To be annoyed over school attendance letter

[constantlylactating]

Just had an email from DS5's school regarding his attendance. It has dipped to 94.5% and so they are warning me that if it doesn't improve in the next 4 weeks then it will be taken further.

I do understand why they have to issue these, but they have marked him absent on occasions when he has had a 9am dentist appointment, but gone in straight after. Also his last absence was two days because they sent him home after he caught a vomiting bug from another student, and had to stay home for 48 hours.

What am I supposed to do if he gets ill again in the next 4 weeks? (Perfectly possible). Am I expected to just send him in? Or keep him off and have it 'taken further'.

I'm so annoyed I think because it feels so heavy handed when there obviously reasons that they are aware of.

She could, but there's no reason to think one will necessarily be available.

My dentist, for example, works school hours and tends to take her annual leave in the school holidays. Her work pattern looks rather like mine and DCs, in fact! Obviously the competition for the available school holiday appointments is even more intense than for the average NHS dentist.

The reality is that a lot of medical appointments have to be during school hours and there's no way round that. Increasingly you just have to take what there is and be glad of it.

It’s about being there for the register. If he was there for register then taken to the dentist then the record would have shown him being in that morning.

Ofsted now really dig deep into attendance. If we can’t show we’ve taken steps (i.e. sent out the standard letters) then the school is criticised.

The system IS flawed and as attendance officers we know that but have to follow the system. If your child has a dentist appointment at 08:30 and misses just 10 minutes of school we have to give an M code which is an absence. However if you bring your child to school on time, then collect them at 9:30 for a 10:00 appointment they get a present mark. If you bring them back to school before afternoon registration then they get the afternoon present mark too. They could miss a good two hours of school and get a full attendance for that day but miss 10 minutes first thing and they lose half a days attendance. It is ridiculous but it is NOT rules made by the school or the attendance officer.

I'd chuck it in the bin and not give it another thought. Which is the same thing I did with my "congratulations your daughter has 100% attendance" letter, as if her not catching a bug or requiring a hospital appointment etc is some sort of achievement on either her or my part.
I really don't care about her level of authorised absence (and she has no unauthorised absence).

I used to send my son in for the roll call and collect him 15mins later for drs or if he had a temperature (he was ok in himself so school expected him to be in with 40 degree temps but I disagred). Schools attendance ratings affect their ofsted results so that’s what they wanted!

DS2's school actually tells us to do this.

They also tell us to send kids in when they are ill, and they will - apparently - make sure they have an easier day or whatever. They reiterate this at every parents meeting at the start of every year, and every year I tell them that I will not be doing that and if I judge that DS2 is ill, he will not be going into school.

They have to send them to everyone.

If you miss registration on arrival or after lunch then your child is not there.

If you make registration and then go to dentist appointment then you are there.

Just ignore it for now, but if it does 'get taken further ' be businesslike about it and throw it back on them to find a solution. Eg list the absences and reasons, then ask what they would like you to do differently:

1. [Date] was a dentist appointment. These are once every 6 months. I can try to get appointments outside of school hours but this is not always possible if every parent is going for them. How would you suggest I ensure I can get an appointment that satisfied the school, dentist and my own employer?

2 [date] was following the 48 hour rule for vomiting bugs. In future, would you suggest I send him in as soon as he feels better, breaking your policy/ DfE guidance?

Etc....

Be polite and clear and ask for their help to solve the 'problem' because you have been doing your best / following guidance

Yes, I like this. But I would respond to the current e-mail with the points set out by @Punk4ssBookJockey

The letters are automatically and the school have to send them.

We got one recently for DDs attendance being low - after major planned surgery and an extended hospital stay and recovery.

This is one of the reasons Ofsted reform is needed because schools should be able to use their discretion about letters like this, but they cannot currently do so

It's just a routine, standard letter which takes no account of circumstances. It's not a bad attendance record either. I daresay several children will have had one.

Keep the letter and make a note of reasons next to each date in case attendance is again called into question but I don't think it is anything to worry about.

The way it is worked out is stupid in my opinion.

The absence is calculated by expressing the absence as a percentage of the day's of the school year that have passed, not as a percentage of the entire school year. So if your DC is sick on day 2 of the September term 1 day divided by 2 days gives you 50%. If they have no further sickness then that percentage attendance increases.

I have refused to go to any meeting regarding my ds attendance . I told the HT that they are aware of the reasons he’s been off , they’ve had proof and I’m not sitting in a room being told to improve something I have no control over

Write back and query them sending him home & requesting 48 hrs off school after a sickness bug- what should you do going forward?

I manage to get all mine seen in the school holidays (but these are routine check ups. For emergencies or treatment I'd expect it may interfere with school)

My friend got one of those letters whilst her ds was actually still in hospital.

She was enraged.

This has always driven me nuts, especially in primary school when illness is endless and pupil-led truancy is barely a thing.

I'm petty, so I used to write back asking for them to let me know what they are putting in place to ensure school is NOT a hotbed of germs (eg dds used to tell me plenty of kids didn't wash their hands)/what they suggested to improve my child's immune system. I also said that if they wanted my child to go against their own 48 hour policy following sickness etc, to please put it in writing. I then went on to remind them that as a decent person and mother, plus someone whose friend's child had had a heart transplant age 7 and was obviously immunocompromised, regardless of what they wrote I would be keeping my child off when, and only when she wasn't well enough for school.

They are perfectly capable of NOT sending out those letters to families who they know are due to genuine illness that they've been kept informed of. It's not that automated in any primary schools I've worked in or had kids attend.

Just ignore it - I would.
Keep records of all appointments and illnesses just in case

Ignore it. It literally does not matter.