To find it increasingly annoying, that parents send clearly ill children into school

[Howarewealldoing]

As the title states really, why do parents continue to send clearly ill children into school . When they should
A. Be at home resting and recovering
B. Stop spreading their illness on to everyone else
It’s not fair on the child and everyone else , and I find it incredibly selfish

Letters that can be chucked straight in the bin because illness must be marked as authorised absence and therefore cannot lead to a fine.

If someone is dragging their kid out of bed and sending them in to school unwell because they don’t like the tone of a letter, they need to stop being so wet.

This is entirely not down to the parents ???

The school attendance team will threaten to take you to court should your kid get ill multiple times in the autumn winter term 😄

Not to mention the gp being unable to do anything for a viral cold or whatever. You dont get antibiotics for your kid anymore!

Not to mention getting an appointment, taking them out in the cold to the gp, for the gp to do nothing, then judge you when you ask for proof youve taken them to the gp!!

Its a nightmare.

Sadly lots of people’s jobs would sack them for taking too much time off. These companies really don’t care that their employees’ children are off sick from school.

Don’t be silly. The gov statutory guidance is completely clear that illness must be marked as authorised absence and that medical evidence is not to be asked for unless in exceptional circumstances. If schools are marking it an unauthorised and it’s leading to fines, they need correcting on the statutory guidance because they are ignoring it.

I had no family, ex husband used to laugh if I ever asked him to do more than the 24 hours eow he occasionally committed too and if I was off with them I would lose all overtime for the next month. And I relied heavily on the extra money that gave me.
my kids sometimes went to school with a cold as I was doing the best I could when things were stacked me

😄😄 i'm not being silly

Pop yourself down to my dd's school and speak to the attendance officer yourself - terrifying lady

I just take dd in now, show the teacher that shes unwell again and then take her home

And thats only if shes really ill. If shes got a cough or the sniffles, she goes in 🤷‍♀️

This
Chilldren will always be subject to coughs, sniffles etc
Some children will be kept off for the most minor of things whilst for alot of parents, it's a case of dosing with medication and keeping your fingers crossed. I'm not referring to illnesses that are extreme.
I worked ft as a single parent when my child was at school, couldn't take time off on every occasion.
@

For the five millionth time, the problem is our stupid 'attendance' culture and workplace policies, not parents doing the goddamn best they can with what they've got.

But - going to school ill doesn't teach resilience, it teaches adherence to the aforesaid culture and policies.

Letters are automatically generated after percentage of absences (regardless of reason). I believe (but may be wrong) that letter format is from Government so if its threatening that is the Government wording.

However it IS up to the school if they send it out. Our DFS school would send it regardless but his HoY would message and say we are not worried we know and understand the reasons.
My DH has several children with multiple absences but the letters dont go out as he/the school are aware why.

However TEACHERS/TAs who have bugger all say in any of this DO NOT want sick kids in school, especially at this time of the year. Those kids spread it and recover just in time for the holidays whilst given other pupils and staff it and spoiling their holidays.

I do get thats its difficult but it doesn't make sending them in the right thing to do either.

Mine will go to school as long as she's able to. If there's a temperature I will keep her home because I have an understanding and flexible employer. If she has a runny nose, I don't think even my employer would stretch to that.

If she's got a sniffle I will always tell her that if she feels bad during the day to tell her teacher and ask them to phone me. The problem is that I don't know if they would. There seems to be a problem in some schools that's still akin to the 'wet paper towel' cure for everything.

We're entering into a point in time where forcing both parents to work and therefore treating school like daycare is going to backfire.

Kids are an inconvenience for most, and I dread to think what things are going to be like in the next generation. Perhaps the state will get too big and collapse, and then we'll see a shrinkage of state schools, or maybe fewer state schools and more of a relaxed/less snarky attitude towards homeschooling.

OP your posts don't ring true. If you actually do have three children in the school system currently you would know what they're like re attendance. Children shouldn't be missing valuable days of education for minor illness. Attendance is a huge problem since covid and schools are right to crack down.

My DC had 100% attendance last year and had 1 day off sept for d&v a couple of weeks ago she had what we suspect was Covid - on her second day absence we were told we needed some Kind of proof she was sick so I took her to the walk in centre although fairly convinced she had a viral infection to get a note of attendance

she went in the following day. She wasn’t fully right and in all honestly she needed at least one more day off if not two

blame the overbearing and draconian attendance laws and policies that state we can’t be trusted to parent our children

Our school does. They send out someone to the house on the second day of absence to check how ill the child is. Even if they are very unwell they still expect them back the next day.

How are you doing there floating about on your privilege? Every been in insecure hourly paid work?

A combination of things ,extremely unforgiving unkind employers who won't allow their staff time at home with sick children and schools pushing attendance like crazy.

Saying send them in ill !

If as a society we could move to a more caring child centered environment it would be better all around for everyone instead we are drifting onto the American model which is backward

Agreed, and even on a salaried job in the private sector you can pretty much be fired for anything.

Schools absolutely do hassle families if children are off ill.
They also pressure children to come in when ill as otherwise they will be excluded from attendance rewards.

And of course employers hassle parents who take time off for sick children. I've worked for employers who allowed you one day (unpaid) for your child's illness and then you were expected to find alternative care and come in to work.

Yep, so easy to say just keep your kids home when they're ill and don't worry about school, work, fines, disciplinaries...

Who said take children out for mild illness because I didn’t. My post doesn’t ring true because it doesn’t aline with you very strange . My children take time off when genuinely ill which I always report every day before registration. A school can not refuse a genuine illness and must mark it down as an authorised absence. And even if that wasn’t true ( which it is ) . I wouldn’t seen my child into school sick because a teacher told me not to . My children’s welfare is more important . how much do you think a sick child is actually learning at school ?.

Oh and for everyone one asking I do work ( engineer) . And my husband and I work around each other to ensure we can cover illness when needed. As taking time off and letting are children ( only one still school age) . recover Instead of running her down into the ground sending her to school while clearly ill . Means she tends to get better quicker having that time to rest and recover.

It's such a delightfully naive way to look at the world! Children come first, sure. Except that a large proportion of parents work in types of jobs which do not offer sick pay or parental leave pay. Spending a few days off work with a sick child (who is well enough to attend school) has real implications for their pay. I'm sure kids don't massively benefit if parents suddenly can't heat their home of buy food.
These are the same parents who unfortunately have to go to work sick as well for the same reason. I had one sick day in 20 years and that was when I literally couldn't get off the loo with a stomach bug. Because SSP doesn't exactly cover rent and bills.

"I have never had any issues covering child sickness and my kids' schools haven't harassed me over it so this must also be true of everyone else". Come on op, use your imagination a little.

So you have a professional job that has some flexibility and can be done outside of specific hours and potentially from home?

Thats a privilege a lot of people don’t have. While I agree with you that sending poorly kids into school doesn’t benefit anyone, blaming parents who maybe have to chose between keeping their kids at home and not having a job anymore is missing the point.

Categorically not true.
I've just received a letter from DD's school following time off with a respiratory infection (which we take seriously as she's asthmatic) specifically saying that all students are expected to attend unless they have diarrhoea or vomiting. Under the heading "Unfit vs Unwell", parents are informed that a cold, a temperature, a respiratory infection etc is to be treated with over-the-counter medication, and said pupil delivered to school as usual. School reserves the right to visit the young person at home to make a welfare assessment and determine whether they are unfit or unwell.

So schools definitely put their foot down with regard to absence arising from illness too.

Because we live in a country where lots of people work in jobs on minimum wages and/or zero hours contacts, plus anyone with less than 2 years in the job can be fired for no reason and then of course there are all the people on temporary contracts or who are self employed. Good for you if you can afford to lose your job or several days pay, but most people can’t.

i paid £140 for the chickenpox vaccine because i was a lone parent who would have her entire savings wiped out if my son got chicken pox and I had to take 10 days off work unpaid. And I am a teacher, who couldn’t be fired for doing that but who had a school who were constantly harassing and guilt tripping me if I took any time at all of with my son.

its funny how parents don’t complain about teachers going to work when sick, in fact they are all outraged if their kids have supply staff because their children aren’t learning enough and their routine is scuppered.

Imagine the stress of having to send your poorly child to school or else lose your job? Then you might be able to understand why people send sick kids to school.