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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

100% Attendance Certificates

141 replies

fandjango · 18/12/2025 19:52

My son has come home from school today with a pin badge (Gold style with 100 on it) and a certificate saying well done on 100% attendance all term.

He has only started reception this year. He is absolutely thrilled with the certificate and the fact it has been laminated! and is also so proud of his badge.

I am obviously pleased he is happy but I feel that rewarding children in this way is detrimental to the children who for whatever reason cannot help not having 100% attendance.

He is in a friendship group of three and one of the other boys also had a badge and certificate but the other boy in their group has been off so much recently and also hospitalised (we don’t know with what) and he hasn’t had one.

I am disabled myself and maybe that is skewing my feelings on this but I just feel sorry for his friend who has watched his other friends be rewarded for something he cannot help.

I do understand clamping down on unnecessary absences and the need to have incentives too.

OP posts:

amiadickhead · 18/12/2025 19:54

Yeah it's bollocks, if a child has poor attendance it's for a reason outside the child's control. It's not fair to make a thing out of it like this.

WombatStewForTea · 18/12/2025 19:55

Most schools do it. They don't have a choice really. They have to be seen to be pushing attendance

rubyslippers · 18/12/2025 19:56

My DD has a long term health condition which means she never has 100% attendance and misses out on rewards like this
It’s rubbish

CandyflossKid · 18/12/2025 19:56

Must admit, attendance certificates were the only things my children ever achieved!

Posithor · 18/12/2025 19:56

I really hate this.
My daughter has 98% attendance (had a sickness bug the first two days of term) and they basically said must do better...
There's a difference between genuinely sick kids and kids not being sent to school.

landlordhell · 18/12/2025 19:57

It’s awful and I work in primary. We don’t do it. My chn were rarely off but once one had her appendix out so she felt crap when she didn’t get a certificate! Pointless and not in the control of the child

ShesTheAlbatross · 18/12/2025 19:59

YANBU. At that age it is nothing to do with the child. It’s not an achievement on their part in any way. And the school making them seem like it is makes other children feel bad, and also risks making your child feel bad when next term he has a bug and doesn’t get one.

At that age they are off because a) they have a long term health condition/disability that affects attendance, b) they get a short lived standard virus, c) their parent chooses not to take them for whatever reason. None of that is down to the child.

Cybiil · 18/12/2025 20:00

It’s such bollocks I really question the how these people are in charge of children. I am
a mother of children who never got attendance certificates and at times had fairly low attendance, but have all gone on to achieve top grades at school and university and straight into great jobs.

CaptainCallisto · 18/12/2025 20:01

I hate them with a passion. One of my sons has a health condition that means he missed a LOT of school. He literally never got one. His primary school changed to whole class targets for attendance when he was in Y3, which was supposed to make it less awful, but all it meant in reality was that he cried in hospital after a major surgery because he thought he was letting his classmates down

His brother has 100% attendance more often than not, but he would just put the certificates straight in the bin because he knew it wasn't fair.

Cybiil · 18/12/2025 20:02

Oh and wanted to say I am glad I listened to them when they felt sick and didn’t force them into school with their germs but wrapped them up warm. In my son’s primary class there was also a little girl who had cancer and never got a certificate!!

supergreengrass · 18/12/2025 20:02

Many aspects of school life are outside a child's control. Never chosen for sports teams awards/ school plays because they aren't sporty/not talented.. Not good academically and on the special help table or set (everyone knows which it is even if it isn't labelled).
For my DC with an EHCP, their good attendance was the only thing that could be rewarded. They were incredibly proud of that achievement in the way their peers were proud of being in a sports team, high academic achiever....

PlazaAthenee · 18/12/2025 20:02

CandyflossKid · 18/12/2025 19:56

Must admit, attendance certificates were the only things my children ever achieved!

One of mine had a few. They still didn't achieve that well either. I look back and think that maybe a holiday or three during term time over the years would have done more good.

MannersAreAll · 18/12/2025 20:03

WombatStewForTea · 18/12/2025 19:55

Most schools do it. They don't have a choice really. They have to be seen to be pushing attendance

They do have a choice.

The last school i worked in had a 100% effort award for attendance - which meant the kid with a 42% attendance due to being a hospital inpatient for multiple periods was rewarded for the fact she actually put in as much effort, if not more, than her classmate who had 100%

There are plenty of ways of encouraging attendance without discriminating against small children - who actually have zero power in their attendance anyway.

IdaGlossop · 18/12/2025 20:04

It's annoying and unfair. My DD was out of catchment until Y5 and missed out on 100% attendance because of one day when the snow was so deep even the trams didn't run. Without a word of complaint, she had arrived at school on every other day during this prolonged snowfall after a 45 minute walk in a snowsuit. DH made her a certificate applauding her resilience.

Allswellthatendswelll · 18/12/2025 20:05

Hate them!
Honestly I am usually a " don't be that parent" but in this case I would be asking whether the school wants a lot of bugs to spread?

Schools do have a lot of pressure on them about attendance from Ofsted etc but this is not the way!

whstarainyevening · 18/12/2025 20:06

I’m always a lone voice on here but I don’t think anything is wrong with them. It is helpful for kids when they’ve had good attendance and then it’s the end of the term and they are getting a bit tired / run down and wanting a day off.

It is frustrating though; my own ds has had 100% attendance this term but because he was late in one morning due to my car suddenly breaking down its down as 99% attendance. It’s a shame as I think that’s the only time off he’ll have this year and he wasn’t even off!

Mumof1andacat · 18/12/2025 20:06

Attendance certificates I don't agree with. I work in paediatric oncology and I know some children will never receive a certificate because of treatment which can last for two years but obviously extended if they are too unwell to receive and need treatment breaks. Follow up appointments after treatment is finished(scans, blood tests and bone marrow tests) can be completed for up to 5 years so school at 100% attendance for them will never be achieved. It's like saying your healthy and you're not!

drspouse · 18/12/2025 20:07

My DS has a long term health condition. His attendance certificates are based on all the days he isn't ill.

justpassmethemouse · 18/12/2025 20:07

Are these the only awards being given out? Or does the school also have awards for effort, achievement, responsibility, school values etc.? Attendance awards are okay IMO among a range of prizes.

Zanatdy · 18/12/2025 20:07

Yes absolutely hate it. The school got funny with us in year 9 as DD’s health wasn’t great and was under 80%. 2yrs later she left school with top grades in the school. I always feel sorry for small children like your child’s age when they can’t understand. Essentially they are being rewarded for not getting sick and that poor boy who has been in hospital didn’t get a certificate and badge because of that. For some children, their parent didn’t bother to take them some days so their badge / certificate gone too. Totally agree it’s horrible.

Allswellthatendswelll · 18/12/2025 20:11

DS, in reception, has 99% as I took him home after his start of term lunch picnic. It was a very much "do take them home if you'd like" so I'd be mildly annoyed if he didn't get one (they don't do them thankfully). I'd be raging if we all had flu over Christmas because some poor kid wanted a certificate!

User8008135 · 18/12/2025 20:18

It's a really stupid system. It punishes kids when it's their grownups who ultimately control why they come in- for whichever reason.

For sickness, it's especially ridiculous. My youngest vommed in school and was sent home, told not to return for 2 days (as he should) and it was marked as unauthorised!

I don't think the kids care at all for attendance awards at least at ours. Clapping is always half hearted at best and the kids don't look enthused. The most clapping (at ours) comes from kind acts, trying hard, good work and overcoming adversity.

DallazMajor · 18/12/2025 20:21

They do this for staff at the place I used to work. Needless to say I never got a certificate. I brought it up in a team meeting and asked where my certificate to commiserate my ill health was. I got bollocked.

MermaidMummy06 · 18/12/2025 20:28

It's ridiculous. I told DD's teacher so, and they agreed wholeheartedly. Awards nothing to encourage attendance, and make those staying home while ill feel ashamed.

What's worse is DD"s school does class attendance awatds, so class with most attendance wins. Her class never wins as her friend misses a day a fortnight for child access arrangement with her DF. She doesn't care, but it's still stupid.

verycloakanddaggers · 18/12/2025 20:30

These awards are nonsense and we just never accepted them, I explained to school I thought it was poor practice to reward kids for being lucky with germs and health.

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