How the fuck do you improve attendance

[Merryoldgoat]

I’ve had the delightful LA attendance officer letting me know my son’s attendance is 85%.

I KNOW. I’m the one looking after him.

How am I supposed to stop him getting ill? I’d love to know.

I’m just sick of it. We’re juggling two autistic children, a full time job and I get this officious letter implying I’m keeping him off under false pretences.

It’s such a stupid blunt instrument.

I’m angry and tired and just sick of it.

I have no AIBU. It’s just the rant of an exhausted parent. DH is also exhausted in case anyone is wondering.

Really feel your pain OP.

Had a similar "tick box" meeting last week as DC (complex SEN) has been soooo sick soooo much since September -we hit the lowest ever at 69%.

It infuriates me that people continue to send children in unwell as guess what? Yes they all get the same and the vicious circle just keeps turning.

As long as you've got valid illness for absence there should be no concerns. This is just a pathetic post Covid attempt from the government to create yet more work for schools and staff teams. We all aim at 100% attendance but these days it just feels unattainable.

FWIW Our attendance officer couldn't have been kinder and made it clear this was a complete nonsense, she also shared the fact that quadruple the number of parents were being called into these meetings due to the same reason and that "pretty much all" were valid absence.
I don't know how you are supposed to keep children well these days all we can do is our best.

They have a process to follow they can’t just jump in when it gets to some like 60%

of course they should question it it’s the response to your reply that might be a problem

You know the irony? He got a stupid fucking 100% attendance certificate last summer.

And there are days when the younger is in and vice versa. If I somehow didn’t want him in school why would I be sending the other one in?

It's a rolling average btw. A week off the second wee of Autumn term and you have 50% attendance. A week off the last week of term and you have 99%+.

Yes, I was shocked too.

@ehb102

yup. I know. It’s fucking ridiculous.

My (now 22yr old) DS was always sick with something, up to the age of about 9 when he began to improve although He never had a full year attendance at school.

When he was around 12 I got a similar letter home from school. It said they were concerned about his attendance levels and any negative impact on his learning and they would like to meet with me to discuss it. It went straight where any other similar letters had gone, in the bin. But, in the same post I also got a letter congratulating him on his excellent work, behaviour and commitment to school. 🙄

Bin it and ignore.

10 days out of three months is a lot though, it’s nearly a day every 10 school days.

@DoubleShotEspresso Yes and some kids get more poorly with the same bug. But because our bodies react different, one can function and another maybe unable to get out of bed. This constant banging on about attendance is what's causing an awful lot of these bugs to circulate. The emphasis should be what is in the child's best interests, not what's best for ofsted reports!!
My daughter always missed out on attendance treats, because she had medical appointments, one clinic on a weds, had to take any going or wouldn't be seen for months. Same with dentist, rarely had anything after 3pm, and I then have to allow time to get there. Its a very unfair flawed system, it makes the kids feel crap.

I liked to challenge their maths. They give percentage over a school year to date. 1 day off in week 1 is 80% attendance.
I challenge that it is not 1/5 but 1/190 as they may not be off again.

The current system allows for sickness after may half term........

Wholeheartedly agree we are going through this right now. Our DC just seems to get whacked out for a minimum of a fortnight whilst "normal" children bounce back in a week. We had covid last September, then December two thirds of the class were all off with some horrendous sickness/fever bug. They missed all the Christmas fun stuff , concerts and we cancelled all planned excursions.
Return to school in January, still totally burnt out but had to send them.
The next bug hits and that's half of January gone... now we are at 69% which is "a concern". To me it's a factual reflection of their fitness and ability to attend. Welfare officer agreed it's ridiculous but "they're obliged" to do the meetings.
Then factor in the relentless rounds of medical /specialist appointments (yet more burnout and no sleep) and we are set up to fail. Except I don't chew this as failure, I view it as responsibility to our DC and their classmates to maintain heath which is the priority before any learning can happen. Ofsted can do one with their pointless targets !

Do you know if the 85% is just for this school year? Our school sends home letters to tell us what our children's attendance is each term. The first term is always the worst because of the winter. It's just a way to keep us informed. I would be worried too if the letter came from the LA.
There's a big drive for attendance because of the missed school time during covid so they're really watching closely. I know there have been kids in our school who have missed so much time because of sickness, it's been rife this winter. But I suppose they have a duty of care to keep an eye on children and making sure they're in school. For some it's the only warm place for them to be and will be fed. They don't want them to slip through the net.
I wouldn't worry about the letter and maybe back up future absences with an email - for example to let them know you've tried to make an appointment with the GP to confirm sickness and the appointment is booked for 2024!
Also have a chat with the school to say you've received the letter and how to handle future absences from their point of view. Let them know your concerns.

Please remember it’s not the school doing this, it’s the local authority and the government who set these attendance targets! In most cases, the schools know what’s a genuine absence and what isn’t but have to follow the procedures put down by the LA. All you need to do is agree to try and reduce the time off, provide evidence if he’s on a SAM/LAAM level (confirmation of GP appointments/ prescriptions etc) and do what’s best for your child.

is he in primary school? My son used to often get 40 plus temperatures although he was often also ok in himself. It got to the point where the school insisted I bring him in with a 40 plus temp as long as he wasn't too poorly - they were very worried about their 'excellent' ofsted rating being effected.
What I would often do - and also do this for morning doctor's appoints - is I would send him in and he would hit the register and then I would take him out 10mins later. Ridiculous but it resolved his attendance issues and it meant he only missed 'half days' rather than full days in the eyes of the register and the school was happy and got off my back.

we are in the same boat. Not received a letter but my two KS1 children have been so poorly since October last year and have had a large amount of time off.

it isn’t just the run of the mill colds where a dose of Calpol will save the day. They have had scarlet fever, strep throat , laryngitis and sickness bugs.

I spoke to school and asked if they could highlight the importance of keeping kids at home when they are sick to lessen the spread but my smalls seem to have come down with most things.

we are a healthy family, good diet, exercise etc and we do what we can to help their immunity but since we all had covid, I believe we have weaker immunity.

last bout of sickness was last week during half term and I spoke to the doctor when we went for antibiotics and the doctor said that a lot of parents are struggling with the amount of sickness their children are suffering.

we can only do our best, we know our children, we know when they are sick and we do what is best for them.

OP, the letter feels like a dig, but you know that you are doing what is right as a mum and that’s all we can do.

fingers (and toes) crossed for a healthier spring !

You need to dose him up with meds and send him in UNLESS he literally has a fever or something. It’s too much time off.

Use Reminds on fb and contact Sendiass.
Great help for all your concerns. Absolutely amazing.

It infuriates me! They are kids, they get sick! Parents on here who send their kids in with temperatures - how would you feel having to do a full day with a fever? Idiots. Not only does that then spread to every kid in the class, the last thing you want to do when that poorly is leave your bed/sofa and attend school or work. The whole thing is an absolute joke, they need to abolish it and find a better way to safeguard children who are absent for anything other than genuine sickness. I don’t have the answers but I’m sick to my back teeth of it. My boy has ASD and during the pandemic he was getting sick nearly every week. What kind of parent am I when he’s crying and begging not to go in because he feels SO poorly? Why even had kids if you’re going to be that cruel?

Ridiculous comment

@cornflakegeneration

Nar, it’s not.

Terrible advice.

This is precisely why sickness and absence levels are so high!

Maybe have a chat to them, tell them what you have said here.
I got one about my sons attendance dropping below 97%
This was due to him, having a couple of days off after, he broke his hip, whilst at school in his PE lesson. We gave him 2 days to get use to using crutches. Then when he got the go ahead to do PE again, he fell and landed heavily on his knees. He is a chunky kid. His knees were bruised, school phoned ti say they were sending him home.
Then he has a bad cold. (around the time, kids were dying of strep) he was feeling rough, so I kept him off school and took him to the doctors. Who gave him antibiotics, he started to pick up on the Tuesday. So I decided to send him back to school on the Wednesday. For school to phone again, to say they were sending him home. So we kept him off Thursday and Friday. As he had a cough and we didn't want school to send him home again! Then they moan about his attendance! If the kept a better on him during PE. He wouldn't have hurt himself the second time, I think some other little sod, decided to try and take him out, he went to avoid and landed on his knees.
Plus they were the ones to send him home, when he had the antibiotics. It wasn't strep, just the doctor been very cautious.

@DoubleShotEspresso

For goodness sake. If you have a headache or a mild sore throat it’s perfectly acceptable to send your child into school having given them some paracetamol or ibuprofen beforehand. It’s common sense. If your child is clearly very poorly with a high fever then obviously you wouldn’t send them in. Likewise with norovirus which needs a solid 48 hours off school.

Does no one have any common sense anymore?

@DoubleShotEspresso

Ahh I bet you’re one of those that didn’t want lockdown to end either. Lol.

sorry you’re in the same boat as lots of us - it feels relentless! My DSS had 100% attendance for primary (covid aside!) but now is nearing my DS’s low.hope this improve for your family too.
it’s the same for the staff too
PS: ofsted can do one anyway!

At no point has the op said that they've kept their child off for a headache or a sore throat.

There are people who have commented on here whose children have had covid, scarlet fever and a sickness bug which would amount to over 10 days off in a 3 month period. This is absolutely not unheard of in my child's school or in my circle of friends.