Will this be unauthorised?

[SnowGoAwayPlease]

The snow is really bad where I am. We live 7 miles away from my daughter’s primary school. Theres one closer but she got a place at this one before we moved house. The school is staying open when most are closed. But we are higher up and the snow is still coming, with cars being stuck on the roads nearby and traffic gridlocked so I can’t get my daughter into school. I’m worried as the headteacher is saying the roads are clear and that she made it from Nottingham which is 25 miles away.. but just where I am is awful and I don’t want to risk it. Will it be unauthorised absence does anyone know how this works?

Just had this message:

'I hope this post finds you and your families well. I wanted to take a moment to address the challenges we've faced with school attendance today. I understand that the journey to school was difficult for many of you, and I'm truly grateful for the tremendous effort our staff made to be here and teach your children. However, I need to make you aware that for those parents who did not bring their children to school, their attendance will be marked as unauthorised for today. We strongly encourage all children to attend school tomorrow. I want to assure you that we are committed to supporting our families and working together to ensure your children can attend school safely and consistently. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's attendance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.'

Reach out to them. Tell their message is patronising, inappropriate, untruthful and down right dangerous, and that you don't appreciate the implication that you chose not to bring them in.
They are not committed to making sure your child can attend safely, actually they made no attempt to help you in any way.

Is probably finish off with a go fuck yourselves, but that's just me.

I agree, I didn't have much choice with a lorry stuck on the hill which is the only way out and to school and cars abandoned sliding and abandoned everywhere. I'm sure lots of parents didn't either as buses were also cancelled and I know a few that travel there by bus. Also, the comment about staff making it in, making it seem like they made an effort where parents didn't. It really does depend where they are coming from

My advice is stop giving the HT so much power. You are the parent and you make the decision. Of course some kids can walk in and it must be annoying when kids 5 mins away don't bother. But that's not your position.

So what if it's unauthorised- only start worrying and making a fuss if you get a fine.

How could they have helped ?

Ask them how they think they can help ?
This has blown out of all proportion it's ridiculous.

It's down to the discretion of the head. They can authorise it if they feel there are 'exceptional circumstances.' But they might not to make a point to others. Either way, I wouldn't worry about it. There's not much you can do.

This is fascinating. When my 2 were at school, school closed multiple times for snow days when most parents made it to work or had to take time off because the school was closed. Shame it only works one way.
Should we have fined the school?

I think its because she thinks if she could get from Nottingham than we can get from closer areas. But we are completely up hill and quite rural and none of the roads were gritted. Plus buses cancelled so those who take the route. Even the closer school is a half an hour walk there and back. But my daughter was already in the school before we moved

Although I think again, that this is a generic message and aimed at the people who could make it, by walking etc, I might just think I'd be getting as ridiculous as they appear to be to be honest and telling them you got stuck in the gridlock trying, however you did attempt to charter a helicopter and a husky sled, but they couldn't provide one in time, so did they have any other suggestions? Seeing as they're offering help? Can they provide the miracle they seem to expect you to?
Whether you're sat in the car in the gridlock or at home, the results are the same - your DD cannot physically get to the school due to the weather and road conditions. Sitting in a car in a potentially dangerous situation doesn't change the outcome that she doesn't get there.
If I felt particularly strongly about it I might go through appealing the unauthorised with evidence of the fact you couldn't get there.
But if there's not going to be any concequences other than a mark (as in a fine, court etc) then I'd probably just fume for a bit and then ignore them.
I get it though, it feels really unfair.
My DD has to be back at university tomorrow morning for exams and presentations, and they were all warned that weather wouldn't be an acceptable 'excuse' for not getting back in time, that they would be failed for that work and that they should have planned better as the weather was forecast....... Hmmm ok but they were only allowed back on campus from 12 noon today, so I'm not sure how anything could have been planned better. She couldn't have gone back before the forecast weather to miss it. Trains were cancelled today and I have sat in traffic for hours because of the weather.
If the poor weather had continued and we'd been turned back or couldn't reach our destination then I'd have had something to say because it's their rules that prevented planning around the weather in the first place.

Edited to add - sorry for the rant, but it really pisses me off when schools, universities, employers etc behave like this, threatening people with concequences like fines etc for things like weather. It's ridiculous.

The school shut last time it snowed, mainly because the other local secondary and primary schools shut and staff couldn't get childcare. But pretty much all other schools round the same area shut today but they stayed open. The school also shut not long ago for a staff members funeral and we had to then sort childcare for that, but the school but unauthorised if a child was to attend their grandparents funeral for example

It would be a very brave or daft Head who told you you had to bring your child to school once you have told them its not safe to do so.
However, if the school is open it may well go down as unauthorised but it doesn't really matter

Take screenshots of these

That's because they don't see the children as equal humans to their staff. Not a good school. Can you move?

I honestly couldn’t get worked up about this. In situations where group emails are sent out I just look at whether or not it’s appropriate for my situation and if not I just forget about it.

So in this case I would have assumed it was aimed at those parents who could have got their kids to school safely, but chose not to. Am I one of those parents? No. So not for me then, I won’t give it a further thought.

All the posters frothing at the mouth in response need to find something else to do with their time. After the Sara Sharif murder we should be supporting schools in their endeavours to ensure kids don’t stay off unnecessarily.

That's true but when I read it, I took it to mean everyone who kept their child off. I feel like the HT thinks if she can get from Nottingham at 25 miles away and staff members can make it in, then all parents can get their children to school. Also, in her initial message this morning to say school was open, it said 'roads are clear. See you all later' so I feel like she was saying she will take no excuses

FGS it's like Godwin's law - every thread criticising schools always ends up in "they can do what they like cos Sara sharif".

Sara Sharif's murder was nothing to do with a one off snow day - she didn't even attend any school as she was home schooled so what on earth is the relevance here

Alienating parents with idiotic emails won't help anyone.

Head teacher is stupid. Send her your evidence and that you expect the absence to be authorised. If there's anything further complain to the governors

Schools are ridiculous about absences these days. It isn't just the threat of fines for unauthorised absence. My daughter had two genuine sick days and 5 missed sessions ( not whole days) for planned hospital treatment between Sept and Feb last academic year and I received a letter telling me that if her attendance dropped further we would be referred to social services. She has a health condition that they are well aware of. I pointed out to them that if I didn't take her to the hospital appts I'd be reported to SS for that too so I can't win!

My DC have both left school now and I'm so bloody happy to free of this nonsense.

Yes, my daughter has had the 48 hours off for sickness bug and today and that's it and its dropped to 95% already

Attendance letters and percentages are pointless. They're sent out as standard, but schools will be well aware of those who are genuinely off for illness etc and those who regularly don't turn up to school for various other reasons. You'll be getting these letters until she finishes school at 16 so just ignore them. My child's dropped to something like 80 odd % one year due to illness and hospital stays, the letter went straight in the bin when it arrived.

but this is the part of the year with the worst weather and most sickness bugs. As the weather improves, these types of absences are less so her attendance record should creep up. Don't stress about it