To think this is wrong, not to mention unfair…?

[VegTrug]

Sometimes I get really quite stuck on my principles. So I’d appreciate some balanced responses please, to help me see sense if needs be.

on Tuesday I screwed up. I forgot to set the alarm (still in half term mode I suppose 🙄). Totally my fault. I informed school (primary) that DD would be 10/15 mins late, told the truth, that it was my fault and apologised profusely. DD was 11 mins late.

Context for the next few paragraphs: DD has had some health issues over the last 6 months and so far this year, has had her attendance percentage drop into the 89% range (can’t remember the exact number but roughly 89%). Not ideal but these were due to long awaited Paediatric appointments & tests that categorically couldn’t be re-arranged. For each one, she was returned to school asap when applicable.

Anyway, last night I was looking on Arbor for something and nearly dropped my cuppa when I noticed that DD’s percentage has dropped to 75.9%! WTH?
I emailed the office this morning to politely ask why it’s dropped so much for just one lateness. They replied saying “Unfortunately any lateness occurring after the register has closed, is classed as 1 session of Unauthorised Absence” - An entire half-day as an unauthorised absence because she was 11 mins late?! Surely not?
(For those who don’t know, each day is classed as 2 sessions)
She went on to ‘reassure’ me that there’ll be “No repercussions” to DD having an unauthorised absence on her record etc etc but that’s not the point! Why should she? Would this annoy you? Or AIBU?

I replied pointing out that the lateness was my fault not DD’s but I feel this was probably futile!

PS, Apologies if there’s any errors in my post, I’m Beta testing the new MN App and whilst it’s mostly working great, there’s some bugs in the section where you compose a new thread 🐛 🐜 🐞

My DS was put on the schools watch list for low attendance.

He missed 1 week of school because they sent him home mid day as he caught chicken pox (most the year was off with it) and under their school rules he wasn't allowed back (despite the contagious period mostly being BEFORE the blisters appear). Hows it our fault when its THEIR rules and they sent him home.

More funnily even though a mistake I got a standard 'threatening aura' attendance warning email for my other son with tips on 'increasing attendance' and what happens if you slip below the allowed amount. It then clearly listed his attendance as... 100%. About 10 minutes later we got a second celebratory email inviting him to a special ceremony for being one of the very few student with 100% attendance.

She’ll have been signed in via the office. They know who is on the premises, same as they know the kid who was marked present but was then collected to go to the dentist isn’t there.

The school is who gets ragged on if they have poor attendance stats.

I hate it - we were told our daughter’s attendance “needed improvement” post recovery from a serious head injury - fractured skull, severe concussion - (that happened at school no less!) and it really rankled because she absolutely could not be in school at the time.

The vast majority of the time kids with significant absence figures are dealing with other things and they don’t need unnecessarily negative language and policy surrounding their absence, and neither do their parents. I agree that schools can’t minute every child’s attendance but they could look at the language used and perhaps not tell the parents of children with significant health issues that their attendance figures are unacceptable 🤷‍♀️

It was different last year it went down as a late present or late unauthorised now it is just unauthorised

@VegTrug if you had 10 unauthorised over a 10 week period or absent level dropped (and your absence level is low actually) then it becomes a pattern of behaviour and could lead to further action.

I did a thread on here about why my child had so much unauthorised absences cos it didn't make sense. Last year. And lots of people on here explained how it all worked. And how if you arrive after the register then it went down as an unauthorised absence morning and afternoon. And then it made sense to me what happened

Teacher here and attendance is another piece of data that schools performance is measured on. 2 sessions per day, if you are late to either they class as unauthorised. However, if you arrive at AM registration and then leave straight after being registered for an appointment, then back by PM registration, you count as having 100% attendance for the day.
To be honest, unless your child is truanting/regularly not attending school for non-legitimate reasons the attendance data is really not relevant and I just wouldn't bother getting worked up over it.

Bloody good point…

I wouldn't even remotely care about this. How the school deals with their admin is up to them/the gov. Doesn't interest me at all as long as it doesn't affect me,

erm, what?! I don't know where to begin with this one.

This is just what happens. Equally on days they close early, like at Christmas, they’ll register everyone and then send them home, and they don’t get an absence even though they aren’t in school.

bear in mind these are lots of school days still to come in this academic year so your dd’s absence score will likely improve.

She should have been signed in so will be on that register

Universities won't have a clue how many absences their applicants had at school. Nor would even prestigious universities be remotely interested in a couple of unauthorised absences even if they dud know! Sorry, but you are making a mountain out of a molehill. This is standard practice in all schools.

They don't just not bother to sign them in! She will have been marked in as 'late after register closed'.

Nope.

This is just how it works, OP. Your dd missed registration so she was marked as absent. The school will have a record of late arrivals/early departures etc that they will use in the case of a fire.

A one-off unauthorised absence because of a parent oversleeping isn't going to be a cause for concern, but if this occurs alongside other persistent absence, then they may want to investigate further. Assuming that there are clear , well-documented medical reasons for the other absences, then it won't be a problem.

It isn't about punishing the child for the parent's errors, it's about basic safeguarding.

Sorry OP, but it sounds as if you are very keen to somehow make this the school's fault. They haven't done anything wrong. They did exactly what they are supposed to do.

They do know who has come in- if I pull my sons attendance record the lates show as L not X which is totally out the whole session, even if both L and X count as an absent for monitoring purposes. They will also have fire marshalls who do a complete sweep of the school including toilets to check for anyone left.

It's just how it works. You have to draw a line somewhere. She was late, it's recorded as such. You made a mistake, you almost certainly won't do it again! Consequences is how we learn, adults or children! (Ask me how I know.. 😂)

My son has SEN and we live 9 miles from.his school, it's really difficult to get him in at all most days (he spends all day with a 1:1) under the previous headmistress his being late was not a problem as it was hard enough to get him into school but the new headmistress is more militant and his attendance has dropped due to (as I've just learnt from this thread) him being late. Yes I am trying to get him into a special school but it's like banging my head against a brick wall

I noticed an unauthorised absence on my sons Arbor, and it was for a doctors appointment I gave them evidence for. Was a morning appointment, so I just took him in after. He was at school for 9.20am.

So if it happens again, I'm going to take him up, let him go through the door to be registered, and ask them to meet me back at reception with him to sign him back out. 🤣

@FragileWookiee just email the attendance lead and the reception team with a photo of the evidence / screen shot of the appointment and ask them to change it to the correct code. It's a non-issue, as long as there is evidence for them to support the change it's a non issue. Mistakes happen

We have no way of checking what they put down for ours. Unless we ask it's a suprise at the end of the year (it was a surprise last year!)

I think they do on their system

as I said last year there was on arbor for me a late unauthorised and a late present option I simply don’t see this time (and with a school anxious child I should) and now it is just absent - there is a late actually which for us currently is 15 mins and was before I think 25 - so in theory 11 mins could cover that

but on their system she would be down

it definitely has changed the guidance came out in August

There’s no need to be nasty

Just the way it is. The bus was late one day before half term. Public bus not school bus because they got rid of the school buses so all the kids get public transport. Anyway the walk to the classroom is likely for one of my children than the others so although they all arrived on the same bus 2 made it to their tutor room before register closed but the 3rd didn't and has an unauthorised absence. Really, really annoying. I don't agree with attendance awards at all but school do them so it pisses me off that one if my kids might miss out because 1. Public transport and 2. Their tutor room is further away than their sister's.