100% Attendance Award

[NewYorkPleasecake]

I have always been vehemently against attendance awards anyway as I have a very strong view that children should not be rewarded/praised for the luck of good health...and there are plenty of cases when parents have not kept their little darlings off school when they should have done (E.g. for 48 hours after D&V).

My DD just told me that her school (early secondary) is giving out 100% attendance awards and her friend has got one.

I am GOBSMACKED at this - in a year where isolation was mandatory for positive Covid cases?!?! The friend in question was 'lucky' that she got Covid over the summer holidays. My DD missed some school because she wasn't lucky enough to catch it in the school hols.

How the feck can this be allowed to still be a thing?!

Totally agree op. Complete nonsense and sends the wrong messages - genuine illness is not someone’s fault/good health can just be luck. Hope you are taking this up with the school

Totally agree OP the schools are rewarding children for not being ill!My son has poor attendance due to him getting tonsillitis on a regular basis. However it's not regular enough to have them taken out! Luckily the school are very supportive and have written to the doctors In support of him having them out. You can't help being I'll so by rewarding those that are not is not fair!

This is horrific. Why is the school being held responsible for disordered parenting? As if they don’t have enough to do with the meager funding that they get.

Let it go. Seriously, it doesn’t matter.

Not every child has a chance to get every award. For some children, attendance is the only thing they’ll ever win, and for others, they’ll neve get it. Just like some children will only ever win academic prizes and some will only ever win on sports day. It may not be fair, but only because life is inherently unfair.

Don’t start having a go at the school about it. It will just make you the crazy parent. Take a deep breath, have a glass of wine and let it go.

So you think we would be better of with that child NOT being in school? As a taxpayer and a member of society? That child is a member of the community in which I live and in which my children live. How does it benefit me for them to be not in school learning?

What is your answer? Fuck them and let them fail? It is not their fault they come from a disordered background.

I get that you would like it is the world was perfect and no problems exist, but here in the real world adults look at the problems and do what they can.

The school is rightly prioritising helping kids get educated. That benefits me, you and the whole of the UK.

It’s always been a thing-I remember years ago when mine where at primary and they’d had about 4 days off between them (one was due to the fact they where hit by a car on the way to school)
they didn’t get the award (fair enough) but one kid did-he’d been to Spain for ten days in term time and when other parents kicked off,the school said it was because his mother had booked it off so it didn’t count
what a kick in the teeth for the kids who where genuinely ill

Rather than complaining about this, teach your children that they can’t always win or get every award. Much more valuable use of time

It really isn't a big deal. Couldn't get worked up over it. It might motivate a tiny amount of children not to try for a day off when they don't really need it. I think it is pretty pointless but i would say the child who got covid during the hols would feel unlucky at being ill during hols rather than lucky for getting a certificate.

My older son was a mediocre student and sportsman. In Grade 11 (not sure what it equates to in UK, but approx 16 or 17 years old), he got an attendance award, and I must say he was very proud for the first time ever to be asked up for an award.

We all know attendance awards are nothing really, and no-one would send their sick child to school just to get an award, but I say let the mediocre kids have a bit of glory.

I can also second @whatwhhat wake up calls are becoming more common and the list keeps getting longer...
It is a sad reality but a one that is happening unfortunately.
I also know of schools that not only give wake up calls but also supply free alarm clocks...
Got to be showing OFSTED you are doing anything and everything to retain/regain good attendance 🙄

Schools get judged heavily on attendance by Ofsted. So they try to reward good attendance and discourage poor attendance.

I used to get 100% attendance all the time at school.
My child does too, I am draconian about sending her in unless she’s in a really bad way. She’s had one day off in 5 years. Her best friend on the other hand, has been off for a week recently for a sore throat and cough (not covid). 🤷‍♀️

@OperaStation I work in a school. For various reasons , the attendance award is the only award/recognition some children get regularly. Even if they do manage to get another one, it still sucks . The school year is long. Most of the other awards require either good academics or sporting ability, or at the very least a stable home environment with supportive parents. A lot of our kids lack one or all of those. We have children that aren't washed or fed regularly, much less get a homework award or completed reading record achievements or whatever else. They are in school every day though, and tbh it's the best place for them to be.

But isn't that a double whammy for the kid who got Covid during the school hols - missed holidays as well as missing out on an award?

The reality is the pandemic has shafted mental health and behaviour on quite an epic scale, across the population. Schools really do have to do more on attendance/engagement as so many families are struggling. UK is very broken after so much austerity, then COVID, now more financial problems.

Schools are doing more because attendance patterns have changed and I hope they can help those families that are struggling because we will all pay if their kids slide out of the system.

I do not think there is enough understanding of the deep shit we are in nationally in terms of our young people.

We have had a new attendence policy recently. It is based on pressure from government.. best class attendance was the one i rember ..
I genuinely don't get 100% awards.. once you have missed a day it then becomes pointless. My ds once went to hospital first day back for the year ended up in theatre so ended up with the rest of the week off. No award..

My child has inflammatory bowel disease. Last term I found a crumpled certificate on his bedroom floor for 'improved attendance'. He had improved from something like 95% (deemed not good enough) to 97% (deemed OK). This kid goes to school in serious pain sometimes, or when he's so tired he literally goes to bed the minute he gets home. It makes me so cross. When I raise it with the school I get polite but clear vibes that they think I am an attention-seeking parent who enjoys complaining. Obviously I don't wish IBD on anyone but I do wish they would just try to understand.

You know that being off for covid isn't included in the figures?

It's nonsense but no different to the "star of the week ", where someone gets an award for being quiet or kind , or the class little shit not head butting another child that week for a change. All nonsense. None of those things are achievements.

I was lucky and my children were very rarely poorly. One year their primary school gave 5 x 100% awards of which 2 were my children. They both finished secondary school with 98%+ attendance over the 7 years. They weren’t bothered but I’m extremely proud of their attendance - I’m not interested in other children’s attendance only my own, that said children can’t help it if they’re poorly but some parents do let their children off school when they’re not ill - there was a whole post about taking a Friday off to enjoy the sunshine recently.

Genuine question - what makes you 'proud' that they were lucky not to be sick?

They're entirely discriminatory. One of mine is partially deaf and her clinic appointments are during school hours every few months, where possible I try and get them in the holidays but it's not always possible. She will therefore never get 100% attendance, neither will any other child who has to attend appointments during school hours or who has a disability that means they have more time off than a child who doesn't. Aside from that, it's a luck award. No one can help being ill but you can be a damn sight sure that if a child goes to school when unwell then more people will be off ill, so if anything we should be encouraging people to stay home when ill so they can get back quickly and get on with their education.

My DD has only been off school sick for a period when she had Covid and I had an email the other day to notify me she was at 95% attendance due to this.

My DD's school (pre covid, they are now grown) did this to try to get the school attendance figures up. 98% and over got a free trip to Alton towers. Youngsters with proper diagnosed medical conditions were taken too but not the many who took random days off because they cannot be bothered to get up. Was in special measures due to attendance

I would no more be proud of my child's attendance than I am of their height or shoe size.

I would be proud if they had an illness/condition/disability making it harder, but they don't, so there is nothing to be proud of. I think it is pretty weird to be 'proud' of your kid not getting ill.

Some very successful person whose name I forget said 90% of there success was do to showing up.

So maybe it is more important than some people think.