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......

...Is anyone able to put the above into more official, perhaps legal terms, without so much swearing?

I have no idea which parts of general educational guidelines this contravenes but surely somewhere there will be a teacher or similar who knows how badly it falls short of standards...terms such as 'duty of care' always sound good. But I do think you need to submit something in writing if you want a decent response.

I can have a go at re-phrasing this evening if you like - I did a law degree some years ago.

OP do you know exactly what you want as a result of this? I'm guessing a public apology to your dc and all the others who were upset by either this woman or her representative (head teacher?), a proper assembly which explains that when people are ill/ someone dies/ something goes wrong it's allowed to take a day off, a plan to ensure this doesn't happen again and possibly also some extra training for mad-woman.

Who are you going to contact? I personally wouldn't contact the media or mp until other routes have been tried. If they don't respond well to start with then you could threaten with this later but probably not in the first letter.

The 'Every child matters' document covers the following areas:
Safety
Health
Excellence & enjoyment
Economic wellbeing
making a positive contribution to society

So the assembly clearly didn't contribute to the children's enjoyment of school, their emotional health and wellbeing, their perceived safety nor particularly encourage their economic wellbeing! The AAO herself wasn't, in my opinion, helping the children towards making a positive contribution to society but tackling absenteeism is one of the things that LAs do in order to encourage both the 'positive contribution' and 'economic wellbeing' titles within ECM.

I should think the most appropriate and helpful recipients of a letter of complaint would be the Headteacher, governing body (as a whole, send it to the clerk to governors so it's circulated to everyone) and the Head of the advisory service. Send a copy to Ofsted too but make it clear that you are complaining about the attendance service, not the school at this point.

Be very specific about your daughter's experiences as you cannot complain on behalf of anyone else's child, they need to do that. Include direct quotes from your daughter (although if she's capable I would encourage her to construct her own letter of complaint - it's a KS2 literacy objective!) and state clearly what you would prefer to have happened e.g. "instead of targetting individuals I would have expected this to be handled more sensitively with older pupils being used to read out scenarios". Definitely take issue with the language lazy vs. poorly as it doesn't convey the message that there are occasions when children should be off school and suggest alternative language e.g. reasonable and unreasonable or good reason vs. ot so good reason.

Ask why the assembly wasn't halted when it became clear that children were upset and for reassurance that future assembly guests will have the content of their assemblies discussed prior to the assembly taking place.

Hope your meeting with the head is productive, OP.

Had to come back to this thread as I am so concerned. If a KS1 or KS2 child is off, surely this is more a matter for parents than children? I have previously worked with KS4 children, if they were asked about persistent absence I doubt they would answer, "because I am on the fringes of society, dabbling in drugs and possibly at risk of crime/prostitution..." She should spend a little more time with these young people rather than little kids who aren't even old enough to be responsible for getting themselves to school alone anyhow.

Possible answers for why a child was absent:

1. attending my mother's funeral (God forbid but it does happen) -

2. Severe diarrhoea (sp?) - I was crapping ten times a day miss - do that make me lazy or poorly, but thanks for bringing it up in front of my peers - that'll go down great in the playground.

3. I'm a young carer and my parents were too pissed last night to get up and get me to school. Does that make me lazy? By the way - it's great to talk about this in public.

4. Recurring appt at the specialist - it's looking like I have a serious injury...

Not a good assembly. Answers needed.

that's shocking - it's certainly disability discrimination and forcing them to give out personal medical information in public

i would NEVER stand up in front of all my colleagues and tell them the details of every period of sick absence i've had and the details of my aunt's death and funeral.

completely unacceptable,really nasty and frankly bizarre

I'dalmost like them todo it at ours mind if they picked ds2- 'Why time off younfman?''well the schoolhad a breach of H&S that led to me needing stitiches in my foot and being unable to walk,the only reason Mum didn't sue your bollocks offwas that the Head wagoing and she didnt want to see him leave on a bad note'

D'ya think that'd shut her up?

And adding to NonnoMum's list: 'I was absent because I tried to cut my wrists' (real life example). Imagine having to stand up and explain that to your peers.

Lazy or poorly. I like it. I could live my life according to lazy or poorly.

By AvengingGerbil Tue 12-Jan-10 09:30:21
First check out the facts. Then:

Complain to a) the head b) the governors c) the LEA d) your councillor and e) your MP. The last two will be keen to respond as they want your vote this year.

This is completely unacceptable.

AGREE WITH EVERY THING THIS POSTER SAID

diddl - nope. I think this was a scare tactic type thing, the children were told that from now on unauthorised absence will lead to a penalty aka fine which will be £50.

So the children at the front were told their absence would cost their parents £50, I think as a really shite way of making the point. Unfortunately, whilst that sort of tactic is ok for secondary age (imho, I'm thinking of the workshops on knife crime for example), I think that most primary age are too immature to "get it".
So dd took it literally and was really upset that her illness had cost me this money.

I think my two biggest issues are firstly the humiliation aspect. Not appropriate at all and it makes me sad to think of any child ending up with a lasting memory along those lines.
And secondly, the whole emphasis on the children as being responsible. They have little if any control over parental decisions, not fair at all to penalise the child.
I really dislike what seems to be a growing trend to put pressure on the children to deliver messages to the parents.

Re the hitman. I've had a think about this and I'm warming to the idea. If someone could start a thread garnering support for me I'd be grateful.

Sorry, can I thank a few of you who have obviously spent time offering suggestions/support.
In particuar, Flight, SE13 and Edam, Teddybare et al. Many thanks.

No problem, as long as you come back with her head on a stick

Good luck.

itsmeolord, you're welcome. I do hope you get a helpful and reassuring response from everyone you sent letters to. Do involve your DD... I've had children in my classes write letters of complaint to our LA link advisor when she excluded the older pupils from an assembly that was given by a candidate for the Headship. It's a useful tool for helping children to express themselves too and to think about describing their feelings.

Another thought, does you DD's school have a school council? This is something that the SC could discuss as a whole....

there are no words.....

I wanna find out what happens.... so when you have a result OP make sure you come back and let us all know!

Which LEA was it?

and .

Sadly, IME, the heads don't usually side with parents against the LEA. And in your case they haven't protected the children either.

Good luck and don't let the buggers fob you off!

Dear Mr / Mrs appropriate LEA person,

I?m writing to you to express my concerns about an assembly entitled ??Lazy or Poorly?? given on X date in X school by X. I feel that the assembly was inappropriate and insensitive in its approach to discussing absence from primary school and should not continue in circulation. The assembly caused distress to some of the children as they were humiliated and made to feel guilty for absences caused by situations which are beyond their control.
As part of the assembly children with the lowest attendance were called to the front to justify the cause of their absence before X invited the other children present to vote if this was lazy or poorly. As absences can be due to a variety of legitimate personal reasons including health issues and disabilities, bereavement or family problems, it was inappropriate to put an X year old child in this position. Asking an individual to publically declare health issues is humiliating and discriminatory against disabled children and children with chronic illnesses. In a work place this practice would be considered bullying and could be prosecutable in law. Health care professionals and social services representatives act in confidentiality to protect such sensitive information and to prevent the damage which can be caused by it being available in the public sphere.
If a new system of fining parents whose children are absent from school has been introduced then all parents should have been informed about this directly by a letter from the school or a meeting. It is unfair to scare children by telling them that their illness will cost their parents (if possible change this to: my dd was told - quote - which is inappropriate...) as this targets children from lower earning families leaving them feeling vulnerable and encourages genuinely ill children to risk attending school while contagious.
The assembly was not compatible with the Every Child Matters document?s aims on multiple grounds. (Check it does defiantly apply in your school before sending this bit and also check that they?re right ? I just copied them from another mners post). My daughter was declared lazy for a week of absences on the advice of medical professionals due to German Measles. This could compromise the health and safety of pupils and staff if an ill child is encouraged to attend school despite being contagious. Excellence and enjoyment were not supported by causing distress to targeted children and not halting the procedures when this distress became apparent. This assembly failed to support vulnerable children from homes which may be facing problems and may have been in breach of discriminatory legislation as well as confidentiality. It would be more appropriate to approach the parents of children who have a low attendance rate to discuss reasons for this and set up support systems with the aim of creating a long term improvement in attendance. While a child is in the care of the school, they are owed a duty of care by those responsible to them. This duty includes protecting their health and psychological well being which I feel was not fulfilled on this occasion.
I would like to be reassured that this situation will be handled appropriately, learned from and resoled. A follow up assembly with an apology to the affected children and discussion of situations in which unplanned absence is acceptable should be held as soon as possible. Scenarios read out by older pupils could be used in place of real-life situations to maintain the interactive voting element. The use of the word lazy and any other judgemental language targeted at children needs to be stopped immediately to reduce the chance of causing upset or bullying. Parents should be warned about future assemblies which feature controversial methods or topics and have the option to remove their child from that assemble. A policy to protect children from inappropriate practices such as this needs to be set up and enforced. Further training in communicating with children should be made available to non teachers who are giving assemblies and a teacher should always be available to halt proceedings if in their professional opinion it is causing distress to any member of the audience.
I look forward to a speedy resolution to this problem.
Yours sincerely (if you can find out their name) or faithfully if you can?t find a name.

Ihope this helps if you don't get a chance to sit down and write out a letter. I'm not sure if it might sound too strongly worded.

I would send this as an email to the LEA asap and cc the head into the email. Take a printed out copy to the meeting and also a list of questions to specifically ask the head (i.e. why did a teacher who was present not halt the assembly or at the very least arrange for the crying children to be removed asap).

This is just

I'm liking the letter, TeddyBear.

TeddyBare - that is a very well thought out and excellent letter!

Don't mention it, Itsmeolord, I posted because I was so outraged! Am only too pleased if I've helped at all - your poor dd and her fellow pupils need some reassurance from school/the LEA that this was a huge mistake and the threats about £50 fines if you are off sick are untrue. No-one should be going into schools and lying to children, let alone the LEA. (I've seen threads about companies promoting their products in assemblies/via letters home, which I thought was bad enough...)

I also think that kids having 100% attendance should not be praised or given treats in any way. If you want to improve attendance ensure those with infectious diseases stay at home and improve hygiene especially with very young kids. Both my kids get asthma and a simple cold will have them off for best part of the week.

I would be soooo anoyed at this . i flew off the handle when my DS got a badly worded letter. Deffo write as suggested by others.

itsmeohlord - others have expressed much more clearly what was entirely wrong with what this lady from LEA did.

But to my mind, even if she has any (attempt at a) defence in law for the things she has said, the most appalling thing is that she has scared/frightened/humiliated/made cry some 9 year olds.

What topic is possibly worth that? If my 8 year old came back from school and said that the teacher had had him in tears talking about cancer or malnutrition and death in the developing world, I think I'd be a bit but those things need talking about.

But honestly, reducing children to tears over time off sick/drs appts/etc, there can be no excuse.