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??

Im not sure who you mean by 'we'.

Im certainly not suggesting people should be off

Im trying to debunk the continuing myth that if you have flu, you're virtually bedbound.

This is not true.

If you're well enough to be up and about, be up and about. Its as simple as that. Any one of us could be carrying this or that or the other, its human reality.

@OldTiredMum1976 It’s a safety and safeguarding issue and the government should know who is enrolled where and what their attendance is. A few days sick is neither here nor there. Tracking dc in unregistered schools is a matter for the government and most people recognise the need for this.

My DC's school have half termly attendance assemblies and name all children who have 100% attendance and reward with certificates. All the other children are made to clap and cheer them. It's a whole big deal. At the end of the year, those children with 100% have a whole assembly where they sit on the stage, get a certificate, get vouchers, and then have the afternoon 'off' to have party food and watch TV. Again, all the other children are made to clap and praise them, and then they go off to their normal lessons.

Tell me that isn't punishing children for taking time off school for the sin of being unwell.

Until the day when that practice is stopped I will send my child in with pretty much everything short of diptheria, if they themselves are feeling well enough to go. That includes chicken pox D&V, COVID and flu. My secret hope is that they puke on the headteacher themselves.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/flu/

I agree that those awards are just completely shit. And as your reaction shows, really poorly thought through (although I do think your response is unnecessary, and shitty for other children & parents).

well I'd be pulling her out as soon as possible. a school with so little respect for staff or children isn't somewhere I'd want my children. expecting kids to sit there whilst their teacher vomits into a bag and then carries on teaching phonics, I'd just phone my child in sick until January

so instead of continuing to sensibly parent their children, they'd rather send their kids into school unwell than deal with their own feelings over a letter they know is pointless?

then what? you're frustrated teachers are ill. you don't want the teachers in ill. if they're not in ill, their has to be a substitute teacher. you don't want the teacher sacked and replaced, so you have to have interim teachers whenever their ill. you can't expect Mrs Interim to take no other jobs just in case Ms TeacherYr10 is ill, so you have to have different interim teachers.

what do you propose then?

so you want to punish other kids and teachers by hoping to pass on your kids illness as a way to punish the head teacher?

I mean I agree those assemblies are shit. kids with 100% get the certificate and a small prize here but no separating them out to party whilst their peers work. As a mother of a kid with chronic illnesses, I feel your pain but why punish the other kids? it isn't their fault they're not off more than your kid

There is a little girl with Leukaemia in our school and yet some parents are STILL sending their children in poorly and the school is still sending letters telling off parents (after a 2 week ‘mini pandemic’ within the school where quite literally 60% of the school were off sick at the same time) for keeping their kids off 🙄🤷🏼‍♀️

And actually mostly shitty to your own unwell child who wants to stay home not vomit in class!

@OklowkayGenuine question - Would you still do this if there was a child with leukaemia in your DC’s school? I’m asking because there is in my DC’s primary; She’s just come back after another round of chemo and her mum keeps reminding everyone how imperative it is to keep any & all illnesses away from her as it could kill her (Lord forbid). Yet people are still sending their children in, visibly sick and hacking coughs

Attendance awards are absolute shit and very bad practice. That aside I don’t understand why any pupil/parent would give two hoots about their attendance. It is a metric the schools care about.

I agree with your opinion on attendance awards. But the purpose of them is to make the children care because they want the reward.
Pointless though because at primary school, for most children it is not their decision whether they go in or not. If I decide my DD is too ill and she argues with me because she wants an attendance award, I wouldn’t say “oh ok then, off you go with your raging fever and vomiting”.
Attendance awards are also all or nothing. So once you’ve missed one day, if you were solely motivated by the award that has now completely gone so who cares.

Because they make the children care about them. They make it such a song and dance that some children are crushed when they don't get it. It's emotional leverage using the child as the pawn. My own DS was so anxious about being 'bad' and missing a day that he gets distraught if there's even a hint that he might be off - we had days of anxiety when he had a hospital pre op appointment and I couldn't change it. He sees it as a personal failure because that's what they've made it into.

Schools reap what they sow.

But the alternative is that no children attend her class. Most illnesses are infectious days before they're symptomatic, that's how successful viruses work.

I said if they themselves feel well.

It isn't anyone's fault, that's the point. There is no personal merit in attending 100% of the days - and yet there is much reward.

If they place so much value in my kid being there 100% of the time, in they go.

You said d&v! No one is feeling well with d&v

Not true. Sometimes you can vomit once and then it's over. But the 48 hour rule means that the school themselves are excluding children from the prize they have paraded in front of them as the be all and end all.

Nope. If they feel OK, they go in. Can't have it both ways.

Poorly, temperature, pain and/or vomiting; DC are staying home, regardless of illness procedures.

Coughs and colds; they’re going in.

@BorgQueen totally agree.

It's rocket science isn't it.
We are in a supposed crisis so why not have winter NHS crisis protocol.
Eg forget school uniform ,wear as warm as possible keep windows open a little and an opposite door.
Or air the room every 45 mins ?
Teachers forget fashion wear and dress for warmth.

And roll out proper ventilation .

And yes relax attendance rules .

Hey, your daughter’s English teacher here (or at the very least, a colleague and fellow sick-note)!

I caught covid from a kid in school (maybe your daughter as you see most school absence as unnecessary?) a month ago. Bad enough if I wasn’t vulnerable, but I have Lupus. I had the vaccination in September (along with my flu) but caught it anyway. Covid became a severe chest infection and then I developed shingles too. Am pumped full of steroids and on my fourth week in bed.

Sorry about your daughter's upcoming exams. If it makes you feel better I can’t take care of my own kids, am worried for my job despite being good at it aside from being ill with a disease that’s not my fault and makes me vulnerable to the world outside (and don’t worry, those attendance figures DO count for me as a member of staff) and Christmas is fast approaching but I’ve done no shopping, so am somewhat stressed. Please accept my apologies for all of the above and for Keir Starmer too (as I’m sure you hate him too).

Fuckity bye.

I run the medical room in a large school. I don’t want your kids in school if they are genuinely unwell. This last term has been awful for sick bugs/ viruses. However, a genuine fact, we have a few year 11s who still have 100% attendance, which is unbelievable. I know the kids who are pulling a fast one -like one today who told me he was feeling very sick, whilst eating a large sausage roll….

I had an email from my son’s secondary school last week saying that they don’t follow the 48 hour rule after sickness. I won’t be listening to them if that situation rises.