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!

This.
They will already have been marked in for the afternoon session. Bothering to put this down as unauthorised absence would be silly.
It does nothing for their attendance figures…
I’d bet money they don’t.

The receptionist doesn't know what she's talking about. There's no mechanism for a 10 minute early pickup to be an "unauthorised absence" they take the register after lunch and that's the official record. It wouldn't be changed for the child leaving 10 mins early. Collecting your child early is fine and you just go ahead.

Taking children out for appointments is disruptive and when I worked in a school office it was a right pain.

I try to get appointments outside school when every possible but many services like NHS orthodontist and hospital it's take it of leave it and best I can do is avoid actual exams times.

Dental and opticians I've usually managed to get outside school hours but every so often with dental it's been more urgent and it's a take what you can get situation.

I think it's a pain for everyone in such situations.

When did all this happen, schools behaving like the Gestapo?
My kids attended school mid 90s to mid 2000s and it was never like this. No interrogations for a couple of days off sick, no issues with taking your kids on holiday a week before term ended.
It's bloody ridiculous!!

How can it go down as absent when the afternoon register has already been taken?!
normally they don’t care much if they make morning + pm register.

It’s very petty for the sake of 10 minutes…my daughter’s head has previously let her leave half an hour early for horse riding not even essential appt!

Taking children out for appointments is disruptive and when I worked in a school office it was a right pain.

For everyone though. I have to take my daughter once a week to the hospital, the whole thing takes about six hours. I don't want to do it either.

And our dentist you an appointment once a year. If you can't attend, they won't reschedule under any circumstances whatsoever. You just have to miss a year.

I faked it

I changed the contact name for my work phone in my personal phone to "optician" "dr" "dentist" and wrote out a text. Screenshot it and sent it as proof. That worked

Yes it's absolutely ridiculous

Sometimes it's necessary to attend appointments in the day, get over it. Let parents decide

It's petty and officious but I wouldn't spend anytime worrying about.

They said that without it, it would go down as an unauthorized absence.

My response to this would be a shrug, and then I'd pick them up at 15:05. They're being ridiculous.

Bonkers!

Taking children out for appointments is disruptive and when I worked in a school office it was a right pain.

Yes, but it's not always possible to get appointments out of school time. Understandably those are the ones in highest demand (even those without children might prefer an end of the day appointment if it's easier with work). I've got to take half a day of annual leave in a couple of weeks for a hospital appointment for DD2 that I had no control over the timing for.

I'm aware it's disruptive. But sometimes it's just necessary.

They must take the register at an unusual time.

Yes, it is petty, however, it's half term next week, so could you not have very reasonably made an appointment for Tuesday?

Dd has a million medical appointments and it’s impossible to avoid missing school sometimes. We just get the note when we are at the appointment and turn it in to the school the next day.

it matters at her age because unexcused absences mean any work for the day is recorded as a zero. Otherwise I wouldn’t care. I didn’t bother in primary school. I just reminded them she was medically fragile and they had to deal with it.

This reminds me of this, they were talking on the radio the other day about taking children out of school for things including holidays and a person rang in saying that his son lives in Germany and they the police actually are at the airport to ensure that you don't take your kids on holiday during school term. i couldn't believe it then googled it and found this -he man on the radio says its very true
Living in Germany: children out of school early get parents fined » { design@tive } information design (designative.info)

People saying to take a different appointment: sometimes you can't or have other commitments at half term or they are full up.
Ten minutes isn't going to make any difference to their education at all.
It's just them being petty ( as some schools are )

It shouldn't go down as an absence as they were there when the afternoon register was taken.

I'm so glad my kids are adults now. I would be picking them up at lunchtime sod their attendance figures. If a parent rarely takes their kids out of school it shouldn't be an issue. I hope you made the appointment on time.

You do not need their permission to take your child out of school, it’s not a prison and teachers are not gods.

Pick them up when it suits you and don’t entertain any of their twaddle. You aren’t disrupting their education and no-one cares what is recorded where.

They do absolutely bugger all for children with chaotic home lives and minimal attendance. No-one will care about a few minutes, even if some dickhead in the school office thinks it matters.

OP, remember who sets the rules the school is being zealous in following.

Vote on July 4th.

I would move them to another school. They do not 'own' your DC ffs

It's nigh on impossible to book appointments in holidays only. Things like dental appointments come around every 6 months, they're not always near the holidays and most dentists will tell you they're already fully booked during that one week when most of the schools are off.
We try to book appointments either first thing in the morning or around lunchtime but even that's troublesome because most surgeries will close for lunch.

Im so pleased i dont have to deal with schools anymore.
Just reading about schools makes me see how much has changed over the years.
I dont think id cope with the pressure of it all.
My son`s call schools prisons with the exception of being let out after 6 hours.
Not much difference between them i guess.

My kids need to have one day off in November. This is why I'm going to lie and say they are unwell. They are more than happyly encouraging me to put her back into birth cohort missing the entire 6 so I feel no guilt.