Anyone else's child been constantly unwell? Was their school ok with it?

[rehearseit]

Since September my son has had a vomiting bug x3 and flu. A week off school for flu, one day off for first vomiting bug, as it was over the weekend, two days off for second and no idea how many days he will need off for this one. School absolutely going to cause issues and said next time he's off sick it will go down as unauthorised unless I have medical proof. I'm not taking him to GP with noro, so not really sure how to handle this with the school. He's just been unlucky! Had anyone else's child had multiple periods of illness? How has their school been about it?

why aren't you taking your child to GP?

Because my father is a GP and has said absolutely don't do that, that they will just send me away and that it's normal for kids to catch lots of bugs over winter. He's not worried at all and he's been a GP for 30+ years.

Why on earth would you take anyone with norovirus to the gp?? They should stay at home to recover and not spread it to loads of already sick people.

100%. I'm very lucky in that my father is a GP so I pretty much never go anyway unless I absolutely have to. I asked him about the school wanting medical evidence and he said it's the absolute bane of his life having people coming in saying 'sorry, I know I don't need to be here but I need it to be on child's medical records as proof'.

How old is your son and is he normally this sickly? Does he have any underlying conditions? Are other people in the household catching all of these bugs?

it’s really not normally to catch so many things in less than 6 months, so I think you need to take your son to the doctor to see if anything else is going on

It's not unusual for children to get unlucky and sometimes get a sequence of illnesses.

Can you contact your surgery tomorrow and ask them for advice? Obviously you don't want him to go in?

How old is your son? Unless GCSE years I wouldn't worry, even then my DD has lots of illnesses and school were very supportive.

Just ignore the school, if he us genuinely ill then he is genuinely ill. Spare a thought for the teachers who in many schools are now being issued warnings for very minimal numbers of absence across a year. It is impossible not to get ill.

He's seen my dad, who is a GP of 30+ years. He's advised that as long as it is short lived, and he's fine in-between each illness, then the GP is going to do absolutely nothing and it's within a range of normal, just at the higher end.

He's 7!

This also makes me realise why people send their kids to school sick. School refuse to authorise absence so parent just sends them in anyway!

The whole thing’s ridiculous OP. The system needs an overhaul. I wouldn’t be taking him to the drs with noro and bugger the school and what they think.

Spring around the corner, I hope you get less illnesses then x

The guidance for schools on this is clear. They shouldn’t be threatening parents with unauthorised absences and the risk of fines when their child is unwell.

“Schools should only request reasonable medical
evidence in cases where they need clarification to accurately record absence in the
attendance register – i.e. making a decision that code I is the absence code that
accurately describes the reason the pupil is not in school for the session in question. In the
majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend school will be that
evidence and can be accepted without question or concern. Only where the school has
genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical
evidence be requested to support the absence.”

ETA - also I think GP surgeries take a dim view of this. You just wouldn’t get an appointment for a standard sickness bug here, because they’d (rightly) say “no they don’t need to be seen, come back if they done get better”.

Totally. In reception my daughter didn’t miss a single day of school for sickness. In the September of y1 she caught 2 separate vomiting bugs! Her attendance at one point was about 60%! Then didn’t miss another day until in y2.

School we being totally ridiculous putting this down as unauthorised IMO. No one has medical evidence of the fact their child has vomited. I’d be tempted to take a photo of the vomit and offer to send that in!!

I've done just this! He somehow managed to vomit up the wall so if they ask for evidence I will send this asking if it will suffice.

No GP wants to see a child with noro.

My child was older when this happened, and we went to the GP anyway about the pattern of illness, not about one specific illness. They did blood tests and found them to be low in iron, which can impact immune system. Supplements have meant they are less ill this winter.

He's very young. He'll catch bugs.

Look after him and don't worry about the school. Sadly they have processes to follow which means they will chase you. You have done nothing wrong

Send him back when he's better. He's old enough for them to ask him about his illness when he returns.

It’s utterly ridiculous!