100% Attendance award :-(

[HamSam]

Anyone's school still do 100% attendance award... with the added twist of adjusting it so that the children that had been absent due to covid reasons still got their certificate?

Any child off with 'regular' infectious illnesses were not given this award despite the fact that those with chicken pox or sickness bug cannot attend school.

Ds came home with his 100% attendance and he was only off for 10 days while myself and my husband had covid 🤦‍♀️ Could never stand the award before, but this seems like madness!

Maybe send in a pack of biscuits with a label 'please only help yourself if you've had 100% attendance this year'.

Yep it stinks! 2 of my 3 DC never got a 100% attendance despite both of them having never been off school poorly for a whole term several times! they both have disabilities that need regular reviews with their consultant. I honestly view this treatment as discriminative! mine could never get it, because they have disabilities.

It's stupid.

I've known parents to send in kids with sickness bugs so they get to have a trip out the end of term.

If they are having set isolations for childhood illnesses you shouldn't then give awards for being lucky enough not to catch something!

It also discriminates massively against pupils with long term health problems and disabilities.

Attendance awards are shit.

But there is a massive problem in British schools with poor attendance leading to poor attainment. Our attendance rates are absolutely shocking, but this isn’t the solution.

My daughter is year 9 and I have a long running email argument with her head of year about this, it's so unfair and ridiculous.

I might go to the governors, hadn't thought of that. She said all the children who got 20 pound amazon vouchers today for 100% attendance are the ones who also mess about in class and don't do their homework and just aren't particularly nice children how is that ok???

@LillyBugg

Maybe send in a pack of biscuits with a label 'please only help yourself if you've had 100% attendance this year'.

Can you imagine?! 😳 It might make them realise what a shockingly ridiculous award it is.

This is a stupid award and the reason why some parents send their kids in sick cos it's all about the award

Well, if you still want the award, but your child is ill or needs a couple of days off all you need to say is they are awaiting a PCR result and it is marked as X (that is government police) and not counted as absence - and at this school, you'll still get your 100% attendance award too! Bonus!

*Policy

I hate 100% attendance awards and my kids are only primary age.

It's not even in the kids control - illness obviously isn't. Term time holidays are decided by parents not kids. When I choose secondary schools I may actually use this as a factor.

@LillyBugg

Maybe send in a pack of biscuits with a label 'please only help yourself if you've had 100% attendance this year'.

I love this

Yes primary school attendance certificates are the epitome about all that’s bonkers about covid restrictions. Obviously all the other nonsense is perfectly fine.

Our school take the piss with this. They give out attendance stickers every week, to be placed in the child's planner and put on show during every lesson. My daughter suffered from anxiety after lockdown and struggled to go back last September, so had some days off. Some days I'd take her in the car and she'd refuse to get out, but there was no staff to 'deal with her' so I got told to take her home.

High percentage attendance gets a green sticker. Low attendance gets a red sticker. Time off in September means that the child can never acquire a green sticker for the rest of the year. Have the same amount of time off for a holiday before they break up in July, and the child gets a green sticker all year. Green stickers equal fun days and rewards. Red stickers equal nothing.

I've complained to be basically told to sod off. My child's red sticker got taken out of her planner every week because I was so bloody proud of her when she started attending regularly again.

I hate attendance rewards.

It's a pile of shite anyway It's ridiculous some schools still do this anyway. Yay congratulations- top notch immune system/no existing illness that means you have to attend hospital appointments or are poorly more regularly, Yay your parents aren't shite and don't have days where they can't be arsed to bring you to school.

Children who get those rewards are either extremely lucky they don't get ill OR they are sent in when ill making others ill. When I was at secondary there was a girl who didn't have one day off the whole time and was rewarded. She was regularly in school ill.

My DC's attendance will be shocking this term. They've had a couple coughs and had Tina have time off to be tested - negative . DS had a bad cold - again meh either. Now they've just had 10 days off due to covid 🤯

One year ds was lucky enough not to get ill and got 100 percent. The next year he picked everything up and it was 90 percent.

This is awful.

My DD has time off due to seizures which she sometimes needs a day to recover from.

If her school did anything like the ones above I would be so so angry.

Similar in this house 🙁

Youngest dc came home with a gold award for achieving the desired attendance level this term simply because she hasn't been poorly (missed one day waiting for PCR results)

Oldest came home with a warning letter as she's had 28 days off in the last term - 10 days off for Covid with rest as a result of a severe concussion (1 week off fully and 2 weeks of half days return to school on their concussion protocol) which has left her with debilitating migraines which make her throw up 🙁 none of which was her fault yet she still gets warned for it.

This is secondary level as well - primary was even worse!

At my son's school, they just give you a paper certificate for 100% attendance.

I had no idea it was a 'thing' to the extent I've just read.
It's insane.

Reward no, acknowledge yes.

In the form of a wristband.

I have to admit I was chuffed my Y4 got his 100% attendance band. My Y2 has missed a lot through non Covid Illness and although they don't do it for the nursery class, my preschooler has attendance in the 70% region as she misses a day per week for therapy and had had a few weeks off for illness too.

I don't mind the acknowledgment. I think rewarding is terrible practice.

Just to clarify I've never sent my 9yo on whilst poorly.

He's managed to avoid his 6yo sisters x2 tummy bugs and x3 coughs and his 4yo sisters tummy bug that took her out for a week and HFM which had her off for another week (daddy caught HFM oddly enough )

My 9yo isn't particularly robust or healthy (he is a very limited eater) but he has been in full time childcare for 6 years now so has some immunity I guess? Luck must play a big part too.

There's nothing wrong with attendance rewards as such, but they need to be in proportion with other rewards and sanctions given. Certificates handed out for 100% attendance on the last day of the term alongside subject reward certificates are fine. The class with the highest weekly attendance getting a trophy and a mention on Twitter is fine. Rewarding everyone who got 100% with a trip to the cinema is not as it's punishing children for being ill or decisions their parents made which is out of their control.

Yeah, DS was not happy that attendance awards were made with a big fuss this week. He was off for 10 days with Covid, so didn't get it.

I have always complained vociferously about these awards and we did not accept them and I explained why to my children. I said they were a prize for good luck and we didn't agree with that.