It's that time again, congratulations on your immune system

[takeitonthegin]

It boils my blood every end of school term. 100% attendance awards. Congratulations on not being poorly, congratulations on being sent to school with a stinking cold!

AIBU to be so grumpy about this? Anyone else feeling annoyed?

This Don't get the number anget about it all.

Nogbreak, no but it may sow a seed for behaviour patterns in later life, if one doesn't have any health issues, being a reliable member of a work force is possibly a good thing to encourage in a kid

It’s entirely pointless. DS has had so much time off nursery this term that I’m sure the attendance officers would be knocking on our door if he was just a few days older (he’s 4 with a September birthday). Ironically, he’s very bright and way ahead of where most kids are in reception so it would have made very little difference to him.

Then school need to sort out their awards system. There must be something your DD is good at - being kind, resilient, working hard, helping other people, smiling... School should be looking for something else to encourage, rather than just "Oh good, you're here".

Our school does Star of the Week, and all the kids know that basically everyone gets a turn to win it, but they love it because the teacher has to give a reason why they won. They always find something - and this year's teacher includes a little note to the child saying how well they're doing and highlighting their progress.

They also never reward attendance; in fact, they encourage parents to make sure kids don't come in when they're ill. I suspect that over all attendance is better for it, because bugs don't get passed round quite as often as some schools.

My son insisted on going to school with a chest infection last week, so he didn't miss out on the award trip in January. I was a bit pissed off about that.

In some families, one DC almost never gets ill. The others get ill more often. These 100% attendance awards really upset the DC who get ill - they miss school, miss friends, have to catch up AND THEN they miss out on the award.

I dont think they are effective at improving attendance, particularly for the groups you actually worry about not attending from chaotic homes.
Also once you lost it by vomitting, cutting your face etc where is the incentive to come in next time, might as well stay off.

The people where there is the real issue to overcome are those who have three days off where they could be back in school after one or two, or those who miss a day with ill-health that would be avoided by simple affordable lifestyle changes.

My NHS trust used to give out certs if not off sick in a year… yes to adults.

Yes. That’s my point.

I have two children like this. One had 100% attendance last year, one 89%. The one with 89% has a chronic health condition and the absences were unavoidable.
Our school doesn’t actually do attendance awards (they used to but a new headmistress took over and has scrapped them).

Eugh I just hate them.

But no awards for academics or trying really hard, or for being a kind and giving individual. Just an award that your parents sent you in every day. Total crap.

We have awards for academics, trying hard and kindness at our school, but no attendance awards!

We had Star of the day and Worker of the week. I thought this was better - you may have poor attendance but you worked hard, helped the new child settle in, etc

Yes. This is us. DS gets horrible tonsilitis fairly regularly (but not regularly enough to have them taken out). He invariably needs at least 3-4 days off with it (and that's best case scenario if I identify it quickly and am able to get him some antibiotics quickly). He never has a 'marginal' day off.

DD is ill extremely rarely. They are equally conscientious and try to attend school the exact same amount (ie, they always go if they are well; they always stay at home if they're not well enough).

School (secondary) always wittering on about how important attendance is and how it will be damaging their life chances if they have a day off. I think it's hugely unhealthy.

@3sthemagicnumber "*
School (secondary) always wittering on about how important attendance is and how it will be damaging their life chances if they have a day off. I think it's hugely unhealthy."*

I've heard several teachers say that you'll be expected to go into work if you're ill, so the same should apply to school. Apart from the fact that there's a world of difference between a 5-year-old and an adult in terms of how hard they're hit by bugs, I've never worked anywhere where I'd get in trouble for being off occasionally when I had flu, or D&V. Different if it was a regular thing, and obviously some employers are a nightmare every time, but in general most places I've worked accept that sometimes you get ill and it's better to stay at home than come in and infect everyone else.

Is this a fb thing? People are such dickheads sometimes... literally who cares what your child's attendance is ! 🙄🙄

We tried to take our child to school with a bit of a cold and because he cried at the gate (because he didn't fancy school) the head teacher told us to take him home. He had no temperature and was bouncing off the walls at home!

Two weeks ago we got an email with a list saying with these symptoms your child can come to school and were told they now have increased focus on attendance. We can't win!

I also hate attendance awards.

Attendance is important though, we can’t teach them if they’re not there. And as I said upthread, Britain has one of the worst attendance rates in the world. The problem is that it’s been made yet another issue for education to sort out so they never have to properly fund social care.

You also can’t teach them if they’re sitting in class unwell.
I am big on attendance myself. I have never taken my children out of school for a holiday/day trip or anything like that. But if they’re too unwell to be at school then they’re too unwell to be at school. My oldest child has a chronic health condition and I’m not going to risk her long term wellbeing for the sake of school attendance figures. Especially as she’s working above expected levels across the board, despite her ‘poor’ attendance.

Yabu. It encourages resilience. I know parents who keep kids off school for a sniffle. When kids grow up and are expected to be reliable in work, they need to have learned coping mechanisms as a child.

Parents who fuss over a % attendance on a school report probably have too much time on their hands.

I know. My point is, if we had adequately funded social care then the kids who are missing huge chunks of school (through illness or through neglect) would still be caught. When it’s left to schools, all they can do is post out generic emails.

My child is about as resilient as they come, it’s what comes from a life time in and out of hospital. He will never get 100% attendance. I often have to annoy him by not letting him go to school when he wants to because his medical conditions mean he has to have a very low bar to stay home.

all attendance rewards do are highlight to him how he is different to his peers. Thankfully he isn’t bothered but for many it could be the last straw.

Yup this @Sirzy. Two of my three had chronic medical conditions and (regular) appointments were in school hours at a specialist clinic an hour's drive away. You couldn't request a 4.30pm appointment, it didn't work like that.

At primary school after a fruitless discussion with the HT about it I resolved to keep DCs off school every term on the day they were having the attendance awards ceremony. The irony of this was totally lost on the HT. At secondary school it was completely different – the excellent HT had a system where there were awards for any number of things: behaviour, attitude, improvement, kindness, effort and so on. But not for achievement, and not for attendance.

FWIW I actually looked into the whole question of whether it was discriminatory to give out attendance awards as a couple of PP have mentioned. The verdict (from a couple of lawyers specialising in anti-discrimination law and a school governor) was that if it was simply giving out a certificate it probably didn't meet the threshold of discrimination, but if there were actual prizes such as a trip out, or a mufti day, for winner of an award which a disabled child could never get, then it would definitely fall foul of the Equality Act. Maybe one someone will be brave enough to take out a test case.

This attendance reward system has continued into sixth form for my DD (she never got an attendance certificate, ever) except it's based on 'unauthorised absence', including being absent for illness) so if a sixth former doesn't turn up for a study period, goes on holiday etc., it's counted as 'unauthorised'.

Of course from age 16 parents can't be fined and the onus is on the student to turn up.

DD has had 5 days off due to illness this term including tonsillitis, which was recorded as 'authorised absence'. So DD achieved 100% attendance, which disregards her periods of sickness, and she got her first ever attendance award.

I don't see why this policy couldn't be applied for years R through to year 11 universally across all schools. Sickness cannot be helped.