About school attendance

[Mumof32017]

Does anyone else think it’s harsh that schools can penalise you and moan about school attendances even when your child is not of compulsory school age?
I took my son away last year before he was 5 for a week. He was also sent home from school and made to stay off for 2 days even tho he wasn’t actually ill - he’d eaten his food too quickly and was sick.. once.
End of year report says 95% attendance with a little dig underneath about it needs monitoring as they’re looking for 97% and above 😕.

You cannot be fined when the DC is not of CSA, but it's right that other attendance management methods are used.

You don't have to send your DC to school at all at that age, but if you do so then the DC should attend

They can penalise you because you are taking a place where in the school that could otherwise be used for another child . If you don't use the place according the rules of course they can penalise you.

I think it’s rich that my DS’s report says he has 100% attendance when in fact he’s missed 8 full days of school due to strikes. One rule for them and a different one for parents eh?!

All schools aim for 97% - we are held accountable for attendance of pupils. Schools are asked what they are doing about pupils who have attendance lower than this.

Although your son isn't compulsory school age, if he is in school then his attendance still counts.

Obviously a child who is absent for genuine reasons e.g. illness is understandable.

Problem is, some families (absolutely not saying this is you OP!) take the mickey.

I teach secondary and one lad has been on two term time holidays this year, totalling 3 weeks! In my (core) subject, that's 9 lessons - enough to cover some topics. So, a child could potentially miss whole sections of work. They then don't have the foundation knowledge for future learning. Parents often don't support with them doing the work to catch up either.

I personally don't value 100% attendance at school. Actually I think it's pathetic. Rewarding children because they've managed not to be ill for a year. Making children with medical conditions or SN feel left out because they'll never get a certificate. I hate it.

I don’t know why I’m so bothered and yes, I totally agree with you! My middle child starts reception this September and has a number of medical appointments already booked. Given I’ve got some for October and November, I’m absolutely not changing them and potentially waiting months again 😕

Good point!

Absolutely this,my dd with ASD has just left secondary school and her attendance usually Sat about 85-90% due to exhaustion and sensory overload. I used to respond to the monthly letters reminding me of the importance of 100% attendance with an email asking for recognition of the hard work it took for her to go to school at all.
Funnily enough never once got a response.
She never once had a certificate for 100% attendance, how shite that made her feel.
Schools really need to acknowledge the difficulties for so many children.

How have they moaned and penalised you?
They’ve given you a factual %.
Do you really think for an entire year group they should be wasting their time working on the % attendance only on days after their 5th birthday? So 30 individual calculations?
And the 97% is just factually stating a target, and will be same wording to all under 97% - and probably printed in the report the same way for those with 100%.

What exactly was the “dig”?

There are plenty of complaints to be made about how attendance is handled, but I don’t see and moaning or penalty here.