to think that this was a really crappy way to reduce school absenteeism?

[itsmeolord]

DD aged 9 came home from the childminders yesterday very upset.
There had been an assembly held in school headed by a lady from the LEA. She called the assembly "Lazy or poorly?"

She gave a talk on absenteeism and told the children that they were going to hand out fines to parents from now on for children being off school. (£50).
She then read out some names and called the children to the front, these children had 100% attendence this year and she told them they were going to get a treat.
Then she called out some more names including dd's. They were called to the front and asked to explain why they had missed school. After each explanation the woman asked the rest of the children to put hands up for "lazy" or "poorly".
DD said that she had missed a week because she had had german measles, she then burst into tears. Apparently quite a few of the other children were in tears as well.
Alot of children were putting hands up for "lazy", I think this is because they haven't got a concept of what is a good reason for absence or not and it wasn't properly explained.
The lady was counting hands up but not then saying, ok so we have x who think this is lazy , it is/isn't because x y z.
So dd was labelled as "lazy"
At the ned the lady then said something to the effect of "all children who were lazy this term are going to have to find a way to pay back mum and dad that £50...."

I'm really cross with this lady and the head as well for thinking this was a good way to deal with absence.

1. The school has very low unauthorised attendance.
2. There are a fair few children who have medical conditions which require regular time off school and will never get 100% attendance.
3. If there is am issue why not speak to the parents rather than make an example of children in front of their peers?

1. "Lazy or poorly" is a really shitty way to talkm about absence. People are absent for different reasons, bereavement, pre bereavement, family illness, whatever.

Surely there is a better way to differentiate between authorised and unauthorised.

Any ideas on what to do next would be gratefully received. I am thinking speaking to the head firts to clarify exactly what happened is best......

'She did say that it is a good way to award non-academic children and children with SEN, but I felt that was a cop out.

'

No its not a good way,the boys often have to take therapies as 'illness days' becuase school prefer that to authorised absence. And many SEN kids have higher illness asa result.

Behaviour in school and effort are the proper things to reward IMO.

Well done forhow you handledthe meeting/call,I too would interpret woolly as well yes actually.

Outrageous. Truly outrageous.

I am sick of the 100% attendance certificates, too.

1. The ONLY time DS said, sadly, "I wish I wasnt disabled" turned out to be because he was upset that his many routine hospital appts deprive him of the Attendance Certificates and awards - I have told the school I consider this to be discrimination.
2. Last year, in the last couple of weeks of the summer term, when SF was rife, one v competitive mother sent her child to school with suspected SF (high temp, cough) because she didn't want the child to lose the 100% Attendance record and an Award in assembly.

zapostrophe its wriong but in all trutrh i'dprefer that to ds2'sonly absence which as I explained at the earlier end of the thread, was caused by the school (hot day- varnish on floor heated- teachers told them to keepmoving- ds2 didnt- jumped and left behind sole offoot on gym floor needing stitchesandtimeoff,hene no rewards>>

now that made me fume!

This should not be up for public discussion for anyone. For adults its between them and their boss and for children between the child, its parents and the school, certainly not other children I think its disgusting.

no one should have to explain their absence in public and then be judged and made to feel guilty, and to be told 'you will have to pay your parents back' ffs who is this lady?

definately write a strongly worded letter of complaint and demand an explanation, a public apology and a reassurance that this will never happen again.

That is barely believable.

How bizarre, and painful for the children involved.

You wonder what qualifications that woman had to peddle such nonsense.

I cannot say I see anything in the headteacher's response that suggest that any part of it is made up by the OPs dd, meemo.

She admitted that children with high attendance had been called to the front.

On the question as to whether the other children had voted, her response was not to deny it, but to talk about the importance of "listening to children's opinions". How could she have listened to the children's opinion about their friends' attendance, unless the children were actually asked? Which is precisely what should not have been happening during assembly.

If the dd's story had been made up, why on earth did not the head deny it?

Oh and for all the kindly posters who hoped I sued dd's school, we would have done, but the headteacher left at the end of the semester, and it seemed unfair to lumber his innocent successor with this mess. An opportunity missed!

Head must have an incredibly poor imagination if she thinks all children are going to be able to choose between illness and holiday as a reason for absence. What about mental health issues? Doesn't she think children have those? What about bereavement/parental suicide/drug abuse? One kid in dd's class had seen his dad batter his mum to death - would you put that under Illness or Holiday ?

The head's being disingenuous. Agree this means your dd was pretty spot-on. Please do put everything in writing, outlining your dd's experience, and confirming everything the head said and the questions she didn't answer and then send to her and the chair of governors. And please do contact the LEA, that woman needs to be stopped.

I am a school governor and I would want to know if something like this happened.

Well done for being so calm and persistent. I agree writing a letter noting the conversation and repeating the agreement for a meeting with HT and LEA witch lady.

Does sound as if OP´s daughter was correct.

And could a nine yr old make up the whole lazy/poorly voting scenario?

Of course a 9yo could make up a very complicated scenario if she had enough imagination. But we have not been given any evidence that the OPs dd is an imaginative child given to making up stories. Otoh we have seen evidence that the headteacher (by her own admission) has poor judgment. Combine that with the fact that she has not denied the voting charge...

Have been lurking on this thread but everyone else seemed to say what I was thinking - that this is absolutely appalling

I think the HT needs someone to explain to her the difference between listening to childrens' opinions and humiliation in front of their peers.

Well done Itsme for being firm and standing your ground.

Let us know how you get on at the other meeting.

Just read the response from HT and I am totally disgusted. I would not blame you if you contacted local papers or named the school here (already thoroughly ashamed of their behaviour)

I keep thinking that no one would dare treat adults the same way. Can you imagine the scene?

Business conference. MD stands up and reads out names of staff with 100% attendance who go up on stage and get give an extra day's holiday. MD then reads out names of staff with less than, say 85% attendence who have to go up on stage... and he asks them why they were off and for peers to vote on whether it was an acceptable absence or not.

Outrageous

I would contact the LEA directly and ask for a script of the assembly. Also ask if she has been in other schools in the area, and contact them to find out if there was a similar response, (secretaries can be quite gossipy!)

even on HT's own account of events, it sounds appalling that children with high absence should be singled out. Even if these children were on holiday, it was hardly their decision

I'm taking the advice of Hatwoman and a few others and I've written an email to the head now, outlining the conversation we had and askig her to answer my specific questions.

I've asked her to confirm whether or not the comments about the fine were accurate, whether or not the children were asked to vote,if she plans on holding an assembly talking publicly about staff absence (yes I know this is probably facetious at best but they have had a high absence of staff this last school year with lots of disruption) and also to confirm whether she approved the reading out of names and public questioning of those children prior to the assembly.
I have stated that I will be providing a copy of my letter to the school governors should I not receive a response within 7 days.

I shall decide what to do next based on her response.

memoo I have stated several times that want to confirm whether or not dd is telling the truth before going in all guns blazing. I am well aware that children can hve an active imagination but I really don't think there is a huge amount of embellishment to this story.

I have spoken to a couple of parents and they all have pretty much the same story, as I said much earlier in the thread the main difference was a discrepancy in how many children were showing upset/distress. As far as I am aware I am not the only parent who has asked to speak with the head about this.

I'll let you know what happens as soon as there is any news.

thanks for updating, itsme. I would assume the head will go straight to the chair of governors herself, to get her side of the story in first. So my advice, as a governor, would be for you to email him or her a copy of your message to the head anyway. Otherwise the head will just spin it as 'oh, the parents are all worked up about X but there's nothing to it really'.

(him or her i.e. the chair of govs, sorry not v. clear there)

just read the head's response. i think its disgusting that she goes on about listening to children's opinions etc. absenteeism is private and needs to be discussed with only the parents of that child if an explanation is required.

would defo not happen in my school where attendance is very poor

From the head's response it definitely sounds like your dd was pretty accurate

'Good way to award children with SEN' ? Bollocks. This sort of issue has already been discussed on MN (100% attendence) and most of us with children who have SEN (and therefore often SN) feel it descriminates against our children.