Is this extremely petty of my children's school?

[PumpkinSly]

I went to the school office today to tell them I would need to collect my two children at 15.05 rather than 15.15 because my ds has an opticians appointment. They asked for proof of the appointment which I don't have. They said that without it, it would go down as an unauthorized absence. I haven't been given an appointment card, or been sent a text or email to confirm the appointment. I went home and rang the opticians who said that the confirmation email has to come from customer services, and they aren't able to do it from the branch. So either we are late to the appointment or, if I pick my children up 10 minutes before the end of the school day, they will get an unauthorised absence for the whole afternoon session.

Aibu to think that this is an extreme level of pettiness from my children's school over them missing 10 minutes at the end of the school day? It's the end of term and I would bet good money that there won't be a full day of teaching and that they will be watching films and playing games etc. This response from the school is bizarre to me, it's 10 minutes at the end of the day!

It is very petty.
But just call customer services and get the email

Frequently have to do retrospectively due to short notice appointments. It will get corrected.

They won’t/don’t alter the afternoon register for a ten minute absence at the end of the day. Just take them and don’t give it a second thought.

It shouldn't be marked as an absence at all- the children will be there when the register is taken for the afternoon and are simply leaving a few minutes early. So, on the face of it, the school is being petty and probably incorrect to say it will be marked as absence.

However, it depends on what their overall attendance is and whether you frequently take them out early.

Get the optician to write appointment details on a business card when you attend, hand to the school the next day.

Take in the payment receipt afterwards or explain to the opticians when you are there. I'm sure they will write you something. It is pathetic I agree.

How can it go down as a unauthorised? registration is taken after lunch so they will be marked as there!

Its extremely petty and after working in primary schools for 10 years I can tell you all that happens in the last 10 mins of the day is packing up, getting bags packed snd belongings picked up and maybe listening to the class book for a few minutes if there's a few minutes to kill.

I would worry about it and just take them, I work In doctors and we give parents a compliment slip with the appointment on for school

This!

It isn't the school being petty, they have to have a record for all absence. Blame Ofsted. You can send it in the next day.

DD needs to send a letter/email, card what ever for any lesson missed at school. Just get used to supplying them it's standard at any level in education.

Why not make the appointment for outside of school time?
Depending on the age of your child, leaving early could be disruptive for the whole class. There might not be anyone spare to take your child out of their lesson and escort them out. If primary age presumably they have a handover for younger years.

My dd's school marked her down as an unauthorised absence when I collected her early due to a sudden death in the family. And that was despite the receptionist saying it was okay for her to go home.

What a joke.Sounds like some jobs worth is on a power trip.
Can they send you an appointment reminder via text,so you could show it to the school or forward to an email?

It is. In my school, we finish early at the end of each full term, children stay for lunch, we do registration then they go home at 1pm. Its not unauthorised.
If a child is sent home ill after registration, the register will be amended to S. If they go early because of an appointment, it is amended to M.

We do, however, have a high number of children that seem to have medical appointments on a Friday afternoon - and then seem to pop off on holiday straight away afterwards. We’ve also had a family who ended up having a week off for D+V. Seems that the D+V was a result of sunstroke whilst on holiday in Turkey, and they surprisingly managed to recover in time for the return flight home.

That's ridiculous. I collected mine 15 minutes early for a dental appointment the other day. Asked the Head in tje morning and he just said no problem, just ring the buzzer.

Definitely petty of the school.

It is Perry but they're just doing what they're told to do.
Mind you, if it's an infant or junior school then the last 10 minutes in listening to the class story, emptying their drawers, getting the coats, bags and lunchboxes etc.

What do S and M stand for?

It is petty, but what is the consequence of the unauthorised absence? Does it matter? I'd be tempted to pick them up at lunch time if they are being recorded as absent for the afternoon. Move the appointment forward and do something nice after!

Maybe it is an urgent problem and it was the only appointment the OP could get or maybe the OP has other things going on in life and this appointment suited her. Missing ten minutes in primary school or having the end of day disrupted briefly while a child leaves is going to have zero impact on a child's education and the impact would be no different if the OP had a letter to prove the appointment.

Either way unless the children have very bad attendance one ten minute unauthorised absence is neither here nor there.

Sounds mad, have never been asked for evidence of appointments

I was offered an appointment card when I made the appointment in store, but I thought I wouldn't need it 🤦🏻‍♀️. The opticians has been great and said that they will still be able to see us even if we're a few minutes late. I'm not expecting us to be more than 5-10 minutes late and that's only if we hit traffic. With the weather so awful, and it being the last day of term, there might be heavier traffic. I'm going to pick them up at their usual finish time and hope the teachers actually let them out on time. My DD teacher is often 5 minutes late letting them out which is why I decided to get them a few minutes early. It will all be fine, but I was really taken aback by how petty the school are being about it. Their attendance is good, I rarely take them out for appointments, its only been for an emergency, or a hospital appointment before. Routine stuff has always been outside of school hours. Marking the whole afternoon as an absence just for them missing the last 10 minutes is absolutely ridiculous to me.

It shouldn't be marked as an absence at all- the children will be there when the register is taken for the afternoon and are simply leaving a few minutes early. So, on the face of it, the school is being petty and probably incorrect to say it will be marked as absence.

Exactly. They can't mark them absent at all. Even if it was a secondary school with a register in each lesson.

Also, it has much more of an affect on the school than on you if they were to be unauthorised.

I just wouldn’t care to be honest, let them mark it as unauthorised if it suits them. In the grand scheme of things it’s not going to matter.

Don't put yourself under additional pressure like that. Schools don't want parents whipping their dc out of lessons as it's disruptive and it's inconvenient as someone has to go and get them etc.

But some parents do it all of the time. You are doing it as a complete one off for an appointment.

Also, I'd like to see how they are going to mark them down as absent so I would not be able to stop myself from carrying on as planned!

My daughter got a detention for been 2 hours late ( she was at a camhs appointment) refused to let the detention drop even though I had proof then flat out refused to let her leave the detention for a hospital appointment ( also had proof of) I totally sympathise, got to the point now I’ve contacted ofsted as I’m at the end of my tether with the school

It shouldn't go down as absence at all
But it's the Friday before half term and I guarantee loads of people have already made similar requests/claims to get away early

This makes significant extra work for the office staff and the teachers to make sure each child is ready for early pick up.....especially on the last Friday of term when (assuming primary age) there will be things to take home and all the other kids will be over excited.
With so many people doing it it becomes really disruptive.