To ask what you think to attendance assemblies

[Sunshine193]

DD school did certificates in assembly for those with 100 % attendance. And they all got a £10 voucher too. What do you think to this? Heard some parents complaining about it to each other

I will never understand why the award isn't for 100% attendance except in unavoidable circumstances

That still rewards the premise of 'going in when a bit peaky but not ill' or 'after a late night's - but takes into account hospital appointments or serious illness. It's MUCH more effective to instill a good work ethic.

Authorised and unauthorised absences are defined for a reason, why do they cease to exist in this case?

Actually, upon reflection, it still does discriminate against children with chaotic home lives - there's nothing they can do about that, so maybe it's best just to away with them altogether.

I work in a primary school in a Leadership role. We have a agreed as a team, despite considerable pressure from the LA, that we will not offer rewards for 100% attendance. I understand that many schools do this, but this is a hill I'm prepared to die on.

It unfairly penalises children with SEND, young carers, and children whose parents don't prioritise education, for something that is not their fault. I firmly believe in rewards for effort, not for being lucky enough to be healthy and have parents who make sure you attend school.
Instead of certificates and prizes we focus on identifying barriers to attendance and working with parents to remove them, as well as ensuring that school is a safe, happy and nurturing place where children want to spend time and parents can trust us that their needs will be met.

We also have issues with parents sending children into school very obviously unwell, not adhering to the 48 hour rule for S&D and grumbling about having to collect unwell children from school. The last thing I want is more poorly kids in school spreading sickness, meaning staff end up ill, because they don't want to miss out on a prize.

Ugh awful - such a toxic value system. Completely ableist and rewarding (often) privilege and good fortune. Kind of a reflection of some of the worst aspects of our society if you ask me.. yeah not into them 😁

Well done kids, for having the good fortune not to have gotten ill or lose a close relative this year or (more likely) having parents who drag you in regardless to spread your germs and make everyone else poorly.
Yeah, I don’t get it.

I think the concept is awful. Work with those who have poor attendance to mitigate impacts where possible. I think they’re especially awful when someone’s attendance is directly responsible for others not attending (e.g. attending when unwell to ensure others become unwell).

Maybe there could be an add-on award to the attendance award? For "child who has wiped out the most classmates this year" 😂.

Maybe there could be an add-on award to the attendance award? For "child who has wiped out the most classmates this year" 😂.

Someone suggested to the HT of a school I worked in that we should give a special chaos causing award to a Dad who sent three of his kids in with the not-yet-crusted remnants of chicken pox on the first few days of term.

It was only spotted on day three when one of the kids got a couple of spots on their face. The next month saw the three classes absolutely rife with pox.

I used to work in a school, and hated it.

The kids that came in whilst ill, spreading it around to all children and staff got book tokens!

They probably didn't want to miss out on the public recognition and £10 voucher/theme park trip 😂. And who could blame them? Truly an example of dedication for the whole school.

Seriously though, the problem with arbitrary rules is that people adjust their behaviour in response to them. You can't really say "All children should aim for 100% attendance" and simultaneously "Please keep your poxy kids at home" without looking a bit of a numpty.

yes (or teacher).

Unauthorised has become meaningless too.
When you've had the misfortune to hit an "unacceptable" level of attendance, schools will automatically presume unauthorised if not presented with medical evidence which is frankly a fucking joke with current access to GP appointments.

Having got through the 999 asthma, and nearly seamlessly segueing into a surgical issue, by the time we got to the post-op infection then the agonising post-anti-biotic constipation that had the poor child bent over double in agony, his attendance data was somewhat ropey. Not really an issue to be trying 35 attempts to phone the GP practice at 8am about though. It ended up being "unauthorised" despite being a knock-on consequence of emergency surgery.

He was also "unauthorised" for vomiting and following the school's 48 hour rule too
Again, not a GP issue.

I might have sweetly offered to show photos of vomit as evidence if required on one occasion

I know the pressure comes from the government and LAs, but it gets passed down through the school and it does end up tarnishing your relationship with them.

Schools know who's genuinely struggling and who's not co-operating.

I also think it’s wrong to tell kids that it’s ok to spread things that can be really harmful - and for many, the kids know they’re harmful from first hand experience.

I don't understand why the school can't use their common sense here. Totally agree with the sentiment that it tarnishes your relationship with the school.

DD was in hospital with appendicitis - but was so anxious and in bits about missing school because of the pressure to come in. She asked if she could go in the morning after her emergency op. I mentioned how upset she was to the HT who suggested I talk with her about making healthy choices so she might not be ill next time. I kid you not.

Exactly this. School had the audacity to ring me to question a lot of random absences. The phonecall was met with an awkward silence when I pointed out that the absences that had affected the percentage and been "random" were infact occasions the school had sent dcs home on! I also pointed out these were minor things that dc didn't need to be sent home for, in comparison with medically backed up occasions dc had actually needed to be off for.
Funnily enough, I never heard anything again, or received the bad attendance paper letter they send out!

If they do anything like this again, ask them how they are complying with the 2025 Attendance Code, particularly section 25 on children with health issues.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf

I loathe them. Having worked in a school, I can say they did nothing to improve attendance and are just a way of showing OFSTED that the school is tackling attendance.

My dc 'missed' out once, they were absent for a single afternoon after being taken to hospital - ambulance from school - with suspected concussion after being pushed down a flight of stairs.

If schools did want to tackle attendance, they’d put air cleaners in, which actually do improve attendance due to less illness! Instead, they up the budget for supply staff to try to cover the increase in staff sickness.

Going by our register for the last fortnight, we'd have to install the things at Heathrow to have any effect upon the absences, tbh.

Just awful. Parents control if children are in school or not so why would you reward/not reward children based on something they can't control? How awful to know you didn't get £10 because you were being diagnosed for a condition or were in hospital or were told you couldn't come to school because you'd thrown up less than 48 hours ago. Why would you penalise those kids?

It's just to look proactive to Ofsted - prioritising them over the what's best for the children. Disgustingly ableist and shouldn't be allowed.

Attendance awards are basically just luck awards.
Well done for not getting ill. Or for getting ill but coming in anyway and infecting everyone (yay life skills).
Well done for never needing any medical appointments.
Well done for not having any family emergencies or deaths in the family.

These days even if a child was in every single day but was "late after register" just once that would be not 100% (as it's an unauthorised absence) so something like a bad traffic jam would reduce attendance.
All of that is outside the child's control.

DC1's school once sent him home for being "under the weather" and "not his usual self". I collected him, he was absolutely fine and we had a nice off-peak afternoon at the local theme park.

No I think it’s unfair. If they want to promote bringing sickness bugs into school this is a good way to do it.

my daughter has had one day absent the last academic year due to a sickness bug and o quite rightly kept her at home. I’d have been pissed off if our school did this, and would have made me more likely to send her into school after sickness, as she usually feels better and bounces back by mid morning if she’s been ill through the night

Kids need to be exposed to bugs and germs etc to build up their immune system.

I don't agree with keeping kids off school if they are well enough to go.

The attendance awards need to stay.

If the attendance awards stay, the excludable illnesses policy needs to go. Kids with chickenpox, D&V, conjunctivitis etc. all should be able to attend school. And there ought to be a rule for children undergoing medical treatment in hospital that the school has to send a teacher to the hospital so the child (at least when conscious) should be able to attend "school" while in hospital.