What am I meant to do in this situation (school attendance issue)?

[unauthorised]

AIBU to be confused and not know what to do ?

Dd is year 7. Has pre existing conditions of severe asthma and autism.

She’s been unwell so much since starting ! 2 nasty viruses that went to her chest and needed antibiotics, an absence due to asthma then d and v.

She then got d and v AGAIN and the school have said we need to get proof - to see a dr - this is something we would treat at home but they need proof - called the gp who said 1) we don’t see kids for d and v if she gets dehydrated you go to a and e (she’s not dehydrated) and 2) we aren’t here to authorise / verify illness for school (fair enough) but what am I meant to do as they are saying without that they will not authorise the days ?

There's nothing you can or - in my opinion- should do beyond putting in writing what your GP said.

Unauthorising absence owing to illness on the grounds that you cannot "prove" it is absurd.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/is_it_reasonable_for_schools_to

Send them a picture of her shit as proof

I totally see the gps point and it’s not something we have ever really gone to the drs about as it’s usually only a few days at most and we wouldn’t take any of the dc out contagious with d and v.

We moved so dd was in a tiny village primary and now it’s a city secondary school and it’s huge so she seems to be catching everything

Ask if they want her to shit in a box. This is ridiculous. All they will be able to have is a letter from you explaining her illness and the response from the GP.

The thought did cross my mind !

I told the idiotic jobsworth at the council she could take me to court. I’m over it all. I have two children who are sick all the time.

Thankfully the school are generally more sensible.

A gp letter is £25 as well it seems like they want us to take up a gp appt unnecessarily and then pay for a letter ?

This. Someone I know showed a video of their child puke and piop

never got asked again

When they asked how they could support me I asked ‘will you clean faeces and change his PJs as that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 4 days’.

Shockingly they didn’t want that particular responsibility.

Just show your phone call log with the doctor to school and say doctor refused any confirmation.

Tell them she's an infection risk and your gp has refused to see her. Also tell them can you have it in writing that you they will not authorise sick days unless you take your highly infectious daughter to a gp waiting room full of sick people. Whilst I was at it, I'd probably tell them I was calling the local authority and ofsted too. That should get them authorised. I'd also say she keeps getting d&v because they keep forcing children with diarea and vomiting into school....

Aww this is awful. FYI this is not the norm in other countries this is very England specific.. why is this necessary? Can parents not just parent? If a child is sick they are sick. I would ring the school and explain to them and ask what they suggest you do (it's absolutely not the schools fault but you might get some common sense there )

The guidance to schools says:
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.

So I would write to them and ask them why they have genuine and reasonable concern to doubt the authenticity of your DC’s illness given her underlying conditions and medical history. Point out that asking for evidence because there have been previous bouts of illness which can be evidenced as genuine via prescriptions would not be considered reasonable by a court and suggest they ask your DC’s class teacher whether she has genuine concerns that you would lie about your DCs illness.

If they persist your could either hold your ground (if you end up being fined, go to court where you can show that they have been unreasonable). Or tell them that you can’t see a Dr as your GP refuses to see children unnecessarily simply to write a letter for school, that it wouldn’t be in your DC’s best interests to leave the house while ill just so the school can have a letter to file and that, in any case, the cost of a letter is too much. And ask what other proof would they like?

I'm in secondary and only when a pypil's school attendance is below a certain level ( maybe 80% ish) do you start to see marks on the register such as " illness no medical evidence seen" .

I don't know what happens if this evidence is not provided and it might be different for primary. In secondary you might ask the school.attendance officer to do a home visit to see for themselves...

Attendance is a safeguarding component. There are some children at risk of types of abuse, parents with MH that impacts on the child and family, neglect, fgm, etc that mean we have to check everyone. Many issues coming from families that outwardly look fine.
Just do your best to work and engage with school. Persistent absences is missing 10% or more and most school now report their attendance figures weekly so you can see patterns across the area and country. Children with low attendance face additional risks and sorting the genuine from the not is sometimes not easy.

That’s a rote response that takes no account of OP’s individual situation. The guidance to schools makes clear that they need to be looking at the individual circumstances, not applying wholesale criteria when asking for medical evidence in order to mark an absence as illness.

The pressure these sorts of requests put families under, especially families who are hard up or are coping with long term illnesses or other additional stress factors is not in the best interests of the child and can destroy school/parent relationships.

My reply was in response to the previous message.

Which bit of the previous message was the “Just do your best to work and engage…” paragraph in response to?

The school honestly don't care.

All the school care about is can they prove they have sent you these letters, if ofsted ask to see them, which they might.

Ignore them. That is what the person who sent them is probably hoping you will do.

Not just England - other parts of the UK too

I can understand that, but you can't mark kids as unauthorised, unless they access health services that they wouldn't normally need to. There's already excess pressure on the system. If this was her 4th or 5th bout of d&v in 6 months, there would be cause for alarm but if some sort of abuse was suspected then the council should be brought in either by social services early help or an attendance officer from the council. Whilst this seems an extreme response it would safe guard the child aswell as disuading any dishonest parent from further regular absences. I could present my child to any gp tomorrow and tell them they have d&v it achieves nothing at all, apart from wasting first line services time.

I asked this of the inclusion/attendance officer regarding stomach bugs and she said it should be taken as read but a receipt of diarilotote or lucozade or something like can also be used