School absence policy

[AlternativelyWired]

Our primary school has just updated its policy and now want copies of prescriptions as well as proof of medical appointments. I appreciate how important attendance is but I think copies of prescriptions is going too far. That's private and confidential medical information surely and I don't think it's the business of the admin assistant office gossip to have access to this information.

Is this a common thing? It's new to me at this school and my dc have been there 11 years between them. New headteacher who seems to be very strict. I like strict normally but I don't see the value of knowing what medication a child is on unless school need to administer it during the day.

Children are expected to be in school with aches and pains, coughs, colds covid etc.

Too far? Or reasonable?

I can understand wanting proof of appointments, but why on earth would they need to see prescriptions? These have nothing to do with absence.

Just don't let them see them - schools have no right to demand this.

My child’s school does this. It’s more to do with medicine that they are taking for the ill ess/reason of absence. I recently sent a picture of my child’s antibiotics as proof of how unwell they were. It authorised a whole weeks worth of absence.

It really didn’t bother me sending a picture or this in to show she was very unwell…

I am a teacher (in Scotland) and I am always blown away by how much power schools seem to have over parents in England. If I say my child is sick, I don't expect this to be questioned. Yes, education is important but at the end of the day parents are responsible for their children and should have the last say. Not the school.

As a parent of children at school in Scotland I quite agree. If I still lived in England with DC, I'm afraid I would very much be 'that' parent. Because this kind of thing would annoy me no end.

Our school has the same policy. My son was off a lot last year unwell - was under hospital etc and not once did I send proof over. I got a few emails but I emailed back saying he was under hospital and I was not keeping him home for the sake of it. Never said no more.

Their policy also states a photo of medication required even if not prescribed by a doctor and is over the counter medication being given - so if they did ever ask I would get the paracetamol box out the cupboard take the pic they want and send it over. Done 😂

Love this! I wish we lived in Scotland

Ds is currently off with covid. There's no medication for that except his usual inhalers and OTC calpol so showing his prescription adds nothing to how ill he is.
I haven't fully digested the policy yet but I don't like the tone. The new HT is ruffling feathers as it is without this. There's threats of fines, impromptu visits by the educational welfare officer, contracts for parents to ensure attendance.
If your child has a chronic illness they are likely to be off more than others. Chronic illness doesn't always need a GP appointment or a new prescription. It's often managed effectively at home with the current medications and rest.

Then there's the 100% attendance awards which are ableist nonsense. 😞

I would say that compromises your child's data protection rights. Just say no that's confidential

I would write in before you actually need to do it

I quite agree with your stance, and I would not appreciate being treated like I could be lying as the default position

Asking for proof via a letter is one thing (and not something I necessarily agree with) but no way would I be sending school a copy of my child’s prescription. Mainly because I wouldn’t be happy with my boss at work having that kind of information so it’s the same deal imo.

I don't have anything helpful to add but posts like this are making my dread DD starting school next year! It seems so hard to predict which schools are suddenly going to go insane about something!!

I'm always surprised at how many parents are willing to hand over this sort of information. I wouldn't be happy about it and suspect it wouldn't be considered reasonable under GDPR. I also doubt that my dc's schools would have any method for the information to be submitted securely.

The HT can 'demand' prescriptions all he likes but you are under no obligation to hand them over.

Signed: retired secondary head, now chair of governors.

Eeergh, you must have missed the whole Named Person & information sharing debacle.

@containsnuts fair point!!

Our school has this (England). I think most parents ignore it. They even say that if your child has a day off sick with a minor illness like a cold or vomiting, that we need to have a doctors note. It's laughable when most of the time it takes weeks to get a GP appointment.

I think it's more there for persistent absenteeism

Most of the appointments my dc have had haven’t resulted in a prescription.
Unless the child needs something administered in the school day I would say there was no prescription and the dr recommended rest or whatever. Not a chance would I pass that sort of information over, it’s irrelevant to the school.

Isn't it just if you want the office to give the medicine? We do that in our school and won't give medicine unless we've seen their name on the prescription. I bet they aren't interested in seeing a prescription if you're just giving the medicine at home. 😵‍💫

You do know policies are written by the board of governors ?

Why do they need the photo of the medication? Is it to prove they are ill? Or if (in the very unlikely event) they need to be whisked to hospital they know what has already been administered?

Not really understanding this at all.

Total waste of GP's time for millions going along like I had to saying: "sorry to bother you, there's nothing wrong her now but the school expect you to prove that she had a sore throat on Friday".

We've had a similar letter this week and I'm also cross - it's none of their business what medications my ds is on as they don't have to administer it and my word should be enough when he has an appointment, I have another ds at the school and it's hardly likely that I'm up to something when I only need to pick 1 of them up early and not the other

They absolutely are NOT! They are signed off by the governors but policies are usually either passed down by the LA or academy trust and adapted by the school HT OR - in a few cases - entirely written by the HT/SLT.

Governors don't write policies!