To keep her off again? Will something happen?

[tabbysarerude]

My child has had 4 absences, the AM and PM count as one each. I kept her off when she was coughing in the night. And last night she's been sick and said her tummy felt bad.

Do I force her in or keep her off? The head mentioned something about if they don't get 98% attendance it triggers the law? Not sure what she meant but I'd rather force her into school feeling unwell than have some type of fine.

Please don’t send her in with a potential tummy bug. It’s against school policy, surely?

Our school have had several bugs around this autumn and a lot of kids off for a few days here and there.

We had an email from the Head or the secretary last week saying they were sending letters out about attendance but they have to. Pretty much telling parents not to worry.

If she's been sick do not send her in.

What do you think people do when their child has chicken pox etc?

If you call and say she’s been sick, so won’t be in until at least Wednesday, they will mark it as ‘I’ (ill) not ‘O’ (unauthorised). I suspect her previous day off will also be ‘I’. Your family funeral will be a ‘C’ (circumstance). Unless there’s a massive backstory, none of this will trigger any action at all. You might get another letter, but it will be standard / automatic and you can just ignore it as you know her absences were valid.

We got an attendance letter recently. She was poorly one day (2 absences) and then vomited one night so I had to keep her off the next two days (4) as per the school policy.

The letter annoyed me, it usually causes me problems work wise and I want to write back ‘trust me I’d prefer her to be in school too!’ But I know they have to do it, just as I know I’ve got to try and send her in on the times it’s borderline on how she is feeling.

The rules are different. Sickness as in vomiting = 48 hours off. Sickness as in other types of being unwell = back as soon as you're well.

Under 98% will not trigger a fine or social services investigation or anything else.

You need to be under 92% to even trigger the attendance officer.

Sickness is classed as unauthorised. Unless it's pre-planned with doctors letters etc.

no it’s not. Ds has had lots of sickness over two schools (when younger his attendance was down to 75% due to chronic problems) and never has it been unauthorised because there was always a genuine reason for it.

It's like schools have become so obsessed with attendance that they'd rather have a bunch of sick kids in infecting everyone else (including the teachers) than accept that they need time to recover. The priorities are completely messed up

crazy isn’t it? DD’s school are very clear they’re implementing the LA’s requirements and distance themselves to a point and make it clear sick children are better off not in school.

OP, don’t worry. If you did trigger the next stage of the absence it wouldn’t be straight to court, they’d be looking at your reasons and if there is anything they can be doing to support you and you’ve got valid reasons. It’s like a workplace sickness policy, as long as your absences aren’t clearly avoidable or questionable it’s just box ticking.

The percentages are also a daft way to measure through the school year. A child who had chicken pox in September would have an atrocious attendance percentage until the end of the summer term.

Op you need to keep her off if she’s been sick , if you explain that she’s been sick that will be that as they won’t want a sick child in school . Common sense and all last time it was a cough but come on priorities is your child never mind about the bloody head .

It’s 48 hours from vomiting, coughing doesn’t have an exclusion period.

she’s sick, keep her home. It doesn’t trigger anything.

Okay thanks I've let her stay off and let them know.

Good. Hope she feels better soon.

And check that it's authorised. It should be as long as you've informed them before they take the register.

Please dont worry OP

They do this so that the people that cant be bothered taking their kids to school and keeping them off for any old reason are persuaded to take their kids in more. The school have attendance targets and it affects their funding so they don't want kids skiving.

They also have sickness policy on their website usually which is what you are following and it usually 48 hours from the last instance of vomiting or diarrhoea.

Please don't consider sending her in.

The head sounds like an idiot. I bet their own pay rise or something is dependent on good attendance figures.

A parent is allowed to (and should) take a sick child out of school.

Schools are only really arsed about attendance for OFSTED and there’s no way anyone should force their child in when they’re clearly sick. DD has a friend who never misses a day but her Mum has sent her in with stomach bugs before, she tells her not to run around at playtime so she doesn’t vomit .

It’s ridiculous, don’t send them in if they’ve vomited or have a temperature and are very sick. It’s selfish if nothing else. My DC had a week off for chicken pox when they were much younger and I had a snarky remark about their attendance in the end of year report as if they wanted me to send them in with it. Crazy.

You'd have to be under at least 90% before an education welfare officer would look at the situation;you certainly wouldn't have SS at your door.

I'd make a complaint to the school governors about the heads scaremongering tactics;I've dealt with my fair share of head teachers like this.

"Sickness is classed as unauthorised. Unless it's pre-planned with doctors letters etc."

No it is not. There is an authorised code for it. It may initially be classed as unauthorised but as long as you follow the schools reporting illness proceedure it will be changed to authorised.

Sorry op I didn't mean to scare you about safeguarding.

I didn't mean school would check on you what I meant is safeguarding can be part of the reason schools are hot on attendance. For example of a child has a particular pattern of missing school. There is no legal action that can be triggered for missing school due to being unwell.

Anyway if she's vomited she must stay off today AND tomorrow. Vomiting triggers 48hr rule and you really don't want to spread it around

My ds has been off for 3 weeks and 1 day. Will be going back after lunch today

Week 1 - high fever, heavy cold symptoms absolutely exhausted
Week 2 fever back, ear infection and antibiotics
Week 3 chicken pox

Haven't heard a thing from school barring me ringing to leave voice mail to keep them up to date

If your kid is ill, they're ill!

No school in the land has the resources to do anything about a child who has had 2 days off school sick.
If she has thrown up, 48 hours since last vomit. Otherwise the risk is that a vomiting bug spreads through school like wild fire

‘force her in’ after being sick, don’t be so ridiculous.

I'd rather force her into school feeling unwell than have some type of fine.

As a parent, I’m afraid I just don’t understand this attitude. What is wrong with you?

We've just had an email from school today saying please don't send your ill child to school.
Too many parents send their kids in when they really shouldn't be there.

Headteacher at a previous school admitted that they are bound by the education department to take action to encourage attendance. I got the impression she didn't agree with it but was forced into doing things like the rage inducing attendance awards.

And no school wants that.

One year there were so many kids at our school vomiting that they were having to share sick buckets. Couldn't get hold of the parents fast enough to collect them.

Probably because a parent sent their child in unwell.