Page 2 | School absence rules are super powering the spread of flu

Pavementworrier · 2025-12-09T19:17:08+00:00

And people will die unnecessarily as a result and it's really annoying Why the hell can't there be a rule that kids with flu or suspected flu (at least during peak flu season) don't have absences counted??

HoneyParsnipSoup · 10/12/2025 08:25

BorgQueen · 09/12/2025 19:29

Unfortunately the vaccine this year is only 30% effective, which is rubbish.
Add to this classrooms with no ventilation and it’s germ soup.
There ought to be hepa air purifiers in every class without an opening window.
I’m sure my Grandson’s school is faring better because they actually open windows plus the younger kids can go outside in bad weather because of covered areas.

It’s 70% for children though

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 10/12/2025 08:28

Where's your evidence for this? How do you know it's not -

parents who work and cant take emergency time off easily, or for other reasons send their visibly ill kids into school even when they should be off
children who have the flu but seem fine, or parents think it's just a cold

I don't know of any school attendance policy that says parents have to send kids in with flu. And everyone I know just does what's best for their kids, what are the school going to actually do if you tell them they're too ill to come in?

Beedeeoh · 10/12/2025 08:30

No, people living their normal lives powers the spread of any virus, flu included. We know the way to stop the spread of a virus, it's lockdown. And we know that's not worth the cost for flu.

GoodQueenWenceslaus · 10/12/2025 08:31

ToffeePennie · 10/12/2025 08:04

DS at secondary, had 3 days off with a nasty cold one week (as did most of his friendship group) and then the following week had a day off with a stress related migraine. The stress related migraine was caused by school telling him he was dropping “down a group” in the sweepstake because he’d had more than 2 days off this term. So please tell me how that helped??
I had a letter from his previous school stating he had had too many days off. 7 in an entire year. 6 of them were school mandated appointments for mental health/CAHMS assessments, BEAM assessments, Healios assessments and a BeeU appointment, all of which the school required us to take him too. 1 was a hospital visit; because as he arrived at the school gates on his bike, the head decided he was going too fast and put out her foot, flipping him over the handlebars and forcing the edge of the handlebars into his testicle which popped!
Quite literally there is no winning with schools and absence policies.
My husband is currently on day 5 or 6 of the cold from hell and in bed (I’m not because I’m bloody mum and I can’t possibly be as sick as him…don’t even poke that one) because my kids bought it back from school.

Good grief, I hope you're suing the head for that injury ?

InlandTaipan · 10/12/2025 08:35

HoneyParsnipSoup · 10/12/2025 08:25

It’s 70% for children though

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Flu vaccines are very much about preventing serious illness rather than stopping spread. It's job is to keep you out of hospital, not necessarily to stop you getting a mild case of flu.

jomaIone · 10/12/2025 08:37

School attendance is none of my business. I'll decide when my child isn't well enough for school. What can they do about it? No ones going to come round and force them into school!

FlockingTree · 10/12/2025 08:44

DS has been off for 8 school days with this flu which has developed into a horrible chest and sinus infection. On the 6th day his school asked for evidence of a GP appointment or a notice of prescribed medication. Fortunately I’d dragged him to the GP last week as he has asthma too and at this point he’d been taking nurofen daily to deal with his fever etc. He was back at the GP this Monday where the infections were confirmed. I sent all the evidence to school and whilst they would like him to attend asap there’s not a lot they can do because he’s seen the GP and now has prescribed medication and new inhalers. However I think it’s really daft to make a child who doesn’t have the additional Illness and has flu, to visit a doctors surgery. Most doctors wouldn’t see them unless there’s something more. I did think to myself in a sick way we are fortunate that he has this otherwise we’d be now facing unauthorised absence and pressure.

Hufflebuffs · 10/12/2025 08:47

Children should not be kept at home if they have mild symptoms such as a cold in case it’s a mild dose of flu. If you are susceptible to flu you should stay at home. Kids took the hit with school closures during Covid and look where that got us.

HereintheloveofChristIstand · 10/12/2025 08:50

They should be getting the free vaccine that they are all offered to prevent it.

CandiedPrincess · 10/12/2025 08:54

Swiftie1878 · 10/12/2025 08:05

No kid is going to school with real flu. They wouldn’t be able to get out of bed.

A cold (even a heavy one) is nothing like flu.

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That's not entirely true. I had proper flu just before Christmas last year - was swabbed - but I was still up and about getting on with daily life. Not everyone with flu is bedridden. I felt like death but no time to wallow around in it, had to get on.

CandiedPrincess · 10/12/2025 08:56

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 10/12/2025 08:28

Where's your evidence for this? How do you know it's not -

parents who work and cant take emergency time off easily, or for other reasons send their visibly ill kids into school even when they should be off
children who have the flu but seem fine, or parents think it's just a cold

I don't know of any school attendance policy that says parents have to send kids in with flu. And everyone I know just does what's best for their kids, what are the school going to actually do if you tell them they're too ill to come in?

At the start of this school year - we were categorically told by school to send children in with a cold type illness and if they were deemed too ill to be in school, they would be sent home. Seems absolute madness to me, but I think they were struggling with attendance in some areas.

PersephoneParlormaid · 10/12/2025 08:59

When my kids were ill I never considered attendance. If they were ill they were off.

ShesTheAlbatross · 10/12/2025 09:01

CandiedPrincess · 10/12/2025 08:56

At the start of this school year - we were categorically told by school to send children in with a cold type illness and if they were deemed too ill to be in school, they would be sent home. Seems absolute madness to me, but I think they were struggling with attendance in some areas.

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Yeah but you can ignore that. I would. My DD has 100% attendance through pure luck of never being ill on a weekday so I’m not keeping her off at the drop of a hat. But if I felt she was too ill for school I’d keep her off, I wouldn’t send her to school for them to decide whether or not she was too ill. I can, and will, decide that.
They have to mark illness as an authorised absence. You can’t be fined.

superchick · 10/12/2025 09:16

I keep my kids home if they are too ill to go to school, otherwise they go in. I'm not going to stop my kids getting an education because they have cold symptoms, which may or may not be passed on to someone else who may or may not get worse symptoms than them. DD had a day off this week because of period cramps and a headache. I'm genuinely not interested in other people's cold and flu issues.

mickandrorty · 10/12/2025 09:20

No it is parents sending kids in ill. I don't care what the school has to say, if I think my child is not well enough to attend school they will be staying at home. It is not up to the school to decide how ill your child is! Ours have tried to say unless your child is actually being sick just send them in, they will send them home if they decide the child is too ill to be at school. On top of this they have added 3 weeks of special treats for those who are in every day, so children who have the misfortune of picking something up (probably from school) miss out!

Winteriscoming80 · 10/12/2025 09:20

My dc had one day off last week,100% attendance before that,school sent the attendance officer round!boiled my piss that did!

AllotmentTime · 10/12/2025 09:21

YANBU. Half DD's year is off with "cold plus diarrhoea" at the moment which is almost certainly covid. She's missed three days this term - two when she had this bug last month, and one for a streaming cold. I got a phone call from school to follow up and ask me what was going on!! They were very polite about it but essentially asking me what the reason was for her having three days off. THREE. In the cold months when there are a million bugs around. What a waste of time - and way to sabotage their own attendance figures if they get ill children to come in and spread it around.

AllotmentTime · 10/12/2025 09:22

Winteriscoming80 · 10/12/2025 09:20

My dc had one day off last week,100% attendance before that,school sent the attendance officer round!boiled my piss that did!

Cross post, okay you win 😆

Mangomammy · 10/12/2025 09:24

Why would it be counted any differently than any other illness.

if you’re child is too unwell for school keep them off, if they are okay for school send them in…

HereintheloveofChristIstand · 10/12/2025 09:25

Winteriscoming80 · 10/12/2025 09:20

My dc had one day off last week,100% attendance before that,school sent the attendance officer round!boiled my piss that did!

that seems excessive!
Was the absence on a Friday or Monday? I know some schools are clamping down on pre Christmas holiday piss takers. But that is so annoying for you given you have an exemplary record and a good attitude towards attendance!

Peripain · 10/12/2025 09:26

Plus needing a Dr letter for minor bugs that keep them off school. Just refused to get one for a 48hr upset stomach. Dr packed with flu cases - don’t want to waste their time or catch flu.

luckily school was okay about it.

SleepingStandingUp · 10/12/2025 09:26

the absence rule doesn't make you send your sick kid into school. parents do.

SleepingStandingUp · 10/12/2025 09:28

Idontknowwhy15 · 09/12/2025 19:27

School sent home the NHS guidance today about whether or not your child is well enough for school. Ofsted, etc make them obsess over attendance. My daughters have been off yesterday and today, we’re all (me included) feeling rough. Fevers, hacking coughs, no sleep. When the calpol’s at its peak power they get up and play a little - apparently this means they’re well enough to school. If I sent them in they’d infect half their class in time for Xmas, be miserable and probably take longer to get better. I get what you’re trying to say OP.

and yet quite rightly your kid isn't in school. you made that choice. as her parent.

letitallopen · 10/12/2025 09:31

A lot of the problems stem from the tone of the letters, which are typically both haughty and patronising. An actual conversation tends to get everyone so much further.

SleepingStandingUp · 10/12/2025 09:34

oneinataxioneinacar · 10/12/2025 07:58

I agree with you that the absence rules need revisiting. But that applies generally not just specifically in relation to flu

exactly.

my child won't get an attendance certificate/ prize because he had an operation in September so literally missed the first day back. His surgical reviews, it's an hour each way so if it's say 2pm he didn't get his afternoon mark. and then we've just had 11.5 school days off for his latest operation.

why is your kids flu to be treated differently to my kids operations?

if they're ill, keep them home. if they don't get their 200% certificate, that's life. they normally get a book or bag of sweets etc. youngest two always get it. I but eldest whatever his classmates get. he's not ill on purpose