to think they shouldn't give out 100% attendance certificates in school

[schmoopoo]

THis in a private primary school FFS you can't help being ill

genuinely

LOL......They will be bannig the olympics next because it makes couch potatoes feel out done.

yes! my DD and Ds are having fits because we say taht they cannot go to school when they have vomiting and diahorrea(sp?). The school also seems to be having competitins between classes with children coming out saying "we all had 100% attendance" etc....

It puts so much pressure on the kids!

My Ds1 had 1 day off once!! 1 DAY!! for a hospital appointment to discuss surgery at Great Ormond Street, and didn;t get a 100% attendance certificate because of it. WHen I mentioned that Ds1 would never ever get one because of his disabilities and hospital appointments, the headmaster went and checked and saw that he only had that 1 day off and then gave him once.

But it is nice for the children who HAVE had 100% attendance to be recognised. It might also make kids think before staying off school with a cold/cough etc. The amount of kids both when I was at school and who go to my children's school who have a day off for a cough or cold is really disgraceful, TBH my children only stay off school if they will be spending the day in bed. It fosters a much better work ethic than, oh well X is a bit tired today...
My only time off was when I was seven and had shingles, even then the school had to send me home later on in the day!

Of course for the children who are genuinely ill then yes it might be a bit upsetting but everyone needs to learn that they can't win all the time. Just like you can't help being ill you can't help being the slowest runner, bottom of the class, worst singer etc.

At DS's school they have a prize each week for the class with the best attendance for that week.
DS's class has NEVER won it and he gets really annoyed about it.
I can understand that the school has to be seen to try and improve attendance, but there is absolutely nothing that he can do about other children's attendance. In his class there is 1 child who is ALWAYS off, and that is why they never get the attendance award - it doesn't seem fair but he has learnt not to worry about it too much.

Agree with mb, you can't stop giving them out, just because it's going to upset another child.
May as well ban competitive sports, reading prizes etc. Absolute madness.
That's life, you don't get prizes in life for nothing, good preparation, I say.

That seems a bit harsh at your school BecauseImWorthIt! Do you have a lot of families taking holidays in term time and the school think this is a way of countering it?

Our schools used to give a certificate for 100% attendance now the chidren get a certificate for 95%!

True story.
In 1930s, children at local school used to get a pair of shoes from the lady of the manor for 100% attendanc, this was relied on by the families who were not well off and had lots of children.
Discuss!

The difference between this and other certificates of merit seems to be the immense stress that the school lays on it, at least ds's school, and the fact that the whole group is affected. They run the system where the class with the best attendance gets rewarded every week. This means that a child with a chronic health problem (read my dd)is constantly made to feel that she is letting her friends down.

DD also has to sit through a weekly assembly where attendance is treated entirely as a moral question and proclaimed as an achievement that anyone can get if they try hard enough. Except she can't- she has to keep her hospital appointments, she has an operation coming up, she is often in too much pain to attend.

She is constantly reminded that her record is letting her class down and letting the school down. She has never received any recognition for all the times she drags herself exhausted and drugged to the eyeballs with painkillers. Noone has ever pointed out that this might actually be a greater achievement than not being ill in the first place.

The school does not do anything similar to reward other pupil achievements, such as coming top in tests, no award assemblies for that. Dd's mates are never told that they are letting their class down for failing to achieve top marks in maths and literacy. The assumption seems to be that in all other areas the school is happy if you do your best- but not when it comes to attendance. That strikes me as unfair.

yes, I think these certificates are ridiculous and the very idea annoys me. There are lots of little things a child can do in a year that would be more worthy of a certificate.

Although I don't really like certificates as a general rule.

i totally agree with wisteria - i too think they're wonderful - of course you can't help being ill but it does seem to stop the consistently 'oh he's a bit under the weather' brigade or at least make them think a little.

it also pricks the conscience, ever so slightly, of the i-cannot-be-arsed-to-get-out-of-bed and take my kid to school brigade, when their kids hassle them to take them to school.

The power of certification. We want to increase our attendance record, hey let's give a c rappy certificate.

No.

re you don't get prizes for nothing, I think this is precisely what these certificates are.

its not crappy to a 5 year old., its really exciting, and when everyone is getting them for somethig, i think its great that there is one that is achievable by most.
mayeb you are referring to the staff thinking its crappy>?!

I'm almost rolling my eyes at the attendance/achievement correlation. But I'll never be that rude.

There are lots of things acheiveable by most, if not all, which are far more worthwhile. I would choose certificates for Kindness ten times quicker than ones for attendance. If I had to choose certificates.

And 5 year olds would find that just as exciting.

lol @ panic. There's one scottish LA that I know of that gives staff attendance certificates. Baloney.

At my DS's school there has been a real issue with unauthorised absences, so they introduced these certificates, with a reward for the class with the best overall attendance and to the children with 100% attendance in a bid to counteract the low attendance levels.

It seems to be working, so I don't have an issue with it.

i don';t think there is a finite number of certificates.
i think you could mayeb give them out for kindness and for attendance.
In the school my kids left last year, there was a significant % of kids from a partic country who were really badly underachieving. Every year from mid June they were all taken out of school, missing the last month of the term, and taken to that country for the holidays. They would return mid Sept. Head told them they weren't allowed. they ignored her. I cannot believe there is not a link between their shite attendance and their shite academic achievement and so i think they shoudl be encouraged to attend more, and that in conjunction with messages to parents about how its not good for their kids, the kids should have their own incentive to come in. in that school they didn't just haev certificates for coming in, at the time we left, they had trophies!

I think there should be a finite number of certificates.