School attendance

[Seekingguidance22]

Posting for traffic not really AIBU sorry.

So I received a letter on DD's book bag yesterday sent out yesterday regarding her attendance, as stated she was off all last week as advised by school as she was vomiting and then after that finished had diarrhoea.

(We've also had a few days scattered off as we caught covid and school states child be kept off for three days after positive test )

Aswell as general bugs which have gave a fever, DD didn't attend nursery so her immune system took a harsh hit when joining school.

The letter states I have a legal responsibility to ensure full time education once a child reaches statutory school age.

Am I wrong in thinking 5 is actually the legal school age? And any attendance made by pupils under 5 is disregarded for the school year? She is a late July so won't turn 5 until six weeks Summer holidays.

@Commonwasher

Honestly.... I haven't even built up immunity yet, I was never unwell at all and since September I've been I'll At least 5 times one of them leaving me sofa bound for 2 days.

I do have to contact them surrounding the referrals to decline them, as much as I appreciate the offer, we don't need referrals, at this age all we need is Vicks vapourrub and a blanket 🤣

Iris's answer was fantastic, and gave me all the info I needed, so if school do^^ decide to be off with me, Atleast I know legally we are ok, it was never about being attacked, just wondered where I stood legally.

I’m going through similar for an older child. Been told today they want to check if there’s an issue with my threshold for keeping my dd off and if I’m being over cautious so want the school nurse involved ‘as someone who can help to verify the severity of reported illnesses’

This would have me raging. But I’ll say to you what I’d say to myself, which is that the school has to apply the same rules to everyone, and there will be people out there who don’t give a shit about sending their kids to school or are over cautious. Smile and nod, smile and nod.

My eldest was referred to the school nurse after his weight check in reception, because he’s underweight. He always has been underweight but tracks his centile (it just happens to be the one at the bottom of the chart!). Because I had all the evidence the phone call from the nurse took all of 2 mins. Yes it was a waste of both our time, but in the grand scheme of things, I suppose I’m glad that there are processes in place to pick up on children that do need help.

Op, I think it's badly worded as it's a legal responsibility to ensure attendance from the academic year in which your child turns 5 onwards. So I wouldn't get hung up on a technicality. Your responsibility begins when they start reception.

But I honestly wouldn't get hung up on attendance at this stage anyway tbh. Everyone knows that schools currently have a huge obsession with improving attendance as absenteeism has increased since Covid.

Throw the letter in the bin. Reception is mostly about social skills and play, your dd isn't missing much in terms of actual education.

As much as I admire schools 'supporting' children to attend, I do think there's too much focus on physical illnesses and not enough on mental health and ND conditions that contribute to non attendance. That's where children and parents need the most support in my experience.

Would you bollocks think it was helpful!

They're not helpful are they, if the reason your kid is off is D&V and occasional constipation! You'd think, "wtf are they sending me this, I know why my kid was off!"

@Seekingguidance22 Just ignore it. It's not worth the paper it's printed on, but they have a legal obligation to send something. I guess the hope is that the children who aren't in school because their parents CBA taking them in will be chivvied into doing so more often. For those of us who've just had the misfortune of having a kid off for a week in the first term of school because of sickness, there is nothing we can do.

(No they can't enforce attendance before age 5. I'm not sure how it works legally though).

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

given wait time to see a GP is….weeks and weeks, yep if i was concerned about a health issue- i would see it as very useful (and convenient!)

and if i wasn’t concerned, then i wouldn’t progress but i sure as heck wouldn’t be annoyed at the offer!

the school aren’t throwing out any threats

it is a very gentle way of touching base with a family of a child in the school that has had a lot of time off in a very short space of time