me towards my own mental health crisis and then they send a letter "your child's attendance is low this term" No shit Sherlock I wonder why that could be!

I really desperately want to be healthy myself, my kids be healthy and well, and al attending school. But I'm not going to risk sending them in with covid or stomach flu symptoms because I'm not a dick. So I imagine the letters are going to keep on coming through the letterbox and straight into the recycling. Nothing else for it.

@Onehotmess why am I tagged in your post above? What was quoted is an obnoxious act that was not mine.

@BoredZelda

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.

Not true. Attendance is very much a part of safeguarding and educational outcomes. The DforE policies literally state that they both are but I can see that you have your opinion, which you are entitled to and not too interested in how it all actually works.

To just make it clear that I do understand how upsetting it can be to get these automated letters but it really is nothing personal.

I get that schools play a significant role in safeguarding children, but the mandatory letters and obsession with presenteeism should have been suspended since the pandemic began, and other methods of safeguarding put in place for children. So that we can prioritise health whilst also protecting those at greatest risk safeguarding wise.

Christ on a bike. Let’s bash schools again, because that doesn’t happen very often on here.

Schools HAVE to monitor and chase up attendance because Ofsted. It’s shit and we’d all rather be doing our job than phoning the same parents day in day out, but there we are.

My child has a medical condition that causes her to miss school. Everything is well-documented and she has excellent specialists in place to keep her symptoms to a minimum.

We get a letter every year. I ignore it every single year.

I will admit part of my confidence in ignoring this likely comes from being in a privileged place in society with the resources to fight any real consequences they might try to impose.

Don’t blame the school, more bollocks ‘targets’ handed down from the DfE

I liked the bag of vomit response! Sorry for laughing at it. Yes I blame the DfE, perhaps they should start with attendance at meetings from the Prime Minister who missed five COBRA meetings in a row.

Attendance is about government targets, very little to do with safeguarding.

Sometimes school is not the safest place for a child, if they are being bullied or suffering from extreme anxiety or school based trauma or have unmet needs.

Still parents get these letters and sometimes get fined as schools refuse to authorise absence.

The pandemic has exacerbated this problem. Most parents really want their kids in school. The ones who don't (other than homeschoolers) are mostly already known to the authorities.

My kids are no longer educated at school as there is no school that can meet their needs (recognised by the Local Authority) and I can tell you categorically that no one checks on their welfare from a safeguarding point of view. They are not interested even though they are responsible still for their education as I have not deregistered them.

My kids are no longer educated at school as there is no school that can meet their needs (recognised by the Local Authority) and I can tell you categorically that no one checks on their welfare from a safeguarding point of view. They are not interested even though they are responsible still for their education as I have not deregistered them.

I get that schools play a significant role in safeguarding children, but the mandatory letters and obsession with presenteeism should have been suspended since the pandemic began, and other methods of safeguarding put in place for children. So that we can prioritise health whilst also protecting those at greatest risk safeguarding wise.

Sorry for quoting two different posters but they are sort of linked in that the system is very much broken I agree and although the pandemic hasn’t helped, this has been going on since before then.

I would say, even about 9 years ago, our school had regular links with other agencies (which is why I previously mentioned Every Child Matters, the name of the previous policy, not just a soundbite that a previous poster assumed) and funding along with procedures to follow, was very clear.

We had a community police colleague check in with us every week. We had a community social support worker, who worked alongside an Education Welfare Officer that mainly only dealt with our school, rather than the many currently they have to deal with.
This is what the Labour government did well, I feel, to the previous poster who said they didn’t think Labour would do any better.

When Gove got rid of the policy Every Child Matters and the funding that went with it, so did these support links which don’t exist anymore or are severely cut.

Referrals to CAMHS are at an all time high and they can’t cope. We don’t have a police community link as the government have cut police to the bone and the rise of academies, free schools out of LA control has meant that posters, children such as the ones I have quoted, are slipping through the net.

This does not mean the letters are not regarding safeguarding and educational outcomes. It does mean however, that all the other processes meant to go with it, is far to varied from school to school and borough/county to borough/county, and that is an issue.

That is what parents like the OP, should be pissed off about, in my humble opinion.

I loved Every Child Matters. It was a policy that actually made sense. I was gutted when it was jettisoned. Nothing in education has really made sense since.

One of mine had chronic tonsillitis that meant 10 bouts a year, another has severe allergies, eczema and migraines which are seasonal.

For the former the interventions tree attendance was the push to have tonsils removed, disrupted school is a criteria they use which is a good thing.

For the latter scum accept there's nothing we can do, and we accept that they have to send the letters. It's like an awkward dance.

We have Dr/hospital back up if we need to to justify the absences, I think you just need to accept it's annoying but for some it could be life saving.

It does get v enjoying though when you get the letter and realise that for every instance the scum has sent your child home so know it is genuine.

^annoying

@ChloeDecker

My kids are no longer educated at school as there is no school that can meet their needs (recognised by the Local Authority) and I can tell you categorically that no one checks on their welfare from a safeguarding point of view. They are not interested even though they are responsible still for their education as I have not deregistered them.

I get that schools play a significant role in safeguarding children, but the mandatory letters and obsession with presenteeism should have been suspended since the pandemic began, and other methods of safeguarding put in place for children. So that we can prioritise health whilst also protecting those at greatest risk safeguarding wise.

Sorry for quoting two different posters but they are sort of linked in that the system is very much broken I agree and although the pandemic hasn’t helped, this has been going on since before then.

I would say, even about 9 years ago, our school had regular links with other agencies (which is why I previously mentioned Every Child Matters, the name of the previous policy, not just a soundbite that a previous poster assumed) and funding along with procedures to follow, was very clear.

We had a community police colleague check in with us every week. We had a community social support worker, who worked alongside an Education Welfare Officer that mainly only dealt with our school, rather than the many currently they have to deal with.
This is what the Labour government did well, I feel, to the previous poster who said they didn’t think Labour would do any better.

When Gove got rid of the policy Every Child Matters and the funding that went with it, so did these support links which don’t exist anymore or are severely cut.

Referrals to CAMHS are at an all time high and they can’t cope. We don’t have a police community link as the government have cut police to the bone and the rise of academies, free schools out of LA control has meant that posters, children such as the ones I have quoted, are slipping through the net.

This does not mean the letters are not regarding safeguarding and educational outcomes. It does mean however, that all the other processes meant to go with it, is far to varied from school to school and borough/county to borough/county, and that is an issue.

That is what parents like the OP, should be pissed off about, in my humble opinion.

This is an excellent post. My son ( 17 now) has SEN and has had several years of poor attendance from before Covid We have had exactly zero help with his growing school refusal . We have been in constant communication with the school so they were aware of what the issues were. We had no attendance letters whatsoever but also no.offers of support or help.

The help offered by a PP to a parent struggling with a teenager with MH issues and school refusal have never been offered

The school or LA did not send attendance letters to us because DS has an EHCP and we are in constant ( often pointless) communication with them but at the same time no help or support to encourage DSs attendance has been offered whatsoever

In fact lockdown was a blessing for DS as he could attend from home which meant he could at least access some learning which had not done for almost a year before lockdown

I thank my lucky stars every day that he was young when labour was in and schools were able to help more.which that did . Things were not fantastic for SEN children under labour but as a parent of a 17 year old who was in primary school under a mostly labour government I can tell you it was a hundred times better than now

I feel exactly the same OP! Little DS has had every single bug going. And when he hasn't had bugs he's had anxiety attacks where he cries and cries and cries. Big DS is massively struggling, self harming, not sleeping so has missed loads. Not got a letter yet but I'm going to set it on fire if I get one!

The school or LA did not send attendance letters to us because DS has an EHCP and we are in constant ( often pointless) communication with them but at the same time no help or support to encourage DSs attendance has been offered whatsoever

You were lucky.

Having an EHCP and known attendance issues for anxiety or unmet sen doesn't always mean that parents are not pursued and fined.

Coventry University did a study on it and found that most of those threatened with fines or who received a custodial sentence made every effort to get their children into school but they had autism or other mental health issues or disabilities. covrj.uk/prosecuting-parents/

Extract below:

What our research suggests is that this overwhelmingly, issues of poor attendance are linked or perceived to be linked, to a special educational need or disability. And in that case prosecuting parents is simply not the answer.

We found that these parents are often ill or disabled, or are caring for others and are under considerable financial strain. Parents cannot physically force a child into school, and almost everyone we spoke to about absenteeism reported that their child was anxious and had fears around going to school with cases of meltdowns and self-harm.

It seems that for many there is little or no support available or extremely long waits for diagnoses which could help get that support. Some parents had even been asked to keep their children at home because schools said they could not meet their needs.

Far from tackling the problem, the system is causing significant harm and stress to what is overwhelmingly mothers already at their limits mentally and financially.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

DD will apparently need "medical evidence" for any more time off, despite being at 89%. I can't get through to the doctors most of the time, but I did manage the other day - the doctor was mystified about what kind of evidence she could provide.

I understand the reasoning but YANBU OP.

If it ever had to go to court though, you could prove that you’d been in touch with a doctor. You have proof that you were doing something to help.

A previous poster said their child was off with diarrhoea. But they found an underlying cause after a year. Do you think schools should let a child be off for 48 hours at a time without saying anything for a year.

County Lines is big where we are. Schools are hot on attendance but also keeping an eye out for students with expensive trainers and clothes. None of our business either really until someone’s teen goes mussing.