Unauthorised absences wtf are we supposed to do!

[dreamingbohemian]

Surely everyone knows that it's nearly impossible to get GP appointments these days. And surely everyone understands that sometimes your DC are too unwell to go to school but not unwell enough to get an emergency appointment.

But my DC's school are now saying any absence that doesn't have medical evidence will be unauthorised. They will only accept things you can get from a GP, like an appointment card or prescription.

So what are we meant to do??? We are finishing the year being this close to persistent absence, which doesn't seem fair. We can't help it if DC was ill a lot this year, but with routine bugs that a GP would never see him for or prescribe anything (including norovirus -- are we meant to send him in and spread it then?)

AIBU to think this makes no sense?

(not school bashing here, they say they are just following policy)

What do you mean? It's not up to people to make that judgement, there was a case of a little child dying because the step-mum (who said the child had a long term illness) worked at the school. I'm sure everyone in the school knew the child wasn't being abused...

But they do make that judgement that they’re ok based on not a lot of evidence so it’s pointless. For example, they send a welfare officer out on day 3 of illness. They see your child, they don’t even insist on speaking to the child, they fill in their form to say the child is fine, you know because they had been seen. What does that prove? It’s an arse covering exercise and does nothing to protect actual vulnerable children. They harass parents of children who have previously provided medical evidence for ongoing issues as well as those with children in hospital. Their system simply doesn’t work.

My child’s school had letters from 3 doctors explaining the issues would be ongoing, we had to pay for 2 of them because the NHS doctor refused to give more evidence to school. They also had a diagnosis report that we also paid privately for to try to stop the harassment rather than wait for the NHS.

I actually got a shitty letter from
the council about my son’s absences. I spent a good hour writing out an email telling them exactly why it had been lower over two terms. Including Covid (caught because the school was lax about letting kids in if testing positive from day 1), several post Covid infections, being sent home constantly by the afternoons because these infections made him crash easily, being sent home because he had a splinter and was refusing to write, told not to bring him back until it was out (ended up in hospital OOH). The one that really pissed me off was being told to keep him at home to do school work when all the other kids were off on a beach trip (he has SEN but no EHCP).

I warned the school that I would get shirty if I ever got a ‘why is your child’s attendance low’ letter. The council emailed back saying they could see that there was a… decent explanation for the absence and I’ve not heard anything since.

Yes I think we're struggling with this a bit because we used to live in Germany where people get extremely upset if you leave the house with even a sniffle, it was absolutely expected to keep DC home if they were ill, no problem. Same with adults at work. And we did all get ill much less often.

Join the group Not Fine in School on Facebook, OP.

They will be able to point you towards latest guidance saying schools are not supposed to request medical evidence unless it's absolutely necessary ( I am paraphrasing). Here is some wording which may help:

"The [Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006] are clear that where a pupil is unable to attend school by reason of sickness, their absence must be treated as authorised.
Within the Department for Education’s guidance on school attendance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ (2022), it states that in relation to the use of Code I for Illness:
219. Schools must record absences as authorised where pupils cannot attend due to illness (both physical and mental health related).
I/we have been informed that your policy is to insist upon medical evidence for every absence, however the Department for Education state in this current guidance:
220. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is ill can be accepted without question or concern. Schools should not routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness. Schools are advised not to request medical evidence unnecessarily as it places additional pressure on health professionals, their staff and their appointments system particularly if the illness is one that does not require treatment by a health professional. Only where the school has a genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence.

[If you are asked for medical evidence for every day of absence]

Furthermore, regarding your requirement for medical evidence to cover every day of absence. This issue was considered in the case of East Sussex County Council v Sussex Central Area Justices [2019] EWHC 164 (Admin), 2019 WL 00237607.
This case was an appeal brought by a local authority against a decision of a magistrates court that parents had a defence to the claim that they had failed to ensure the regular attendance at the school of their son – that defence being reasons of ill-health.
The local authority appealed the magistrates decision on the basis that parents did not have written medical evidence of ill-health for all the absences. The administrative court dismissed their appeal on the basis that written medical evidence wasn’t necessary and the oral evidence of parents and other documentary evidence was sufficient to demonstrate ill-health on the balance of probabilities"

I think this sounds batshit crazy to me.
DS has bought soooo many viruses home since he started in reception last September. I have never been ill so often in my life. Luckily, he hasn’t been unwell enough to be kept off school bar one time. It’s been me that gets the brunt of it!

This is great advice, thank you so much. I will definitely do this next year (though hopefully DC won't be so ill next year!)

The school are bullying you - you need to tell them that.
For her GCSEs my DC got nothing below level 7, mostly 8’s and 2 9’s and her attendance for that school year was 64%.

She was extremely poorly and we had evidence of both NHS and private medical care and the school still threatened us with letters about prosecution!

Do not let them treat you like this.
GP’s in your catchment area will not be giving you and every other parents written evidence of appointments /medical notes even if your child was poorly enough to see a GP.
What are you supposed to do if the DC is poorly but not poorly enough for the GP. Recurrent tonsillitis for example - doesn’t necessarily need to see Gp for antibiotics every time but Dc might be feeling in too much pain to go into school.
Schools have no empathy and no common sense!

I've offered to show them photos of DS vomiting in the night as proof following him being marked unauthorised for following the 48 hour rule after vomiting in class and being sent home!

The poor child's had an awful year with ailments that are finally being dealt with in peadiatrics after 6 months on NHS waiting lists. One of these involved 3 ambulance call outs last summer- autumn before the condition stabilised. They know these conditions are genuine as he has medication in school and he is brought in when viable. Physically carried in on some occasions when he hasn't been fit to walk. His attendance could be far worse than it is.

Schools do have to monitor attendance, but senior management also have a choice to either engage with or alienate their families. My DCs are at different schools and the other child's attendance was also ropey in the first half of the year due to a barrage of respiritory illnesses. The letter from that school stuck to simple facts about the attendance, targets and hoping it would improve, not threats of Educational Welfare, and making ridiculous demands that the NHS can not cope with like the other.

My experience of the school's governing body is that they are very well practiced at closing ranks to protect the Head Teacher, and governors that do try to hold the Head to account get managed out.

I have never pulled my children out of school for holidays or days out. They have never been below 98% before. If they are not in school, it's because they are not fit to learn. This policy basically insinuates that parents are liars, and that sours the home-school relationship. It also reflects poorly on their OFSTED data anyway so does them no favours.

Teachers work hard in challenging circumstances, but that doesn't mean that poor policy choices by SLT shouldn't be criticised.

Send them a picture of the sick that’ll stop them asking for evidence

How many days off has he had this school year?

Oh wow, this would be great! I'm not sure it's available to us (your GP has to be in the scheme apparently?) but I will look into it, thanks!

I thought this was standard and not an issue - I got my DC's end of year reports last week and both of them have attendance above 95%, but the days they have had off for normal illnesses are called unauthorised.

I thought this just meant it was like, self certified, as opposed to being officially off with a sick note or anything.

Thanks, it helps to know we're not alone : )
I have read that attendance generally has plummeted since Covid, lots of kids missing more school, I don't think harassing families and threatening them with fines is helpful.

We had this with their primary- but then next week we'd get reminders to not take kids with D&V into school.

I suspect school in under pressure with attendance - schools here are feeling it - DD2 is in Y9 and their attendance figures are frankly horrific. Also here GP state they don't give out free sickness notes and will charge and many parents are on low incomes so it's a barrier- also appointment cards seem to be a thing of the past as well - and receptionist could get shirty about reminder texts as proof.

I would if you are worried follow the suggestion above and make write every absence this year down with reason and what proof you have - and make a note about how hard it is to get GP appointments especially for common childhood illnesses and ask if you encounter this what they suggest as proof.

We don't have the short school day, but the rest is like another world here too. I'd be screwed if we lived in the UK. My DC miss a lot of school variously because of disability, SEN, therapy and mental health issues. I'm very involved, keep the school informed and they all get good grades, but school has never once bought up attendance at all. Youngest didn't manage a full week in reception till third term. He probably got a little under 70% attendance that year and mostly they all average around 80-85% attendance. Thankfully it's never been considered an issue.

I posted this on a similar thread this week:

We’ve been routinely asked to supply “ evidence” by our school. At one point, we had to speak to our GP surgery and the Practice Manager there said the school were incorrect and that the Drs would not be assisting with this ( plus school could ring him and he’d explain why the NHS could not support this).

We’ve also had the school tell parents that they can’t use the illness register code without evidence - which is incorrect.

We’ve quoted the Gov guidelines back to the school and asked if they have “ a genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness” because otherwise they should not be routinely asking for evidence ( and can certainly use the illness register code).

It’s complete rubbish and all born out of the pressure on schools to have high attendance figures.

Doesn’t allow for families with a child with ongoing medical problems or for the fact that some kids just catch more things than others or take longer to recover. Or quite how you are supposed to provide evidence of a d&v bug or a bad cold that makes you too unwell to be in school or work but you wouldn’t be bothering a Dr with.

Schools aren’t following the published Gov guidelines on this and more parents should know.

Of course, if there are concerns about a student and it requires further investigation and support for the family then that’s what the checks and measures should be for. But routinely asking for “evidence” each time a child is ill is pointless and places extra stress on parents when they are already dealing with illness.

Schools should not be doubting parents on whether a child is ill and asking for “evidence” unless they have a genuine concern and cannot take the word of the parent. And even then, as the Gov doc says, it should be about working together to look at why the child is absent - not threats of fines and convictions if it is due to illness.

When my youngest school introduced this, I changed into ”that” parent.

I emailed the head and cc’d in head of year, tutor, safe guarding lead and attendence officer.

I attached everything from NHS regarding guidelines about isolation and when to see a gp.

I explained that until a suitable comprise could be made I have no choice than to send in someone who maybe contagious.

It was bloody hard walking to school with someone who was saying they were ill and sometimes vomiting. I’d either go to a cheap cafe and order a coffee, or take one from home and sit on a bench near the school and wait. Wouldn’t take long before I got a call.

The compromise I was offering was to send in pictures when relevant, video chat with a staff member of their choosing and even a home visit.

I understood it was to protect those who needed it, however rigid systems aren’t the way. And since CVthey can no longer hide behind they aren’t set up for this type of intervention, or work to be emailed etc. It not like staff are sitting there writing worksheets and stuff. Ok harder for any practical work of course. (Like I said, turned me into “that” parent)

I did that once and I got criticised by teacher/head for sending him in and they sent him home. I then got a letter warning me about his poor attendance. He'd been ill, I sent him back as soon as I could (too early according to school) but still got the letter.

I'd ask to see or be told where you can view the Council policy. The contact the Council, if they provide an unsatisfactory answer, follow all the stages of the complaints procedure, and then the Local Government Ombudsman.

The pharmacy record is useful in the mean time.

The argument about long term absences hiding abuse or ill-treatment at home is valid, though just asking for doctor's notes for over a week's absence as happens as an employee would cover that.

It's a very good idea. Children in abusive homes are often kept there under a fictitious long term illness.

If they have this suspicion, then they need to report it - not fluff around at the edges requiring impossible things of every parent. That isn't safeguarding.

My kid's school have told mine to get back in the car and not come back for 48 hours when he threw up with travel sickness. They have specifically requested that kids aren't sent in with colds (it's a primary, so transmission is high). In return, they accept my word for my child's sickness.

They are a school, not kidnappers. They need to have the best needs of the child in mind, not targets.

More bloody stupid school rules. If your child has a stinking cold and feels too ill to get up the GP doesn't want to see them either. It costs £15 in my surgery to buy a letter or certificate for sicknesses like this.
You don't get medication/antibiotics for viruses and the NHS can't afford to write out prescriptions for things you can get over the counter.
WHAT do they expect you to do?

I'd say I'll get a certificate if you pay for it, but even then most GPs refuse to write them. Ask the school what they expect you to do as they seem to have all the answers.

I’d echo what pps have said, write a brief email (quoting the gov guidelines above) stating you will always inform the school and provide details of illness and that you want absences to be marked as authorised using the I code in the register. They can be reassured that your child would never be off school unless you as their parent had deemed them to be too unwell to be in - but you will not be routinely providing evidence as that is not what the government guidelines say that parents should be doing ( and quote it) and in some cases it is not possible.

They might just ignore it and carry on but you would have evidence you’ve been reasonable and have been in communication with them.

I’ve decided to ignore it, my sons attendance is awful, as he was ill quite a few times, but he’s top of his class, so so far we are ok.
He can’t be the only one though, his class have had lots of bugs as usual, sick, covid, throat stuff, flu

Not sure! But you can explain to the school that it's an option you've explored and even that's not available.