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?!

The three kids in our class with perfect attendance have such horrific car wrecks of home lives that I wouldn't begrudge them the recognition. Yes, it can be luck, but it also can be that your parent pushes you through the door every morning regardless of how you feel, when a loving parent would keep you home instead of sending you to school. I got covid off one of them because he clearly had fever and chills but mum was "unreachable" so I cuddled him all day whilst he was crying and coughing.

Ok. 👍 Are you looking for a ‘well done‘?

We all parent differently. My children are doing well academically and have good friends, so I’m not concerned about a few days off for whatever reason.

I am a teacher and dislike these awards.

Posted too soon!

My children have good attendance but have missed a bit more than usual the past couple of years due to isolating or having covid.

The thing is, I think, if you get someone who likes their child getting these awards, they become more likely to send their child to school when they aren't feeling 100%. And then pass something round the class.

Also, at school age I feel it's the parents' job to ensure your child attends - if you miss even an afternoon that's you out of the running.

Also a certificate is not going to encourage those who are poor attenders to suddenly attend.

I never really understand the angst about attendance awards. Its fine for there to be an award that most dc, including yours, don't/can't get. It's a bit of paper, not 2 weeks in the Bahamas. And no more unfair than many aspects of life.

@Porcupineintherough it's not just a piece of paper in some schools though, some go all out for 100% attendance.

Of course it's unfair to those children who have many hospital appointments and are never going to see that award for something that is completely out of their control. There maybe aspects in life that are unfair but surely this is discriminatory!

I work in a school, so I know how much pressure there is for schools to get attendance levels up. As a school, we do give attendance rewards because it does seem to help with attendance. We give whole class attendance rewards, usually extra play, depending on the attendance level from whole class. Children who have known health issues are not discriminated against as any absence relating to those issues are not included when we calculate attendance.
I am grateful for attendance awards as they were the only things my dcs won at school. They were very able children and were never awarded any subject achievement prizes 'because it comes so easily to them' - they might have found it easier to kearn, but they certainly put in the effort to achieve their excellent exam results. They could never win 'most improved' because when they start near the top, there is not a lit of improvement to make. Neither were particularly good at sport so attendance was the only thing they could do.

I think the 95% attendance 'treats' which the most vulnerable children often miss out on are a bigger issue.

@Erictheavocado the whole class attendance awards are just as bad in my experience. When my DD was at primary she came home and said she was really annoyed as they missed out on their end of week attendance treat because one child had been off sick. She then told me that the class all had a go at this child in the playground as they blamed him for missing out on the class award and were all really angry about it.

I agree - kids who don't get attendance awards will (probably) get something for something else. I couldn't get wound up over this. I would get wound up over the other situation in the thread about the Y7 prize-giving where it appeared that the OP's dd was the only child who left the event with nothing.

I used to have the misfortune of doing this job and fending off the furious phone calls.
We did 100% attendance, above 95% attendance certificates
100% punctuality (of days attended obv) and above 95% punctuality certificates
Plus, I was allowed to include those with circumstances that would make an impact (hospital, funeral).
It did mean I could ensure majority got something.
Mainly hardcore latecomers/random days off, who were 89% or below.
Yes, attendance is luck but you also have those pushing it, just as you do at work.
I did notice some of our hardcore pupils using covid more than once as a reason not to come in. So it does work the other way too.

I'll never forget how devastated my eldest was to miss out on a 100% award because one morning they arrived at school at 10 am having attended a hospital appointment they had waited 2 years for!

I know now that she should not have been penalised for that and I should have kicked up a fuss. You live and learn.

The very notion of rewarding children for not getting ill is really odd. Or even rewarding them for coming into school to spread their germs even if they were ill!

I always told my kids, and they learnt from their own experiences soon enough, that these attendance awards are worth nothing.

Leaving aside the coughs, colds and sick bugs that are a normal part of life, over their years at school, my children have had friends that have had conditions like asthma, mental health issues, have suffered with horrendous periods, physical disabilities, broken bones, the death of a parent, one poor child had leukaemia, one needed a heart transplant. All kids that never had a chance at these awards and were dealing with enough.

We should not teaching be teaching children that being fortunate with health or not admitting when you need some time out is something to be praised.

I'm a teacher and I hate this. I'm much more annoyed by parents who send their children in poorly than children who stay off and recover. In my class this year there have been 2 children sent in despite being unwell repeatedly and they then pass it on to the other children, one has ended up in hospital with pneumonia twice. And not to mention I end up with colds before every holiday. So as a teacher I would love it if the schools did away with it but we are being pushed by senior leadership and they are being pushed by ofsted and government targets (by people who have never taught in their life).

Not at all. I’m happy that my 2 have come out of their education with the qualifications needed, friends and well adjusted as adults. Their attendance would only be a part of that. You know your children best and do what you think is right for them.. I wouldn’t decide to not show up to the office because there’s going to be a meeting I don’t like the sound of. To me my children not going to school because they don’t fancy it just wouldn’t be an option.

But if there was a day at your office where the ‘meeting’ required you to wear a leotard and dance round on stage pretending to be ‘nature’ or to wear a very short skort and be made to do an athletics day whilst having a very heavy period, maybe you would avoid the office that day. Maybe if you found public speaking extremely difficult, you wouldn’t choose a job that requires that, but at school it’s expected. You have that choice in your career, but not at school.

The fact is, many ‘fun’ things at school aren’t fun for lots of children, and I can say that I don’t know anyone who is made to the sort of things in my previous paragraph in their job....unless you’ve chosen to do those things.

A heavy period isn’t the same as “they don’t fancy sports day or when they don’t want to be part of some random shit day” Regarding a leotard I would still send them to school and speak to their teacher about any concerns before the performance. They would most likely let them wear leggings. If their period didn’t stop them going I’d ask the teacher to find her a job to do helping out at sports day or have them excused from PE. They’ve both survived my parenting and as adults understand why I sent them to school as long as they weren’t unwell. If it was up to me they would make up days lost because of snow days but that’s a whole other post. Like I’ve said, you know your children best, you do what you think is best for them as will I.

Blimey - mine get a wristband!

Basically rewarding the children from parents who send their children into school sick or never tested for covid. My children have been off so much this year with bugs etc, at the moment there is covid and chicken pox going around the class, im just waiting for them to catch one or both. The school has had to send some children home as some parents sent children with infectious chicken pox into school, they have no shame. "I've no childcare so here have chicken pox".

I don't agree 100% attendance awards should ever have been a thing it wasn't at my school and I often had 100% (unless I was actively throwing up I was made to go in, i remember my sister saying one morning she was unwell, they made her go in, for school to ring before theyd even got back from the school run to say she had been sick, silly attitude to have).

I wonder if it has a negative effect, you have a day off for migraine so you've blown the reward for 100% so who cares if you take another day off just because you feel a bit under the weather but could go in really.

yup 💯
Daughter was under the care of a consultant only school she missed was hospital appointments - didn't matter brother got certificate she didn't what the hell is that supposed to prove?

That is so sad, I hope you weren't too ill with covid. You did something very special for that child.

Many of the things are the same. Speaking in front of others with kids laughing, dancing around being nature, residential trips, enterprise days with no discipline, cutting up an animal heart (optional but laughed at if you are too much of a <insert slur> to do it, sports days (even when not on period)...these things are not always in every child’s best interest. I know many teachers that agree.

My kids, and others I know, have been allowed not to do things like this if it’s a real issue for them. It hasn’t stopped them achieving good results, building friendships, being independent and reliable at college and work. I think my kids are more confident for me not forcing them to do certain things, they know you don’t have to do everything, it’s ok to say no, the importance of choose a path which doesn’t put you in situations you that will will strongly be unhappy in.

It's just a daft school award. Not sure why you're so annoyed about it.

thanks for doing that, above and beyond as they say