Attendance newsletter...FFS

[sergeantsalt]

All parents at DC's school have got a letter saying Covid and flu are circulating and children with symptoms need to stay home to protect vulnerable teachers and students.

In the same letter, it says attendance rates 'could be improved' and asks parents not to keep ill children home as 'colds are a normal part of the winter months' and instead give them Calpol in the morning.

Wish schools would make their minds up.

School has probably fallen in attendance and this also affect ofsted. Do what feels right for your child. I agree with you, it's very annoying 😑

Sounds like they have made up their mind. Covid or flu = keep kids at home.
cold = send them in.

Schools have such a contradictory and infuriating approach to attendance. They're asking the impossible of parents - one thing we all know for sure now is that it's really hard to avoid viruses being passed on, yet schools are taking this hard and punitive line on absence. We've got schools demanding doctors' notes or prescriptions as 'evidence' for illness here which is obviously impossible to provide for normal bugs that kids get every autumn. Insisting kids are brought in so a member of staff can determine how ill they are. Threatening to fine parents for their kids catching the D&V bug that's going around the class. But at the same time telling us to observe the 48hr rule. You absolutely cannot win, there isn't a way to stop kids getting ill and you can't send them to school puking like the exorcist or with covid or the flu or tonsilitis or whatever. It's totally crazy (and all attendance policies discriminate against kids with chronic or ongoing health conditions).

There is a big issue with attendance since the pandemic, but schools really seem to be flailing around with how to address it, and getting it really badly wrong. It's obviously quite a complicated issue with many factors and schools are using a sledgehammer to try to solve it, leaving parents in a totally impossible situation.

But without tests how can you tell which is which?

Also some colds make you really unwell. They range from feeling a bit grotty or mildly sniffly to having a high temperature and being completely wiped out, coughing, sore throat, headaches etc. A cold can be a completely valid reason for staying home, depending on severity.

I've said it before but you can't do right for doing wrong with schools. If I send dd in, they send her home. If I keep her off, they demand proof or it's marked as unauthorised. I've said just mark it all as unauthorised and I'll happily explain her extensive chronic illnesses from birth to anyone who queries it.

The best one recently was when dd had concussion after a seizure, they asked for video evidence of the seizure and a transcript of the phone apt I had with the GP. No problem, I'll jump in my time machine and get that video for you.

Oh my goodness, that's insane. Who videos their child having a seizure and how can school think they have the right to see it if you did? Your medical appointments are private; they can't demand transcripts - it's so intrusive. These policies are officious, unworkable and totally lacking in compassion. And as someone said upthread, it's all about Ofsted, nothing else.

It’s asinine
i have been called and asked to collect mine at different times when too poorly for school and they are still marked as unauthorised
they we’re all off the other week with an awful viral thing and I am expecting the you’ve dropped below your allowed rate letter 🙄

It's also frustrating because I don't want DC coming home with bugs all the time because people are being pressured to send their kids in. And of course the way the school wants us to do it, there's no way to tell if it's a cold or Covid/flu until it's too late and it's already been spread around.

That’s appalling. I would have been livid and told them that as well as make a complaint to the head.

I take all of this attendance bollocks from the school with a pinch of salt. If they’re not well they are not going to school. End of story.

A few times my kids have been mildly unwell and they don't show as positive for covid for a few days. By then they have started to perk up and I'm only testing as the other child is unwell. Honestly how can ever be sure it's covid? I'd test on day 2 if I thought it was that, they might turn positive on day 5 when they are 90% better.

My adult son was coughing up blood at the weekend and negative. I'm not sure what would make me buy more tests if coughing so much made him bleed but it wasn't covid.

It's nearly always just a cold in the last two years. They've had it once in the last two years. I can't see why I be testing for the rest of my life

You're blaming the wrong people. It's the DfE setting the targets - complain to the government.

Well if children aren't well, they shouldn't be at school. Whatever the reason.

School needs to move past the covid covid covid they have been obsessed with for three years.

It's madness, but they're trapped between a rock and a hard place with attendance targets being linked to funding, and having to make accommodations for staff and pupils with immunity and other health issues. I really feel sorry for the school, trying to tread such a fine line.

Basically it means: don't keep them off for a sniffle or mild cold, but if they have a high temperature or are hacking up green sputum then keep them off.

DS2 is really badly affected by some colds. He gets a hot dry fever, can’t eat, and as a result is very lethargic. He once fell ill on a Saturday afternoon, and was in bed for the rest of the weekend. He missed Monday and Tuesday at school, and we received a letter from the attendance officer stating how children who miss X amount of school are less likely to succeed in their GCSEs (complete with percentage stats). This was during the first term of Year 7.

The DfE might set the targets, but the school doesn't have to implement strategies that are so confusing and impossible in order to address it. I agree with complaining to MPs about it for sure, but schools seem to be approaching it from the perspective of 'parents are too lazy/stupid/irresponsible to send their kids in' and therefore taking the route of imposing sanctions for illness. They could explore other, more positive, ways to tackle low attendance rates, but ultimately if children are ill then they can't come to school and illness is an unavoidable part of life. Parents can't take the brunt of school's frustration about something so beyond their control.

My ds has awful attendance and it’s because of colds - really nasty ones with streaming nose, watering sore eyes, constant sneezing and sore throat. No temperature but he has ASD and can’t cope from a sensory perspective, can’t sleep can’t eat and we can’t send him in like that but the school are furious

How remiss of you, Clearly when your child had a seizure you shouldn't have bothered about looking after her, your first priority should have been getting your phone out to get evidence for the school.

Seriously, I'd be thinking about making a formal complaint about the person who demanded this.

So let me just explain it to you.
If your child is ill keep them at home.
If your child is well send them in.

Some parents find this confusing and keep their children home when they are fine and others send their kids to school when they are unwell.
I hope this helps.

Have this issue with my youngest school, a simple cold can make him very poorly with his blood sugars much less covid/flu which could put him in hospital.

They encourage all kids to come in no matter what they have and just say well give them calpol. no concern for the immune suppressed kids at all!
The parents aren't much better, caught one saying her kid had been sick before breakfast but she didn't want to keep them off!

a lot of the schools are going by the nhs advice now ‘is my child ok to go to school’ or something like that BUT it states it’s ok to go with a sore throat cough etc unless temperature over 38 - we’ve had temperatures just under that or no temperature and a child still too unwell to go In and we are told that’s not acceptable. In reception with HFM we were told no need for any days off due to The nhs guidance yet our child was screaming in agony and couldn’t wear shoes due to the blisters but they were telling us had to go in ??

We had this once with our T1 child they wanted a screenshot of the dexcom data to prove the v high sugars overnight

Insanity! What happened to trusting parents to do the parenting and judge whether their child is well enough for school?

You are under no obligation to provide any evidence to the school, tell them to piss off.

'Absolutely. I'll do that the second you text me all your personal medical data'.