100% Attendance Certificates

[fandjango]

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.

I don't agree with them. Children (and in the workplace) being off longer than necessary, or because of lifestyle issues that are within their control (older children) are what should be targeted.

My children are grown up now but I can still remember DD’s outrage at one of her classmates getting one of these certificates when she didn’t.
DD had been sent home poorly one Friday afternoon, which was her only absence that year, so had 99%, I think.
Her classmate had been away on holiday for over a week. The holiday was authorised due to military parents, but she definitely didn’t have 100% attendance.
I could never see the benefit of attendance certificates. At best it’s out of anyone’s control, and at worst could encourage ill children being sent to school.

It’s reprehensible, ableist nonsense. You are not wrong.

I would just mention to him he was lucky he wasn't sick. We are keep getting sent emails reminding us not to send our children in if they are sick, but I think that is because there is a child in the class above who is going through chemo. I'm happy my childrens school doesn't do them. It's not like the children can help being sick and most of the time it's their parents that decide if they are to go into school or not, not the children themselves. 🤷

We live in northern Ireland so I don't think our schools are as strict. We went on holiday in October and when I told the head teacher she was happy for us and spoke to my daughter about how excited she was to go swimming.

100% agree @fandjango it's a terrible idea for an award to have really, as people can't help it if they're off sick/unwell, or can't make 100% attendance for some reason.

Still, congratulations to your son for his award, but as you say, him and his pal getting it, and the other lad not getting it, has made that other lad feel blue now.

May as well have awards for being tall, or for having blue eyes.

My DC never had an Attendance Award, as I used to ring in sick for them about 3 or 4 days out of every school year to take them on a day trip (to the beach or a theme park, as it was less hectic in school time,) #sorrynotsorry

They also used to call the 100% attendance award the 'Nerd Award!' 😆 (Sorry, no offence to your son.)

.

100% attendance awards, particularly in primary school, are basically rewarding luck (woohoo you by chance managed to avoid getting a vomiting bug or a stranger sneezing flu germs over you on the bus) or parents' choices on whether a child is too ill to go to school etc. I also don't think they make a difference (no parent who thinks their child is probably too ill to go to school today is going to send them in just so they get a 'certificate' in a few weeks time).

However, I don't think they're the worst thing in the world when schools use other forms of reward as well (certificates for effort / good grades / achievements, other types of reward and recognition etc dotted throughout the year). There will be some kids who stand no chance of getting 100% attendance, but for some kids it might be a welcome recognition or acknowledgement because they haven't had any other 'public' acknowledgement.

A good teacher / school will space rewards out so everyone has a chance to shine at some point. Eg, Billy is a bit behind academically and doesn't really stand out, but going up to collect his attendance certificate makes him happy. Kyle has had a serious illness and missed loads of school but the teacher sends a note home to parents telling them about something really kind he did today, like being a good friend to someone.

No child should be made to feel bad for things beyond their control (like ill health), but schools can't tailor all reward systems to make sure noone is ever left out. As long as everyone is given recognition for their strengths at some point during the year I don't see a problem. If a child is upset they didn't get a specific reward, it's a parent's job to point out other things they are good at, or to just learn to be happy for their classmates.

I would absolutely hit the roof at a class award. And I say that as someone who worked in schools for 20+ years and I'm normally on the schools side.

Class awards like that are essentially setting children up to be bullied.

Ditto. As I said, I kept mine off for 4 or 5 individual days a year, for day trips to the zoo or a theme park or the beach, AND we kept them off for a week in early July or late September to go away for a week, (authorised fo the first 5 or 6 years they were at school, and not authorised for the next 5 years.) And they did have the occasional genuine 'sick day' when they were actually unwell.

Like yours, mine went to college, got very good A levels, went to Uni, got a good grade in their degree, and went straight into a good job/career. Never been out of work (both left Uni about a decade ago.)

.

It is absolutely stupid isn’t it. It’s basically saying to kids well done on not being sick enough to be absent from school during term time, like it’s in their control. Stupid idea. They just shouldn’t give certificates for this.

Our school thankfully don't do them. I have one child with 100% attendance and one with EBSA 🙃

However, they do publish the weekly class attendance % in the weekly newsletter and congratulate the class with the best attendance. They also make crappy, snidey comments, like "With the exception of one class, everyone has had a huge drop in attendance this week. Can you do better next week?" 🤨

I'm not exactly sure what they were expecting when it was the first week of December with both noro and Super Flu circulating. That week's newsletter publication coincided with headlines about how bad flu is this year.

Agree it's really harsh on those with any kind of long term health conditions or similar. My son has missed two sessions this term. Both were authorised and both were for hospital appointments which are absolutely vital. If he's not monitored carefully he could lose his vision. They can't accommodate seeing all school age children outside of school hours for obvious reasons and it's more important than school to make sure he gets the treatment he needs.
He roughly has an appointment every 8 weeks so this is fairly standard. He is unlikely to achieve that award but he has been in school every single day without complaint.
Thankfully he doesn't seem too bothered by it. His attendance is still 99% so it's hardly like he is not maintaining good attendance.

There were only 5 pupils or less in the whole primary school that got one when mine were at primary so most didn’t get one. I don’t see the problem with so few getting them, I’d understand if everyone but five got the award. And ultimately it was a sheet of paper.

Yes and it gets worse as they get older. My sons school has-
a tracker display board of attendance per class every term the class with the most gets a prize.
a Christmas raffle every week of full attendance gets an entry to a raffle to win a Xmas present.
same at Easter
End of year get treats like ice cream or a trip out.

Yes, I agree with op. Right up there with, in a reverse sort of way, "You all won the year 5 sprinting event today. Everyone of you should be proud." As the actual winner looks on perplexed.

Urgh yeah, the 'team wins' to make sure no child ever loses anything! 🙄

No wonder so many young people have anxiety and mental health issues these days, they've been mollycoddled so much at school, rarely told NO, and never been allowed to lose anything.

Kids must learn not everyone can win everything - this is a good example

wish they would do similar with sports day

Our school has never done this. I think my kids would be so embarrassed to get this anyway. It’s like they found the only thing that’s good about them- attending school.

My kids are grown up now but it's been going on for years.

It would be so much better to do it based on attendance of possible /available days - eg for the kids in hospital they were not available on those days so attendance is only measured on the rest of the time.

I guess that's far too complicated though but would be far more fair.

It's crap. I never had 100% attendance as a kid because I had one or two hospital appointments a year for a disability. It used to make me sad that I was there for every other session that year except those appointments over something I had no control about but would never get a certificate.

My DC's school is fab. They don't award 100% attendance. They sometimes release the attendance figures per class and highlight in their weekly assembly which class had 'won' that week. It then never targets a specific child who has had time off for illness. I think they do reward kids who have worked hard to improve their addendance with the school and have got to 90%+ or similar but not for those who manage 100%.

Every talent is watered down these days. If a young girl is brilliant at art and draws in her spare time why not tell her she has a talent in art. Children know the truth. They tell their friends if they feel that friend is better than them at something. And that's fine. We adults mess it all up by saying it hurts the other child's feelings. Then we end up with messed up adults who go on x factor or shows like that and when they sing the shatter the windows. Let kids be kids. Stop adults interfering in childhood. There we are - rant over!

my DD’s often got them, certainly encouraged them in later years to not to try it on

Definitely not, it’s another pressure on kids with exams and stuff. I suffer from chronic illness and before I was diagnosed I missed some exams at uni because I couldn’t get through a 3 hour exam without being violently ill. I felt like the world was ending! When I went to work I let myself get way too poorly until I got a diagnosis and then it felt like I was justified (even though that took 7 years).

I think it’s harmful to both the kids who get it and the ones who don’t to be honest.

What you have just said is yet another example of why this does not work. He was only late for school what about the other children who have serious illnesses and absolutely have to have time off.

I hate this at school. It makes children who can’t/wont attend feel awful. Most children don’t attend due to either health (physical or mental) or circumstances at home, or parenting reasons. Not their fault.

when they get older it just makes them think what’s the point, they can’t achieve 100% so why bother going much at all. It makes them stand out, and blames them for something they aren’t to blame for.

schools have to be hot on attendance but rewarding it like this is not necessary.

I agree with lots of these comments but do remember my DC being so happy when they got theirs. The headteacher made a really big thing of it during a special assembly.