Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

to keep my child off school today (year 6)?

20 replies

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 12:28

hi
i'm a bit upset with the schools attitude!!

my son is in year 6.....and its SATS week. last night he was compaining of a sore back. this has been on going for a few weeks now,a few aches and pains,but nothing prolonged. at one point a few weeks ago, iwas concerned enough to call our gp,as he had a persistant headache,but it cleared and all was ok. apart from odd back pains. they come and go.

last night he was at his friends house playing,but he called asking me to pick him up as his back was hurting. brought him home. he had warm bath,paracetamol and early night. this morning,he could barely move,so his sister went in as normal and told school he had a sore back. before i had chance to call school myself,they were on the phone to me,demanding to know what was reason for no school,"its tests today,we need him in"......first secretary,then headteacher came on the phone. i had a crying baby in the background,and my ds2 age 6 off school too.(he is on antibiotics for throat infection)

i informed them that i wanted a medical opinion first for this ongoing problem,then if all was well,i would drive him in (5 miles,usually gets sch bus to and from)but it would depend on if my other child is well enough. head told me he would come and collect him himself,he could sit the test,and he would drive him home again!! i stood my ground and went to the doctors first. doctor prescribed painkillers,stating its possibly growing pains and may need some physiotherapy,but to still keep an eye on it.

i called school,stated i'd felt bullied,but was bringing him into school anyway. he is on painkillers and still sore.

was i unreasonable to feel so bullied?
was i unreasonable to take ds into school?

i'm single mum to 5,and feel like i did something wrong!

OP posts:

idranktheteaatwork · 12/05/2009 12:32

Has he been checked for a kidney infection?

The school are being very pushy, if your child is not normally a drama queen type kid who is always ill then of course you are not being unreasonable to keep him off.

I would have been quite cross with the head.

YANBU to keep him off.

sandyballs · 12/05/2009 12:32

at school. Can't believe the pressure they put on a bunch of 11 year olds. Surely one or two kids missing SATs for genuine reasons is not going to affect the schools overall result. Is your son paticularly bright?

GentlyDoesIt · 12/05/2009 12:33

I think you handled that very well. Well done. I can understand the school wanting to do everything possible for him to come in, but they should have trusted your judgement more IMO.

I expect you need to put your feet up with a cuppa after all that - if you get the chance with everything else going on!

nametaken · 12/05/2009 12:33

YABU - if his back has been playing up for a few weeks, you should have sorted it all out before SATS week came.

Sorry but you did ask

My dd has the same problem. I'm sure it must be growing pains. I take her to the oesteopath and give her painkillers and send her in regardless.

carocaro · 12/05/2009 12:35

Tossers quite frankly.

I think that they only give a toss about the results for the school not the indivudual child.

Lets face it when he's 23 and having a job interview are they going to say 'Well Mr ? you had a sore back in year 6 this makes you not right for the job'.

You did nothing worng. The school and the system is wrong. Nice of the head to offer to collect him so that's something.

x x x

sinpan · 12/05/2009 12:37

School is out of order.

Flocci · 12/05/2009 12:45

It's the SATS and we all kno they are a big deal so I think YABU. He could have sat the test and then gone to see the GP couldn't he?

Also YABU to bring in the fact that you are a single mother of 5 - what has that got to do with it? It is a total bastard of a situation when you have combinations of sick children and urgent appointments, I know, but that is just tough and you have to work it out. I think it was pretty good of the school to offer to pick him up so that you could look after the other los

Original poster

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 12:47

nobody mentioned kidneys!!

the problem was bad this morning.....been niggly for a while,but he was hunched over today. couldn't straighten up. he was still hunched up when he went in. so i thought if i'd sent him in like that,then they would be calling me to go collect him. bearing in mind ds2 age 6 is off poorly too.

he's not particularly bright. august 31 birthday,left handed....all up against him academically,but he always tries,and no,he's not a drama queen type lol!

OP posts:

idranktheteaatwork · 12/05/2009 12:51

I had sympathy up until you mentioned the left handed thing.

I am left handed, i have degree and am senior in my field. Leonardo Davinci was left handed as was Beethoven.

Go back to the doctor about his back and ask them to check for a kidney infection as well.

Original poster

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 12:52

flocci....i did work it out,i took him in. eventually. luckily our gp has a walk in surgery. fact is,i'm single mum to 5. no dp to help out. no other support,and nobody else to run it past first. suppose it was good of the school to offer to collect him. i will remember that next time they keep in whole class for detention and kids miss the bus! teachers won't drive them home then....something about not being insured to transport the children in their own vehicles?

OP posts:

WedgiesMum · 12/05/2009 12:52

Just in response to sandyballs even one child missing can have an enormous effect on a schools overall scores. In a year group of 30 children then it means a 3% drop in their figures.

Today is the start of the Literacy papers and missing one of them automatically means the entire paper for the child is discounted in the schools figures. And yes whilst it is far too much pressure to put on a child (and I hate what it does to the children) schools are under a lot of pressure to acheive certain percentages of children at level 4 and above and funding can be seriously affected if they fall short of their figures. Children are expected to make certain amounts of progress between the Y2 SATS and the Y6 SATS and if they don't then it affects certain amounts of funding they get. That means ALL the children suffer as the schools gets less money to provide education for them.

juuule · 12/05/2009 12:54

"he was still hunched up when he went in."

Was he still in pain?
I think I'd have called the doctor back and asked his advice regarding sending in school.

Original poster

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 12:55

idrankthetea.....his handwriting is only thing there letting him down,re,lefthandedness. its actually a family thing. its the teachers who say "can't read his writing"....he can,and i can. its their problem,keep saying he needs an emmanuesis (sp?) for tests etc.its brought up at every parents evening,like its something i can actually change!

OP posts:

Original poster

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 13:00

juuule......twenty minutes had passed since his painkiller,school are going to call me if he wants collecting.

wedgiesmum....had no idea sats affected funding! LEA can arrange for him to take test at a later date head says.

i paid for the sats revision books few weeks back,as an extra to help,school know this as i bought them from them. so its not as if i don't care about the schools SATS. i just care about ds more!

OP posts:

titchy · 12/05/2009 13:07

Wedgiesmum - they get funding according to the number of pupils on roll, not according to their SATS results. If SATS results poor, or there are a large no. of SN children then they may get MORE funding to improve n t his area, not less.

However good SATS results could mean more parents wanting to choose that school so they coudl get more pupils and hence funding in that way.

Original poster

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 13:10

its a middle school......sadly looks like we'll be losing them all soon here. i know not many left in the country,but will be sad to see them go....we have lower and upper school here in the village,the middle school is in next village. don't think SATS funding can even save our 3 tier system.

OP posts:

Original poster

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 16:16

update.........no biggie. he took the test over lunch,he'd not been in contact with anyone in year 6 so had no idea what the questions would be. he missed his lunch,but he had an emergency stash in his locker (don't like the sound of that much!)

he's still in pain and limping a bit now! he's not himself at all.

OP posts:

WedgiesMum · 12/05/2009 17:35

Have to tell you titchy that certain parts of funding are linked to the results schools get. Yes they get a certain amount per capita but funding is also withdrawn for poor progression. Yes they get extra funding for certain categories of SEN children but not just because they have poor results.

memoo · 12/05/2009 17:55

Funding is linked to the number of pupils on role, not how well they do in their sats.

The only thing SATs results affect are league tables

katiestar · 12/05/2009 19:14

The only thing SATs results affect is teachers' CVs

Flip