An attendance meeting at school for 5 days off since September

[Am898]

DD is 5. Since September she's had 5 authorised sick days off with today being one of them. This has been spread out for weeks and been sickness bug etc she's only had 2 days off in a row for a nasty sickness bug and the other 3 days she's not well enough to be in school.

Schools just rang me and said I need to book an attendance meeting as her attendance is too low now.. aibu to think this is a bit daft.. she's 5 years old and been off sick a few times, what does an attendance meeting entail 🤔

She's always at school on time and every time she has been sick it's been authorised as I've rang the office straight away so I'm feeling a bit confused now

This.

Not doing exact maths here but if she's been at school for 12ish weeks, that's 60 days so 5/60 (or 1/12), it does sound quite steep. Schools I've worked in have had triggers for under 95% attendance but I think it's probably more likely to be the number of occasions rather than the number of days. My workplace have a policy where managers have to hold an attendance meeting for 3 or more absences in a 12 month period so it doesn't surprise me that schools are doing the same sort of thing.

Can't see the problem with going along to the meeting and explaining why she's been off each time and asking whether they'd rather she was sent in to spread around bugs and make more kids sick... all they're going to do is have a conversation, not like you'll get fined or your kid kicked out of school 🤷‍♀️

I had this last year, it’s because attendance runs sept to sept so if child is off a lot in first few months it drops really low and then rises over the year.
i declined the meeting and nothing else was said but my sons been off loads recently so expecting another soon as already had an email about low attendance

So you need to set up a formal meeting and you can't just do this with a simple phonecall and/or use your braincells and exercise discretion when it's fucking obvious a child has been ill and isn't taking the piss?

This is lunatic beaucracy over humanity.

She is only classed as compulsory school age the term after she turns 5, so for example if she was 5 in Nov, then not actually classed as statutory school age until Jan.
Do you know definitely that absences are authorised? if so I'd be inclined to contact them to ask why a discussion is necessary at this point when absences are authorised.
It could just be a supportive, checking in and making sure there is nothing they're missing meeting. Plus absence always looks worse this time of year because it's still only Term 1.
Just be aware that if they start unauthorising the absence, you could receive an Education penalty notice.

Schools are wasting time on this obsession with high attendance.

Why they can't differentiate between neglected kids and actually unwell kids is what I want to know.

Bloody waste of everyone's time.

Compulsory school age starts the term AFTER your child has turned 5. So it depends what month your child turned 5. If for example she turned 5 in September, then she is not CSA until January 2024 term, so they cannot do a thing about her attendance. If she turned 5 in August or before, then she will be CSA.

I would personally send an email, stating that you are declining the meeting as the 5 days she has been off have all been authorised for illness and could not be helped.

My daughter is on attendance report. Unfortunately she had a couple of days off with d & v which was neither here nor there. She doesn't have time off willy nilly.

Then her grandad died. First loss she has suffered at the age of 14. She was devastated.

She had 4 days off after he died and a day off for the funeral.

She is now on attendance report.

I did contact the school as I thought it was ridiculous this didn't get taken into account but was told by the teacher she thought it would be a nice thing to do because dd would get a treat if she gets her attendance marks for all week.

Schools are absolutely obsessed. It's ridiculous.

I did contact the school as I thought it was ridiculous this didn't get taken into account but was told by the teacher she thought it would be a nice thing to do because dd would get a treat if she gets her attendance marks for all week.

How patronising and insensitive. I'm sure your daughter would have been happier being in school and her grandfather not dying than getting a 'reward' for being in. How you haven't sent a strongly worded message I don't know.

you fall below a percentage, if you don't take more days off you will climb back above it soon.

What do you mean by ‘authorised days off?’
I think that’s quite a lot tbh

I can understand your frustration but... there are parents who do keep their kids off for stupid reasons. There are parents who lie to the school. There are parents who simply cannot say no to their children and will allow them to stay off school if they fancy it. I recently had a parent tell me their child would not be in as it was their birthday.

It’s not schools who are obsessed with attendance. It’s the government. Schools get in trouble if attendance drops/is low. There has only been about 60 days and they’ve missed 5 which is makes them near 90% which is a cause for concern. The school are just being proactive to make sure everything is ok and if they can do anything to support.

The obsession with attendance in English schools is ridiculous. I totally agree that if there are a lot of unexplained absences this should be followed up in case there is problem. But insisting that parents attend a meeting where it has been quite clearly explained that absence is due to illness is a waste of everyone's time.

The 48 hour rule could quite easily result in five days of absence over a three month period. Perhaps if schools didn't insist on sick children coming into school there wouldn't be so many others ending up having to take time off.

If they want a meeting then the school will need to arrange it at a convenient time for you.

Thank you, we do use our brain cells but we have to follow policy which is NOT set by me, the head, or the governors but by the LEA (or senior leadership of the MAT) in order to satisfy Ofsted. Ofsted are shit but unfortunately their judgement is considered important by parents - so important that a judgement caused a head teacher to take her own life! There are also safeguarding considerations.
It’s “obvious a child has been ill” - isn’t always obvious. We’ve had children off with chickenpox who have then come to school full of all the fun they had at Centreparcs! When I was a child my school were happy to take my mothers word that I was very sickly and missed a lot of school, or that the doctor had said I was to be excused PE. In fact I was kept off school if the marks were showing outside my clothes and off PE if the marks would only be visible when changing for PE.
At one of our absence meetings we discovered that the mum was calling in sick for her child on days when she hadn’t been able to get the ONE set of school clothes they had dry overnight - we were able to help the family with more uniform, food bank vouchers and signposting to agencies who could help.
It’s about a duty of care to the child and where necessary providing support to the family.

And I am "magically" the one who can be off sick from work for either the odd day/two or weeks on end despite the fact my long-term health conditions / disabilities are invisible...how very dare I?

Tone-deaf my love, tone deaf.
My son has time off reasonably regularly too...but he's 8 & has autism & adhd. Get with the now, this is a new world where we are supposed to be mindful of difference, not fit all the square pegs into round holes.

If someone has an on going condition and there's evidence of medical intervention etc it is ludicrous that common sense can't be applied. It causes so much stress and upset for parents in already stressful situations. I have had parents in tears at work with their poorly children asking when they'll be allowed home as they're scared of being in trouble with the school.

@HideTheCroissants is right. Patchy attendance can often be the first symptom of something deeper and schools are not being professionally curious if they don't ask a few questions.

5 days out of around 60 is approx 85% attendance. It's not far off a day off every fortnight and it simply is more concerning if it's several instances rather than a solid week off with chicken pox with the fading scars to prove it.

Schools can't make discriminatory judgements based on their own prejudices. They can't give the kid from the leafy suburb a free pass but go steaming in to the kid from the run down estate. Parents need to get over themselves, let schools get on with their job and just communicate.

@Peablockfeathers i have read OPs posts and they have not mentioned any ongoing medical conditions which WOULD change things a little. BUT we did have a child undergoing treatment for cancer. They were frequently absent for treatment, for recovery after the treatment, when the cancer simply made them feel unwell (to put it mildly). Naturally we told Mum that we understood BUT the LEA were constantly on at us to hold the necessary meetings with the parents. In they end the LEA started sending the letters directly as we weren’t doing them. We COULD have taken the child off roll but then we may not have had a space for them when they recovered enough to return to school.
Fortunately the family understood that whatever the “paperwork” said we DID understand and would support their child as much as we could.
(The child recently returned to us for work experience and is fit and well).

I can't even articulate how abhorrent I find this. And why on earth would you even consider taking a child off role for having cancer unless they were nearly of school leaving age or the parents had not indicated they'd be returning if and when well:

(g)that he is certified by the school medical officer as unlikely to be in a fit state of health to attend school before ceasing to be of compulsory school age, and neither he nor his parent has indicated to the school the intention to continue to attend the school after ceasing to be of compulsory school age;

Schools should be citing the legal guidelines to LEAs who are seemingly unaware of them.

😂

I definitely don't keep my child off for the sake of it. I care for DM full time, I NEED her in school!

She had 2 continuous days off for a nasty bug with diarrhoea and vomiting. Today off for a high temp and earache, 2 separate days off previously 1 for a temp without being sick and another as she had been sick over the weekend so had to be off due to the 48h rule.. I'm definitely not keeping her off without trying to take her in, school authorised all these absences (even today's!) She's NEVER been late to school either

I'm going to email and ask if they can ring me if they feel it is a problem they really need to solve but I believe her absences are reasonable and authorised so I don't wish to attend a meeting

my dd (14) has had 10 days off so far and attendance is 84.82% I’d ask them if they want you to send her in sick next time

Haven't read through all the comments, just some but IMO it's bloody ridiculous that we live in a world where as parents we are questioning what we're allowed to do.

She is your child, she was ill, you have better things to do. I would politely but firmly email them to say you don't feel that is necessary, it's not your problem what the school are doing RE the council/government. Who actually give a f?

Again, she's your child, you can do whatever you like. They have no authority.

I'd just politely decline. There's no reason to have a meeting when your child has been unwell.

Schools can never get the balance right with these. The parents that need intervention aren't going to give one shiny shit about being asked for a meeting. The parents that don't, will.

Schools say to keep
them off for 48hrs after last bout of sickness/diarrhea so what are you supposed to do?! Think that’s ridiculous. I would decline and say you have no concerns as children get sick often and unfortunately you can’t control that