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

I also think it's incredibly unfair to send a sick child to school when they just don't have the physical or mental energy to be there, and have aches, pains and headache. Having to sit and think and listen and learn for over 6 hours and be expected to work efficiently when all they want to do is sleep and rest. They push for children's autonomy and children's rights for nearly everything else, except sickness.

It’s about your kids comfort and protecting their peers not making a point about the rules.

No one is going to fine you for keeping the kids off sick without a drs note: they’re unlikely to be off for five days if they’re not sick enough to speak to a dr. It’s a bit like rules for work absence.

You’ve definitely misunderstood the ‘new guidance’. Yes you CAN be fined, but doesn’t mean you will be fined. This will be for people who go on long weekends for example who miss Friday & Monday from school, or who miss a few days before or after half terms for holidays. Unless they suspect you’re lying you have nothing to worry about.

School did not vanish.
What an insulting comment.
Keep your kids at home.

You have children that are unwell, need inhalers and also infectious and you feel the need to ask whether to send then?? The mind boggles. Dose them up and snuggle on the sofa with them.

Yeah under your circumstances there's no way I'd be accepting a fine. I'd be on to the school to pre empt this. A lot of it is just generated when a limit is reached. No ones looks at the reasoning a lot of the time. 3 years ago my daughter was in year 10. My mum died...my daughter caught covid...then their father died...all within 3 months and the high school sent out an attendance warning. As you can imagine I was pretty much raging. They were told under no circumstances to contact me again regarding her normally exemplarary attendance or I would approach the LEA with my complaints

How does one go about reporting to DfE? My sons school says evidence "may be needed" on the website but in practice they refuse to authorise without it. My son gets every bug going and we get so much grief about keeping him home even though he's in top sets with excellent behaviour, it's very stressful.

"too ill to attend" can be interpreted differently by different parents. Some keep kids off for every sniffle, some would send them in with D&V.

I think schools are trying to account for the first group.

I was a dinner lady when mine were at primary 15 years ago and the snot tram-lines were always evident in this term. The kids just ran around and (yeuuuukkk) wiped it on their sleeve. You could tell when they needed to go home as they'd actually sit down in playtime, or come and hold your hand... and theirs would be a bit clammy (hopefully not too snotty), so you'd take them to the office. But kids rarely had any time off for a simple cold. (And neither would we.)

The era of covid has changed things so much.

She should have more sense than to feel compelled to send them in if they are sick, have chronic illnesses and need their inhalers frequently to recover.

Clearly it is appropriate for them to stay home, and there is no need for flouncing or talk of being forced to send them in.

Well it basically did. It’s hard to take seriously the claims that being absent from the classroom for, say, 2-3 weeks over a school year (either due to illness or having fun with family) is somehow an awful loss of education when loads of kids had their schools closed for nearly a whole year in some instances.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe

Noone got in touch with my children in any way shape or form from April till September. And the same in each subsequent lockdown. I paid for tutors because I still had to work. Noone set them any work or checked in on their wellbeing.

That would be 5 consecutive days.

But good grief, as if doctors weren’t stretched enough already. What a stupid system.

It would be if it was the system. It is not.

No their letter was clear it was total days over the year not consecutive days

My GP will not provide sick notes during the self certification period - for children or for adults.

Sorry you don't get on with your kids school, but saying there's new guidance when there isn't, then posting a link to guidance that contradicts what you are saying, is a bit disingenuous.

Sickness is authorised absence, and can be self-certified for up to 5 consecutive days.

If your kid is sick for more then a week, they probably need to see a Dr anyway

If they're off for more then 5 consecutive days, school would need a note, or days 6+ would be unauthorised.

If they have more than 5 unauthorised absence (whether consecutive or not), then you could be issued a fine. This would need them to either be off 2 weeks without evidence, or 6 days on 5 separate occasions.

The term 'evidence' also doesn't necessarily mean a Dr's note for every illness. You could probably just resubmit a photocopy of their condition diagnosis over and over.

This.
I worked in a school where the children would be off school because they'd gone into town to buy shoes, it was sunny so they'd gone to the seaside, it was their birthday so parents didn't bring them in. The school will know that you and your children have health issues. It's not you they are trying to crack down on. It's the feckless parents at your school.

Then your school is breaching disability discrimination laws and both the education statutory guidance and the rules around sick/fit notes.
Sickness is self certified for 5 consecutive days and that resets for each individual illness. Though if you have multiple separate periods of sickness (above the general average) it is reasonably to have a discussion about why this is happening and in your dcs case they have an underlying health condition (asthma) which will explain it.
You really need to push back on this discriminatory school policy

Thank you!

I see you have to go through the school complaints first and then make a formal complaint to DfE.
I was rather hoping it could be an anonymous report like this school is not following the law. I don't want to make things difficult for my son if the school knows its us complaining.

Phone your doctor's surgery and tell your doctor, ask advice, and they will have it on record if there is any problem with you keeping the children home - which I think you should do. Tell the school what you have done. I cannot see any problem with that.

Yes agree with this. Some schools (and Heads) have some sort of God complex, but it usually crumbles when the other public services refuse to comply.

Care for your sick children at home where they should be! You are a parent!

I expect the school just sent the letter out to all parents, or to all parents whose children's attendance the previous year was below a certain level. (Perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing your children's attendance percentage last year.) A child with a chronic medical condition still needs to be at school whenever possible, so as to avoid them being further disadvantaged by their education being damaged.

I don’t want to be unsympathetic but some over-anxious parents do keep their children off school unnecessarily for the slightest reason and the school are trying to combat that. For instance, if your friend's daughter's diabetes is properly managed there is absolutely no reason why she should be kept off school often because of it. I can imagine there being a real problem maybe one day a year, but if her diabetes is making her so ill that she can’t go to school regularly something is going wrong with her management and there is a real, worrying medical issue there.

Believe me, schools do not want really ill children in school spreading their germs to adults and other children. But doctors do not want to see every child with a cough or cold. If your children are really ill, with a fever or a streaming cold or bad cough, don’t send them that day. Tell the school why. But if they’ve just got a sniffle and a bit of a cough, do send them.

I see your point if the school is insisting on GP notes, but GP's don't provide them.
I'd call the office and tell them they are sick. If they say they need a note, tell them GP doesn't provide them and would they prefer you bring your contagious children to the office, so they can see they are sick and maybe catch it themselves?