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

5 in a row.

Schools are not going to fine people whose children have 2 sets of three days off for illness.

We haven't had this communicated from our school but blimey! We'll be stuffed.

DC2 had 10 days off between September and December last year with an awful cough / illness (It landed her in A&E in the end and she was given a preventer inhaler due to the frequency of her illness) She's since been diagnosed with allergy related asthma, her main trigger though is illness!

I fully expected to be hauled over the coals about her attendance but we didn't even get a letter?

She had better attendance over the next two terms - although not 100% - and her end of year report was glowing.

When she gets ill again, as she inevitably will, she'll be kept off until she is better.

Really? Cos we've always been told the opposite. Unauthorised is sickness, mine had an authorised absence for my sisters funeral, it's only authorised if the school has agreed I advance.

On school Reports they list authorised ans unauthorised absences and sickness is absolutely unauthorised.

sorry you are being ridiculous. They are sick - absolutely nobody will expect a doctors note for a day or two of illness.

Keep them at home. Ignore the rules, you are the mother. Just said they have V & D.

I know what you are referring too reg school saying just send kids not matter what. My daughter says it has to do with funding as it attendance drop below a certain percentage they don’t get full funding.

I am a responsible parent and kids are responsible but if they need a day off I give it to them.

My son missed two entire weeks with a vomiting bug last year that came and went over a month - I mean - I literally do not give a fck what school think about that and it baffles me why anybody would.

Ex attendance officer here - this is exactly it, it's for those kids that have 2/3 days off every fortnight with a 'cold' who are missing out on so much. We were all well aware that the drs note thing was ridiculous, obviously you're not going to see a doctor for flu or a sickness bug but it was just to try and chivvy some parents along. I got to know the kids with chronic conditions etc over the years and if parents ever received that kind of communication I'd always give them a ring and basically say ignore it as we know your situation

The attendance rules are ridiculous. My DSS’ school say you only keep them home if they have a fever. Headaches, coughs, colds etc they have to go in. Ridiculous.

In that case the school has probably got it wrong. "Authorised absence" includes authorised by a parent because of illness - unless the school has reason to doubt the veracity of the parent's statement that the child is too ill to attend school.

Yes - it clearly listed sickness as being authorised. Its logged as illness on the attendance systems (which we can see) not unauthorised.

Feels like common sense to me though - why would school fine for children being sick. 10 sessions is only 5 days - that isn't alot of sickness for children (although my DS has only had 2 days off each year so far). If school are fining for sickness that is really bad and not the whole point of the new changes to the rules. The government are targeting persistent absences for invalid reasons not children who are sick.

Send photos of snot, coughing, mucus/vomit and anything else that makes it clear that the DC are unwell. If they’ve asked for evidence that’s exactly what I’d do!

Never been that way with my kids school at all, I even argued the case a few years ago and was told told sickness is always unauthorised as authorised means authorised by the school not the parents. I'm going to query this again!

It's always been a standard practice here. I even argued it myself and was shut down and resent the official guidance they had (schools here have been following this system for a while now, funnily enough, where the education minister is from) I'm definitely going back to query this now.

Is this in England? I’m surprised a school would even want to do that, because it must lead to a very high figure for 'unauthorised', which would be a big red flag for Ofsted.

I'm pretty sure it's 5 consecutive days, not 5 days over the course of a year.

Authorised does mean authorised by the school not parents in our case too....but our school does authorise being ill. The exact example in the policy of an authorised absence is a child being ill and a parent phoning in sick. It does say not all will be supported by the school but so far my experience is they have supported 2 instances of sickness (temperature and sickness). They didn't request proof either.
Maybe our school just using common sense more and if several of the class is off with D&V bugs then its taken you aren't lying on your child's sickness.

Ironically, children in private schools can take time off willy-nilly and no one bats an eyelid. The week before every half term, half of the school is off skiing. It’s just us bursary families left who have to work all the hours god sends to make ends meet. Every lesson is put on Google classroom and anything missed can be easily caught up.

The difference is that all the families at private school value education as they are either spending a fortune on it or know how lucky they are to be getting it at a discount. So they make sure their children catch up and no harm is done. State school has to cater for all the shitty parents who don’t give a toss so everyone ends up suffering for the few wankers.

My child has anxiety. State school were crap hence why she is in private on a bursary. If she needs a day off due to her anxiety no one minds. That’s as it should be.

These are NOT the new rules. Re-posting the relevant extract from DfE's new statutory guidance:

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.
365. 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

You are utterly unreasonable. I have child who requires hospital admission and IV antibiotics whenever their temperature hits 38. It’s usually unavoidable but it’s selfish people like you that cause them to miss out on life more than they would usually have to.

I agree!

Yeah North East. I feel like they've put it in place as a standard practice because of maybe a minority taking the piss.
My oldest has been absent twice with sickness - (now in Yr 11) and the younger once (now in Yr 9)

They get you to leave a VM as standard, then ring you to ask questions later and send a letter on the FIRST day of absence to tell you what thw consequences will be.

First time I queried this was when he got his school report through and I saw 6 unauthorised absences (3 days) and I was just WTF and spoke to someone as there's no way they can skip school, I drop them off and school is locked down until home time. They said that sickness will always be unauthorised as they haven't agreed in advance and I spoke to 3 different people as I just couldn't accept how that was the case.

Last year when youngest sick, I emailed them over proof of medical appointments and even a shot of the medication he received with name and date on the box. Still unauthorised.

I'm actually quite angry right now as I knew I was right. If they still keep it up when it's now a nationwide thing I'm going to be contacting the principal!

The new rules state the opposite , that's schools cannot routinely ask for evidence and must authorise unless they have strong reasons ( backed up by their evidence) you are lying. Stop believing everything you read on the internet!

HRTFT sorry.
I would also think 5 consecutive days.
Does your school/area have a disproportionate number of absences that could be term time holidays disguised as 'little Johnny is not well and won't be in until next week'?

Well.,
Looking at the timing of OPs posts and putting myself in their shoes
I'd have used all that time and energy instead to phone my own work (if applicable) then to phone the GP and if I could not get through I'd have emailed them and also left a voice mail. Asking for a reply and a sick note.
I'd have then messaged the school to tell them I'd done that.
If I was at home, I'd have checked in on my poorly kids, maybe got them some sympathy drinks and snacks in bed.
Then I'd have gone about my day with the kids off school and me doing whatever productive stuff needed doing.

I wouldn't have spent over an hour complaining about school rules online.
This thread is not about sick kids or policy, it's about mindset.

Stop. Complaining. About. Schools.