To think 99.7% attendance is better than good?

[Cluelessat33]

I got my daughters first end of year report on Friday. I was so proud of her, because on everything she was hitting targets, or being scored as exceptional..... except her attendance which was marked as good, grading as follows;

persistently absent, below 90%
Attendance concerning, below 95%
Below expectation, 95-97%
Good, 97-99%
Exceptional, maximum 100%

This blows my mind. The one occasion she was off was an afternoon, I was driving back from work in Liverpool, they caught me whilst driving home. My mum was looking after her, and I had to make a decision. I wasn't happy about her going home but they put pressure on me to have her collected so my mum picked her up to find she was right as rain.

I doubt many adults have that sort of work attendance, let alone 5 year old kids, with bugs flying here there and everywhere? My nephews attendance was raised as a concern one year, despite one stint being a hospital stay, and the other being told he could come in due to covid.

I understand why schools need to keep an eye on attendance, but seriously, what are we saying to kids with this. Who is going to manage 100%!?

Why do you care?

@NewNovember why shouldn't I care? I'm notnsure I see your point.

Why are you bothered about this? you’ve made sure she’s in school as much as she possibly could have been, end of. Ignore the stupid scoring system.

Well is 97-99% is good then 99.7% is better than good.

I would be annoyed too.
They should be rounding it up to 100 as they have not given an option for over 99 but under 100, despite having graded her as such.

It does seem harsh if they were the ones who sent her home, but honestly, this has not ruined her set of straight As thus denying her a place at Oxbridge. ;-)

"what are we saying to kids with this. "
That the word "exceptional" has meaning?

You're right. I hate the approach to attendance in schools. It's very ablist towards children with health issues too. I use this to teach my children about how ott some rules can be and how not to take it to heart. It's important to learn how to ignore the micro managing and judgement of sociopaths in this world. So I guess while I agree it's silly, you shouldn't let it bother you. It's their rule. You know 99.7 is exceptional and that's what matters.

My point is being healthy is not an achievement.

The school are poor at percentages and rounding too!

You’re entirely right, it’s a ridiculous cutoff. And unless their criteria says 100.00% is the exceptional requirement, they should presumably quote your daughter’s attendance to the same number of decimal places and make it 100% as well.

However. The whole “measuring a child on their attendance” is such rot. Of course it matters for children to be at school for as much time as possible but this isn’t something you should pay any attention to, since your child’s attendance is nowhere near worrying and they’re all going to get poorly occasionally. School are making a very laboured point about it because they get heavily judged on attendance, but please give it none of your thought. Our school stopped giving certificates out for 100% attendance because it was unfair on kids with regular medical appointments, it was discouraging people to keep kids off when they were sick, etc. Please just give it no headspace and focus on the things that matter.

Do you think that it has impacted her achievements this year? Has missing that afternoon affected anything? If not then I would just move on. She is clearly a healthy child who is hitting targets. For a child in reception that is all you need to know. They are just quantifiers, I wouldn't even discuss the details of the report with her other than to say how pleased that you are that she is working hard and is a nice member of the class.

Also that being exceptionally healthy is something to be commended, and being poorly occasionally is a bad thing. Save “exceptional” for an actual achievement, not for a health measurement.

@NewNovember well I think thats my point as well really. The whole grading system for something which most cannot control seems pretty crap. I am aware that there are other issues around absence and I absolutely understand why this has to be monitored, but for the average kid who gets sick this rubbish is probably part of why some parents force their sick kids into school in the first place, meaning everyone else gets it. Or those kids who have medical issues are downgraded or set apart. It seems pretty shit and as much as my 5 year old won't know or care, the older ones will.

I honestly can’t see why you care or why it even matters!
if you know you’ve done all you can to send her to school then why on earth would you let one word on a report card bother you.
Its not a work environment, it’s not going to make the slightest bit of difference to anything.
Focus on the things that actually matter and just ignore it.

I see your point, but it’s probably not worth worrying about. There was one time I was a bit put out about my DC not being recorded as 100% attendance. The case in question was when he was at an event at another school, an event arranged by his school - ie he wasn’t actually absent but on what one might term a school trip.

The fact that the school report and band attendance isn't the issue here. It's that you are putting importance onto simple statistical information. You are making it matter through your response and reaction to it where you should just be observing the fact and moving on.

Exceptional is the word being used because it literally means being well above the average. It's not a judgemental statement of quality unless you choose to turn it into one but it is the correct use of that word.

That being said, the school needs to sort the percentages out: that's sloppy and I'm surprised that someone hasn't picked that up.

It would also be different if having 100% was attached to some kind of external reward (not just a certificate but something significant like a trip out, etc.).

It is very good OP. My youngest son went all the way through secondary school without any days off at all. He was only ill once with a stomach upset but it was over Easter holidays. He was told he was going to get a prize from the mayor. He was quite excited. It turned out to just be a football. He hates football and donated it to a Scout event.

And FWIW my 14 year old also got “good” for her attendance at 99%
All she said was “oh that was when I had the sickness bug and couldn’t help it”
She has the sense to take it for what it is and not worry about it.

I agree, it's madness to put such emphasis on attendance. Either we follow 48 hour rule or we strive for 100% attendance. Can't do both.

Also looking at those guidelines my DD falls in to 'below expectation' based only on missing 8 days of school because of strikes. Although they won't count those and draw attention to it even though I have as little control over that as I do of her catching a vomiting bug.

personally I’d ignore attendance figures and expectations. All just hot air. The only important factor is her well-being and that she attends when well and is resting at home when poorly.

It seems pretty shit and as much as my 5 year old won't know or care, the older ones will.

Nope, can confidently say that my dc have never cared, probably because they know that they go in when they are able to but if they are not able to then they do not. They do their best which is all that matters.

You’re really over thinking this. Most kids don’t read their report, the parents do. I’ve never heard of a child being upset over this. Kids get ill and sometimes miss school. If it was at a worrying level then worry; but a tick box on a report is not worth stressing over.