To send my children to school today even though they are unwell and clearly contagious

[sicknotez]

They both have nasty coughs/colds. I know that the best thing for them would be rest (and their inhalers). I know they are clearly contagious.

But under the new rules as I understand I would need a doctor's note or it would be unauthorised absence? And it doesn't seem right to waste a stretched doctors time with this when they don't need anything prescribing.

So I guess I send them into school and wait for school to send them home and in the meantime they will infect their teachers and classmates?

It seems like a stupid new system to me.

They both have chronic conditions so it's likely they will need quite a number of days off in the year. Despite this they are both steaming along in top sets. They love learning and hate missing school and would happily do work at home when ill if teachers sent them some

Lol @ the posters who are outraged at the OP "clearly lacking a maternal instinct" it's like these posters didn't read the thread or they did and have missed the fucking point altogether. My son had Cystic Fibrosis (I say had because sadly he died 2 years ago in an accident) and when he was young and in his teens he was admitted to hospital every 12 weeks for 2 weeks at a time for treatment and his secondary school used to get on their high horse about him missing lots of school and as a parent I need to put his education first. I am not sorry to say that I basically told them to piss off and while I know how important his education is my main priority was keeping him alive and my life was stressful enough without them adding to it. I tried so hard for them to even sort out any work for him while in hospital and he got sent a book of crosswords once lol they didn't give a shit about his education and only cared that he was marked in every day.

In theory this should be the case but in reality illness is being recorded as unauthorized in some cases

Needs challenging, with reference to the statutory guidance, every time.

Yes but often parents don't realize this is how it's being recorded

I'm quite liking this option of 'evidence' plus a video showing a very snotty DC putting the tissue in the bag... their dna will be on them and can be matched if needed.

The new attendance rules are incredibly stupid and illogical. This seems to match the level of stupidity!

Some of the home/school apps helpfully show a breakdown. Worth keeping an eye on.

I work in a school and my main job is dealing with the absences. I can categorically say that no one would expect you to send sick children in to school. It will be an authorised absence but you need to call in or email every morning.
please don’t send them in to spread it round their classes/year groups
Ps- I wish them both better

From a completely different view point.

Attendance wasn't monitored in such a way when I was a kid. I missed a lot of school, it wasn't particularly flagged. If it was more like this, I would have had a very different childhood.

For every x number of people that are going through such frustration, I'd like to hope it's saving / flagging at least one child along the way.

However I also understand your frustrations, and I hope your DC is feeling much better.

Doctors will not write out sick notes for children. My friends have to supply one because their child was on 25% last year… but doctor said ‘we don’t do that as parents have parental responsibility and school shouldn’t be disbelieving you

I honestly wish they’d stop giving out ‘rewards’ for good attendance… While it’s lovely for those children it does feel very much like children are getting punished by default for being poorly!
My daughter has a disability which often makes recovery time longer, she was off with Novo virus for a week last school year, she wasn’t keeping any food down and the poor love was puking for 4 days!! You can’t take a child who is throwing up to a doctors full of vulnerable people… if school ask me for proof of this happens again I’ll be taking up a bag of puke and dropping it on the attendance officers table!! Same for diarrhoea I’m afraid!!…. Ridiculous request!

Next time take a short video first thing on a morning to save as evidence should you be called in regarding attendance. No one should look at an ill child and tell you they should have been sat in a class of 30 other pupils and staff

Attendance rewards are completely and irredeemably awful. The whole concept needs to fuck right off.

I came here for this reason. The power councils and schools have now is horrendous. I currently have a 13 year old with a really shitty virus. Stinging eyelids, sore throat, snotty, fatigue and yes he has to go in as he was absent Friday due to a badly sprained ankle playing football at school (school sent him home Thursday at 2pm). Even though they sent him home and his ankle was fat, that's unauthorised. Ankle is now on the mend and yesterday he woke up ill. Last year we had a couple of similar instances, he is under the pead due to CGD and on the spectrum. He has moved up sets. Anyway let year I rang the attendance lady at the council. Explained doc appts were like rocking horse shit, you wouldn't get a doc appt for a virus anyway it is waste of resources so I threw the phone number at her and told her to consult with GPs as they had reduced me to tears. Not least because I feel like a really crappy parent but they are also putting others at risk. These colds/,flus/ covid can and still do hospitalise vulnerable people. I work in care and 3 people hospitalised with covid the past month one whom sadly passed away. Then I have people at the council threatening me if I choose to be responsible. I would home ed if it wasn't for the social aspect.

No these aren't the new rules. Read the DfE statutory guidance which all English schools should follow and, if necessary, quote it to your school/escalate to the governing body.

Correct. Medical evidence will not normally be required. The absence should be coded as illness.

A sick child should be coded as I and medical evidence only sought if there is good reason to doubt the veracity of the parent's explanation.

You need to read the guidance and complain to school about that letter.

Read the guidance. It states the circumstances in which a school should seek medical evidence. Do yourself a favour, and send the relevant passages to school and ask why they are not following the statutory guidance, copied to the governing body if necessary.

More a case of misunderstanding orders?

Maybe if it’s ’medical evidence’ they want not specifically a doctor’s note you can send in samples of snot when your kid has a cold or the ‘output’ from a D&V episode - might make them reconsider their stupid policy! And I agree they see attendance as far more important than education. That’s sickening too, in a different way!

If you are that concerned write to the school and the Governing Body. If their written response or lack of response is not satisfactory ask Ofsted what they make of it. I wonder if the matter will be cleared up quickly after a conversation from that particular august body.

Since I last posted Ive had an email from school which to me reads like they will only authorise absence with medical evidence and they will fine you after 5 days absence. I will email them back but just posting to prove some schools are absolutely not following the guidance:

In line with the new National Framework for Penalty Notices, 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence, within a rolling 10 school week period can also lead to £80 / £160 fines being issued and ultimately legal action to be considered (please see attached).

Medical evidence enables schools to authorise absences due to illness, appropriately. It also allows the school to consider suitable support to be put in place for your child during or after the absence. Acceptable forms of *Medical Evidence: A Doctor’s/Hospital letter, a copy of a prescription for medicine, or the prescribed medicine packaging, which must be supplied to the school.

Schools not following Statutory Guidance is quite a big deal. I'm just reposting what that actually says, together with a link. You may want to use this to challenge their stance, with the Head and Governing Body, in the first instance:

Code I: Illness (not medical or dental appointment)
364. The pupil is unable to attend due to illness (both physical and mental health related). Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness.
365. Schools are not expected to routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness absences. Schools should only request reasonable medical evidence in cases where they need clarification to accurately record absence in the attendance register – i.e. making a decision that code I is the absence code that accurately describes the reason the pupil is not in school for the session in question. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend school will be that evidence and can be accepted without question or concern. Only where the school has genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence.
366. Where medical evidence is deemed necessary, schools should not be rigid about the form of evidence requested and should speak to the family about what evidence is available. Schools should be mindful that requesting additional medical evidence unnecessarily places pressure on health professionals, their staff and their appointment system, particularly if the illness is one that does not require treatment by a health professional. Where a parent cannot provide evidence in the form requested but can provide other evidence, schools should take this into account. Where a parent cannot provide any written evidence the school should have a conversation with the parent and pupil, if appropriate, which may in itself serve as the necessary evidence to record the absence.
367. This code is classified for statistical purposes as authorised absence.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf

How many kids are off for more than five days,( which is a school week) without medical evidence ?
My oldest had ten days in primary with chicken pox on our GPs advice his school were happy with me telling them but my Gp would have backed it up if needed
He had six weeks off in year 11 with acute necrotizing pancreititis and he was in critical care obviously I sent in evidence for this
But most viruses tend to be over after 5 days if not surely the gp would back it up?

Nothing on.our children's school website suggesting we now need a doctor's note. Can you even imagine trying to get one?! You'd be laughed at by the receptionist after waiting for an hour to get through 😅