School absence rules are super powering the spread of flu

[Pavementworrier]

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??

I agree.

I think OP is correct in saying that sometimes school policies do encourage viruses to spread eg the PP who said they were told “send your child in when ill and we will decide whether they should be ill”. But I am confused by parents who take any notice of such nonsense.

it's shit but you can't stop lots of children getting an education because they need be off for every cough and sniffle to protect another child. if a child is so medically vulnerable that they can't risk being around kids with typical sniffles, they need a suitable alternative offer

so you want the teacher in making your kid sick so they miss their exams? or sacked and replaced cos she got ill?

if your school has teachers working whilst carrying sick bags to vomit into, you need to report them and change schools. not that I believe this isn't hyperbole tho

In a nutshell: If you think your child is too poorly for school, keep them at home.

If your child has a high temp, keep them at home.

If child is bouncing off the walls, normal temperature, eating fine, not in pain but has a bit of a snotty nose, send them in.

Don’t stress over attendance figures.

I don’t get why you are so adamant it has to only be a serious illness?

...because it is a serious illness. It kills people, including the young as well as the elderly. That's why we vaccinate the most vulnerable.

Thankfully, most people have never had flu, because it's is considerably less infectious than colds and covid and most people when they have the real thing are too ill to go out spreading it.

Colds can be anything from a bit of cough and sniffles that you can easily work through to nasty illnesses that can make you ill for a couple of weeks. Colds can be dangerous for people who are very frail or who have compromised immunity, but otherwise cause no long-term harm.

I have no idea,made me feel like I was doing the wrong thing keeping him off school,he hasn’t missed a day or even been late!

What do you mean? In Scotland we take our kids out whenever we want to. I took the OP as meaning the English way is a problem. No one forces the kids to be in but you’re fined if you keep your kids off or have too many absences. It’s not something we do in Scotland, and children can be off for any reason and can go on holiday at any time of year during term time if the parents choose to. No one stresses about attendance rates here if their child needs to be off due to illness.

No one has said it can’t be serious. Of course it can, it kills thousands of people a year.

But that doesn’t mean it’s always horrendous.

“The average number of sick days was 5.3 across all teachers in 2022/23, when those who did not miss any school was taken into account.
By comparison, the average UK worker was off for 5.7 days owing to illness or injury in the 2022 calendar year, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.”

Not sure about the latest figures. Teacher absence since Covid has increased, and so has pupil absence, for various reasons including Covid.

No it is not fair to have supply teachers in exam years but sometimes there’s not a lot that can be done about that.

I can only go off what I’ve heard but my own child said her teacher was carrying a sick bag last week, three children yesterday and on Monday two children from her class threw up in school one in the dinner line.

She’s in year 5 and not known for making up fairy tales, friends child in the same year says her daughter is saying the same.

My child’s teacher carrying the sick bag was then off school for three days after that day.

No.

School don't make you come in when you're 1ill though. It's your choice as a parent to keep your child off or not. You judge it yourself. If they try and put a bit of pressure on then I remind them Im the parent and I'll let them know when they'll be back thank you very much. Schools do have safeguarding obligations which is absolutely fair enough, they can pop by if they want but I'll decide when my kids are back in school. Never had a problem.

I don’t know what you mean by “not counted”? It’s an authorised absence if they’re off. There’s nothing wrong with that, but obviously the school has to record the face.

Counted towards what?

If you mean attendance awards and all that crap, what they should be doing is getting rid of awards as they’re ridiculous.

But if they don’t “count” all the time kids are off, every abusive parent will cite “flu” every time they want to keep their kid under the radar.

I think there's a lot more that can be done about it, at both LA and gov level.
The upper echelons, certainly in Scotland, are only interested in headline statistics. Substance, not so much.

No not at all.

what I meant is it’s not the absence rules spreading flu it’s people that are unaware they actually have flu which can’t really be helped

As an aside, the only (two) people I know who’ve had flu this year were both vaccinated shortly beforehand. 🤷🏼‍♀️
Perhaps the vaccine is a part of the problem?

Would be interested to see the stats on this.

We should make sure we get jabs. It greatly lessens symptoms. Far too many elderly don’t bother let alone anyone else.

There’s been a very interesting study with this at our school. It’s a private and, before this year and shitty Labour, the local council had no involvement with absences because it was private. Our head has always been very sensible and it ran very well. Parents were good at keeping poorly children off, the odd holiday was fine as well, no one took the piss - great!

Then came fucking Labour who always have to ruin a good thing. Now, we have to report all absences to the council - not that they can do anything about them - and we have to send a sniffy letter after 10 half day absences even if a child has been in hospital for a week. Consequently, parents don’t like getting this condescending letters so have started to send in poorly children to avoid them. This year it’s been like a plague city. Every teacher have had the worse illness of their lives - 2 have been hospitalised and our attendance figures are ironically worse than ever because everyone is so ill. This has proven what our stupid attendance policies do and is why the state should be involved in people’s lives as little as possible.

My DS's school currently have some teachers putting 'poorly' students on one half of the classroom and well students on the other half.... well that will solve it ....😉

I’m not sure one year which has very high flu figures nationwide is a great demonstration of any particular behaviour change tbh.
Are parents really deciding that children they felt should stay home last year should now be forced in when unwell so that they don’t get a letter..? Have they considered getting a grip?

@OldTiredMum1976 If a parent forces their sick child into school just because they’re worried about receiving a snotty letter they’re a shit parent and a massive wet wipe to boot.

The reason staff have been absent this year will be because there are far more nasty bugs circulating, nothing to do with letters. I’m in my fourth cold/Covid/flu since September. Last year I didn’t have one all winter.

@OldTiredMum1976 I am not sure you can blame th government for a flu that is literally around the world!

Also the current school regulations and guidelines came into force August 2024 they were made and laid before Parliament February 2024 so before the last general election!

You're wrong. Why are people continuing to post things like this?

A study? Or do you just mean there’s an interesting anecdote?