Primary school unauthorised absence?

[wombleflump]

AIBU my DC started school during the pandemic and now in year one. Due to the chaos of school closing and rules I have been relaxed about things. Unfortunately my DC has a vomiting bug the week before Christmas and had to miss her last week including the play etc. She was upset about this but she was literally throwing up everywhere! So anyway the school announces after the new year that I need to produce a doctors note, appointment letter or prescription medicine otherwise the absence is unauthorised as was five days before the end of term. This is the first I heard of it.
Should I have know about it?
Obviously she doesn’t and didn’t need any of this evidence for DV.
They told me not to bring her in when I called in entered it on the app!
Am I being AIBU?
Now I feel a bit rubbish about it.

I know it sounds incredibly naive/relaxed but I didn’t realise they may be totting up the lateness. I thought as only 5 mins and she was signed in it was all good!

The government are putting pressure on schools over attendance at the moment. Once last year's lockdown finished schools were told they had to crackdown even harder than before.

Could you drop at school before nursery so she isn't late and you aren't so stressed with time getting nursery child in? Or would that make it worse?

I do do that drop school then the torture of nursery. I just need to go to bed earlier get up earlier and start the process earlier. They are slow In the morning and take ages to get ready. The traffic is unpredictable. I’ll
Just need to err on getting their earlier!

Unfortunately if you're late it is shown as an absence. It will have a different code to sickness absence but still show as an overall absence for the child and will be picked up on if it is recurring.

The school are just covering themselves as this kind of thing gets picked up on the school census etc and might warrant further investigation if it is ongoing.

Send them whatever proof you have and then make sure you are on time every day from now on and they will leave you alone.

Timeliness for school is non negotiable so unfortunately you have to make it work. We had a year of a 40 minute commute for school plus a toddler, it was a nightmare but we were never late. I might have cried in the car occasionally though!

I'm an education welfare officer.

It is up to the head teacher, not the local authority whether to authorise any absence. You have some incorrect advice on here regarding the school wanting to authorise and being overruled by someone from the local authority.

Previous posters are also incorrect that last year absence wasn't monitored. It definitely was.

The lateness is absolutely an is issue. It is entirely correct and reasonable for school to "make an issue" of this as you have put it. Your legal responsibility is to get your child to school regularly and punctually.

It is better practice to ask for medical evidence going forward than to cover a retrospective absence, however the final decision whether to authorise lies with the head teacher.

I would also suggest a child with a sickness bug for that length of time should have seen a GP, or at least advice from a GP sought.

What is your child's overall attendance?

@CornedBeef451

A late before registers close is not recorded as an absence. A later after the close of registers is an unauthorised absence. 5 minutes would not be an absence code but school will rightly be monitoring this.

I hear what you are saying about her sibling but the answer is simple, you need to get up earlier anticipating the delays in sorting him out, your DD's education (plus the disruption to the rest of the class when she arrives late) cannot continue. This will be why it's flagged up, they think you not taking education seriously, the 5 days just before Christmas are common for parents to lie about because they would rather be out places than doing the school run

Yes you are all right. I wasn’t aware until this letter that they were looking at the lateness. I can only correct going forward ! She isn’t otherwise taking time off.

5 minutes late frequently doesn't suggest 'unpredictable' traffic - it suggests you just leave home too late. If its that frequent you just need to assume there is always going to be traffic and leave enough time to arrive on time - yes some days you will be early but never late.

Also no one has said about the lateness I just saw it on this parent app and had no idea it was recorded there as no one told me explained what the app was.

They probably think you took her on holiday.
Last week of school before Christmas my DD’s class was half empty. One child told everyone he was flying on holiday so wouldn’t be in! A couple kept them off because they wanted to try and avoid covid. A couple more were waiting for PCR results.
Honestly on the last day it was less than 50% attendance.

We also received a letter shortly after ‘reminding’ parents of attendance rules.

I wouldn’t worry. I kept my DC off because there was a covid positive person in the household and I was worried they had it, despite testing negative. It took 6 days before they tested positive and that absence was ‘unauthorised’.

Yes I am admitting I am in the wrong about the 5 minutes late. I’m not making excuses really. I can’t correct that retrospectively only be better going forward!

OP, can you look at other childcare options for your youngest? Our 3 year old hated nursery, mainly because of issues around covid (staff kept being moved between rooms, children didn't get settling in days before moving to new rooms and couldn't sit together for meals etc.). we moved her to a childminder and she's gone from being prised from my shoulder at nursery to dashing off to ring the childminder's doorbell. She loves it.

You will be on their radar because your DD is regularly late and now has missed a full week of school. They may suspect you took her on holiday tbh hence asking for evidence. Not many will have evidence of a stomach bug though, I don’t think many people go to the doctors for this and it would be an enormous waste of their time if they did. Having said that, five days is a long time to have a stomach bug so I can understand their suspicions.

You need to try your hardest to improve her attendance from now on. You can’t help illnesses obviously but she needs to be on time every day. Start your day earlier.

@wombleflump
I do think it's a little unfair that they are now asking for medical evidence after the event especially not having asked at the time.

Assuming she has overall decent attendance - over 95% or if she is reception or year 1 over 2 or 93% ish-

I would suggest you contact school and state again what happened, you have reflected on her punctuality and realise it needs to improve, if they feel they need medical evidence going forward to please let you know and you will do your best however you can't get evidence for this absence as you didn't see a doctor so please can they let you know whether they will still be unauthorising.

Beyond that I would just improve the punctuality and not worry too much now.

Sorry I meant over 95%, or if she is reception or year one over 92 or 93% ish.

If she is regularly late and missing registration it can end up marked as an absence, so you might end up with an absence record that looks pretty bad.

You need to get the toddler up earlier and build in time for his tantrums. Its not acceptable as a reason for your older child to be late for school on a regular basis.

Was it a full 5 days for the vom bug? Usually kids are over those fast and even with the 48 hour rule it tends to be 3 days off, or 4 at most.

Yes that’s all I can do. I am planning to relocate in April if the court course goes my way. I can only do better moving forward and now at least have learned that the school are monitoring everything!

I was wfh with two sick kids and laryngitis, not on holiday she was at school. I didn’t realise they could mark lateness as absence . I took her to school during lockdown as key worker. I don’t want to say my profession but she 100% did not need to see a GP but that doesn’t mean she she should go to school and vomit over everything!

I meant to say I would
Rather she had been at school not at home

Best you do is let it lie, and make a big effort on the mornings going forward. The absence record doesnt actually matter per se for your daughter, it's more the school who get hounded if they have poor attendance stats.

@wombleflump is there a breakfast club? It could be worth looking at that so traffic isnt as busy you have flexibility of drop off and of course breakfast. Then you would have more time to drop off at nursery and then be at work a little earlier to reduce some evening work?
I found a big difference between getting dds out the door to nursery who fed breakfast then once they were at school and nursery and needed breakfast as that's where alot of delay took place

@wombleflump

I never even thought it would be a issue. I think she had one other single day off for sickness last term. She is sometimes five minutes late and this is my fault because her younger sibling has tantrums won’t get dressed and has to be bribed etc to get to nursery. The traffic is unpredictable driving. I know I am guilty of this and have made it my resolution not to be late!

^^This is the problem.

It's the lateness. So they think you're flaky and that she isn't ill, you just can't be bothered

If you're other DC is difficult to get out, I'm sorry, you'll just have to start earlier.

I am waiting for this relocation court case so will just get school earlier. I will have to rearrange everything then in any case. I was hoping To have done this a year ago and I have had a crap year in limbo where I am!