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 🙄

I was going to say something like this but the poster said it better. I'd be surprised if there was any evidence base that attendance awards help improve the stats.

Agree, my daughter hasn't had a day off sick all year- besides chicken pox as a baby she has never really been ill, she's 6.

Luckily never had a vomiting bug, never needed antibiotics. Had a cough when she was in nursery, we took her out for 2/3 days but that's it. Even when we all had covid she didn't get it.
She hasn't got perfect attendance though as we went on holiday for a week in term time!
I know it's not the point of your post, just pointing out that some kids are more prone to bugs and colds than others. Some kids are very robust and others catch all the bugs going. They're all different.

Nobody said it was the only reason.

Only award my son ever got every year he has severe dyslexia should I send it back?

My DS (12) had 100% attendance this year. He’s had the odd cold here and there but I’d never not send them in with a cold. He was off for a week with covid back in December but covid isolation didn’t count towards attendance this year. No stomach bugs or anything so he’s been lucky I guess. He’s going to a free fairground in the school grounds next week as a result. I don’t think it’s just 100% attendance, I think it’s anything over 98% but I might be wrong.

It’s just luck I think. Bit unfair to assume anyone with 100% attendance was ‘spreading germs around’. They just had a fortunate run this year and didn’t catch anything nasty. Agree it probably shouldn’t be rewarded because you are rewarding a child for not getting sick which is a bit weird.

Not every child is always ill though. My child has never been really ill, outside of chicken pox which obviously we all get, she's never been ill and she's six. Is it really normal for children to be ill all the time?

Exactly all this!

There's many reasons why a child may not have 100% attendance. I just think it's not something that should be awarded 🤷‍♀️

I absolutely loathe class attendance awards. I have heard the children in my oldest’s class talking about whose absence meant they didn’t get the reward/class party/special treat that month and it’s always either the boy I know who has long term medical issues and learning difficulties or the boy with a very very chaotic life and a chronically ill parent. Kids aren’t stupid, they know who is absent a lot. Neither of the boys are exactly popular children with loads of friends to begin with and it’s just vile to make them even more unpopular with their peers over something they cannot control. By all means hand out meaningless paper certificates to individuals if you really must, but giving some children a treat because they don’t have the epileptic child in their class is all kinds of wrong.

And yes, I have said as much to the HT. He said he thought it was popular with the kids and it hadn’t occurred to him it might set children against their peers…

There's plenty of awards schools could give other than attendance awards. Being dyslexic wouldn't stop him from winning a "class helper" award or an "excellent behaviour" award. Just because a child isn't academic or sporty shouldn't mean they miss out on awards, I'd rather see my child get an award for being kind to other students than a perfect attendance award 🤷‍♀️

There’s a huge difference between all the time and never. Kids get sick, some more than others. It’s normal.

And some are never ill. That's quite normal too.

if a child is lucky enough to never be ill surely that should be reward enough in itself? A child never having to miss schools puts them at an advantage in itself!

I agree, even though I had three of them. No reason to draw any particular attention to it.
To be fair, primary school sometimes printed the names in the newsletter at the end of term, secondary ignored it completely.
I've never encountered these certificates / assemblies / prizes that people talk about on here. Never seen any fanfare at all.

Not common though. Thats one of the reasons why so few children get 100% attendance award for the year after all. In the article linked in the OP, the child had not missed a day off in 7 years, that is extremely rare.

At the school my friend teaches at, they had one child that also had 100% attendance for the whole of primary and they bought him quite an expensive gift. Because it was that uncommon. My friend had taught the child for a year and there were multiple occasions that she felt he was too ill to attend school.

I know who of my kids will be sent in regardless of how shit they feel. I know if we call home their parents wont get them till hometime anyway.

If they get a prize for this then I'm all in favour! It's not always about being lucky and healthy. Sometimes it's about parents not wanting to miss work or have other plans.

Not getting an award isn't a punishment. This is such a warped spoilt attitude that we shouldn't be sharing with our kids.

And presumably you also know how the negligent parenting will mean other children risk being really poorly?

DS’s school gives awards for 100% attendance, but discounts authorised absences. So DS got his little certificate despite being off for about six days this term with D&V one week and covid a couple of weeks later. Because we’d emailed the office to tell them.

I think that is fair enough - hospital appts etc are authorised, taking two weeks off for a cheap holiday isn’t.

Missing out on a reward because your disabled is illegal.

missing out on a reward because your being bullied and scared to go to school is illogical.

missing out on a reward because your mum has died is downright cruel

A late mark lowers the attendance.
Theres some kids who's parents cba to motivate in the morning. Not kids fault.
I worked inna school and there was one mum who never arrived b4 10am. NOT ever. She blatantly said. She wasn't rushing /over slept / hungover. She couldn't wait till her ds was old enough to sort himself out she often 'joked'
That poor boy never got any attendance awards

@Sirzy - well said.

It's a cheap way to try to make children attend, and the class attendance awards are a form of institutional bullying.

My DCs' high school in the US has a team of counsellors and social workers working with children who are not attending regularly, seeking to get them to engage with school, finding or providing MH/emotional health services if that's the issue and/or social service involvement if chaotic home life is causing problems. The school district is legally obliged to find alternative school environments and pay for them in order to meet the students' needs, even down to providing tutors for home learning. It costs a lot to have the appropriate staff and provide all the services.

That definetely sounds like a fairer way of doing it!

Many of us never get sick (I haven't had a day off work ill for 11 years) & maybe because our parents stressed the importance of school attendance and only let us have time off school if we were virtually at death's door 🤣

'Attendance awards are a great idea' – said no parent with a disabled or chronically ill child, ever.

I can just about live with a piece of paper and a mention in a newsletter, I guess, but when it leads to entry into a prize draw, or a mufti day, or something tangible, it is totally unacceptable and quite probably illegal (I believe it would fall foul of the 2010 Equality Act if challenged).

As PP have said, you can give out awards for all sorts of things – effort, behaviour, improvement, helpfulness – to the less academic/sporty/musical.

Dd2 said to me today 'mummy I won't get the attendance certificate this year will i' because she has a bowel condition now and honestly most of the time I'm terrified it's cancer and I'm exhausted and in shit state.
They can shove their attendance award.