To hate "perfect attendance" awards

[EllieRosesMammy]

Surely after going through a pandemic perfect attendance awards should be scrapped? I refuse to believe any child can go an entire year without being ill atleast once, so essentially schools are rewarding the ones who have been sent in to school to spread their germs around.

And then articles like this:
lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulldailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Feducation%2Fhull-boy-not-missed-day-7300887&h=AT15pbp4zAEVNauE8SDiHV7nuGzjlB9PVwvxfhka2nSCw-fUJHOIxI50ErMwsi96rnXaVdNlk-5HQsPc1agljITptxr5RX-ZjnYAfri6FdNPKn8NIxmThMtnLPlpKaQ1u7hR_L29GLjDoZuRVqbvtw

7 years and he hasn't been ill once? Give over 🙄

YANBU.

I can't see the difference between attendance awards and, say, sports awards. There will be naturally sporty kids who mop up the prizes year after year and those who break into a sweat if they key stuff on thier phones too fast.

Winning at sport still takes effort and is an achievement. Happening not to get Covid or a sickness bug is just sheer luck. Plus unwarranted absence from school is usually the parents' fault. Why should a child be judged on the failings or problems of their parents?

They encourage good attendance but then forced most kids home at the first sign of a single cough. I find out unfair. You shouldn't be punished for being Ill, it can't be helped. I feel sorry for the children with health conditions which mean they'll never achieve perfect attendance.

I also don't think it reflects the real world whatsoever, if anything we have learnt that actually, you probably should stay at home if you are actually sick.

I was thinking about that too! What about the children who desperately want to be at school 100% but they have rubbish parents who can't be bothered to get out of bed and take them to school!

Another thing for children with a disability / disabilities to miss out on but hey least it prepares them the outside world.

No, I disagree, that would be even worse. At least with 100% very few kids would get an award. For a lower % a lot of kids would get awards and that would be really unfair on those with no chance.

One of mine hasn’t had a day off this yr… I think it’s just luck as he had a cold all over Xmas and chicken pox over Easter… school however do not do attendance awards .
i certainly haven’t sent him in poorly to spread germs
🦠

Given that attendance is monitored at government level, I don't think it's fair to blame the school.

The school has no choice but to monitor attendance, and follow up poor attendance. They absolutely do not need to give awards for attendance. I seriously doubt it makes any real difference to their attendance figures anyway. It's parents who decide whether a child is going into school or not, and I can't imagine they make those decisions based on wanting their child to get a piece of paper at the end of the year saying 'Well done for not catching a cold'. Skivers will skive, ill kids will be ill, flaky parents will be flaky.

What do they get as an award though? If it’s just a token little something, it’s not a big deal if it isn’t shared equally. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of praise, even if it’s for something like attendance. It does set kids up with an expectation for their future.

I agree that disabled children shouldn’t be “called out” over this though.

Agree with both of these. It's not a given that kids get sick 🤷🏻‍♀️

I sympathise a bit with schools because attendance is one of the things they're judged on and they have to account for what they're doing to tackle it.

Then at the same time, they will want kids to stay away with contagious illnesses rather than pass them round the whole class. It's a bit of a catch 22.

I think the only way to solve it would be to scrap attendance as a performance indicator, but then you will end up with schools that don't chase up Little Johnny's crap attendance because he's a pain in everyone's arse when he's in. Kids will end up going under the radar, particularly those who have additional challenges and more chaotic circumstances.

YANBU, they're discriminatory and a tool of social control.

It's such a pointless award and I'm sure many, many children know that too. I wouldn't take that personally.

Don't all awards discriminate against children who can never receive them for various reasons? My daughter is terrible at sports, should I complain she'll never win anything at sports day?

But some people have the potential and ability to improve, even if only slightly, in sports or academia.

With attendance it's pure chance. Didn't catch that stomach bug, flu, covid, injury, etc etc etc etc

Attendance is not purely about chance

exactly this. I know I can scroll past.

no it isn't, I agree

My eldest never got sick. We could all be dosed in the house and he just sailed through without a sniffle.
at school he was very middle of the road, never best at academics, sports, not musically talented or into drama

one thing he was good at was showing up every day and being reliable, so some kids do deserve these fucking awards and the other kids get something else. Seriously some people get so offended by nothing!

But schools can arrange groups so that everyone stands a chance. I am also all for sports day not being compulsory because it’s not great for a lot of children.

hate them discriminate against children who have disabilities/health conditions.

Agreed! My son had his leg amputated this year. He will have multiple hospital and prosthetic appointments every couple of months throughout his whole childhood. Won't be his fault he'll never have 100% attendance

In the context of succumbing to illness or not, or injury, it certainly is.

But kids are not only reason off school for sickness reasons

*only off!

I would love to see some evidence that attendance awards actually do something to improve attendance for students - and not just via encouraging attendance when ill.

do they help the students who are disabled be able to change appointments?

do they stop the bullying that makes a student scared to go in?

do they stop a child being a young carer so being absent or late because they are helping their parents?

do they stop the abused child being kept home because they have visible bruises?

do they stop children with special needs avoiding school due to unmet needs?

certificates and trips aren’t the answer to improving attendance. Getting to the route of the deeper issues is.

The attendance statistics don't discriminate between the child having the chicken pox, getting concussion playing for the football team, being at an appointment, being on holiday or just not being arsed to get out of bed. This is why they are disliked.

Maybe awarding promptness would work better.