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 🙄

FGS not this again! It’s a bit of paper that’s all. In 14 years of education my children got 100% once each. The 13 other years it didn’t bother them or me that they didn’t get it. Do you really begrudge the handful of children that get a certificate?

And some children spend too much time at deaths door meaning at times attending school is the least of worries.

Ds attendance is at 89% this year. That is amazing for him and he battles through a lot more than most of his peers

At least sport and academic awards don't reward children for spreading their germs to everyone.

This @Sirzy.

Honestly some people on here have no idea.

Children struggle into school in between chemo sessions, or straight after major surgery, or in the gaps between long hospital stays while doctors try desperately to diagnose what is wrong with them. But little Susie drags herself in even if she has a heavy cold – yay for little Susie.

I used to deliberately keep DD2 off school the day they gave out attendance awards. The irony of it seemed wholly lost on the HT.

My DD had 100 percent attendance and got an award. I'd say it was just luck she hasn't been ill this year they should stop doing them.

I went to a rural school. It was accepted as fact that the farm kids were never ill.

That breaks my heart :(

Some kids cannot possibly aim for an excellent behaviour award. It's all they can do to get through a mornings lesson without being overwhelmed. Having a meltdown.

Your suggestions are exactly along the same lines as 100% attendance. It's not achievable for some. But for some children it maybe all they achieve.

Maybe suggest to the school a values award? Don't spend your time trying to reduce awards, add to it!

Its not always just a certificate. My kids school gave out kindles as prizes and I’ve already mentioned another school I’m aware of giving out a more expensive gift. For my children, it wasn’t an issue, they would rather have the time off and they had lots of toys/tech etc. For kids that didn’t have these things and had chronic health conditions that meant they didn’t stand a chance of ‘winning’, it seemed harsh. Rewarding luck or parents that send their kids in sick just seems wrong though.

Surely the kids who had health conditions didn't stand a chance of winning at sports day either?

It's an award. The kids who don't win awards aren't being punished. Kids need to learn that in life, some people will win things that they never had a chance of winning. Life isn't fair sometimes. But if they try hard in other areas they can win awards there instead.

Agree @EllieRosesMammy My DC used to call it the 'Dork Award.'

Also, as has been said, it discriminates against ill and disabled children/children with certain conditions, and even against children who live rurally if they get snowed in and can't get to school

It's like, many workplaces will pull people up and give them a warning if they have 3 sick periods in 1 year. Even if it's a 2 day period, a 3 day period and then a 1 day one. So only 6 days in total. Yet, if you have ONE 3 week period off, you lose 15 days... and nothing is said because it's only ONE sick period off!!! Batshit.

I hate them too. My kid gets upset about not getting them. This time 3 years ago I was sat with her in hospital while she recovered from the biopsy that showed she had cancer looking at the schools photos of their party for 100% attendance.

Shes never going to get one. Even now she has frequent time off for hospital appointments, scans etc. and the fact that she has no chance at it is another thing that makes her feel different and upsets her. So I hate them.

Me neither, if anything I find it odd that some kids (underlying health conditions aside) are ill at least one a month.

And YOU get the AWARD for spectacularly missing the point! 🙃

Do you think disabled children don’t have enough chances to find out life isn’t fair?

or abused children? Or young carers?

Being no ill, not disabled isn't a skill or a talent. You can't learnt it or practise it. DS can't work harder to not need cardio and renal scans in school time, they can't stream and adjust activities to account for his respiratory and speech therapy appts.

A good school will celebrate a child's effort in maths, not just their achievement. They'll run races so the slower or less able kids can compete on a more level field. You can't do that for attendance.

If school discounted hospital appts they might move a tiny way towards this.

For some kids good attendance is all they get any kind of recognition for, in primary I’d say it’s moot but secondary when they take more responsibility for getting to school they seem a bit more relevant although I’ve yet to meet a kid past year 7/8 who cares about them anyway.

but you could say that about many school awards that they’re not fair because your child is never going to win it. Do we cancel them all?

I’m sure some parents send in a contagious child but I know that the only time each of my children got 100% they did not go to school poorly which is why they only got it one time.

Yes not very fair for primary school inparticularly, as children up until a certain age have no control over their attendance....if they have lapse parents who don't bother encouraging them to go/taking them into school, or if they are taken out for a holiday, none of that is within their control.And being ill certainly isn't either!

❤️

I have literally just been talking to my partner about this. Our work does the exact same, 3 occurrences of sickness in a 12 month period triggers an attendance review. A guy at work has been in for the last 3 days, too sick to work, but afraid he will lose his job if he has any more absences because he has had 3 seperate days off over the last few months.

The worst part is we work in a kitchen where these rules are enforced... So someone who has been ill has been handling food for the last 3 days. I tried to send him home today but he refused as the pub manager had threatened him with losing his job.

Maybe but what kid actually cares about an attendance award? I used to hate standing at the front, hardly an honour. If they shamed low attendance I'd be in full agreement but fact is, only 100% attendees are getting a certificate, hardly discrimination.

I have no idea why some schools think it’s appropriate to reward “good attendance “. Surely, bad attendance is 99.9999% NOT a fault of a poor child. I’m saying it as a parent whose children have 100% attendance. They are just lucky not to get sick, it’s hardly something that should be “rewarded”.

My DD had 100% attendance for years u til Covid came along and she had to isolate, she didn’t care though and neither did I.

Agree with this. Totally ridiculous.