School sent threatening letter about 4yo son

[Anyusername]

Hi Mumsnet people,

I never posted on here before but here goes. I had the miss fortune of waking up to a nasty letter about my sons attendance, they said it was just under 90% but I can see they made an error on the form and his attendance is actually just over 90%. He is 4 in the reception year and I only kept him off when he has been ill. The school sent me a letter saying the school and the local authority are monitoring his attendance because his attendance is under 90%. I rang the local authority and they told me that because he is 4 he is not even compulsory age anyway. The school letter says those who achieve under 90% each year are classes as persistent absentees yet he has only been at school 7 months. The letter was sent on the second and I remember the receptionist was not pleased with me because I had a grumble because I had to wait whilst getting my son for a dentist appointment because she was dealing with paperwork , after waiting 5 minutes I told them my concern I am going to be late for dentist app, they told I am ignorant and I replied with I told them the day before that I would be collecting my son early, no apology, just told me they never got the message. Could the school be acting in a sinister way because of the dentist situation? I would never imagined that attendance is closely monitored for 4 year olds in reception years and the local authority told me themselves there is no legal requirement, even though I have sent him whenever he has been well,

Thoughts please?

cory I promise they wouldn't at DS's school, but I very much believe you that many (even most) would, unfortunately.

Ime we don't get the best results by telling people who are already ill and struggling that they have to get well at once or their chances in life will be ruined.

Absolutely. And it should be possible to flag certain students as exempt, no matter the size of school or ethos.

Every major school information management system that generates automated letters has a mechanism to deselect people from the letter run.

The receptionist shouldn't have called you ignorant, but I can sort of see where she is coming from. You choose to book an appointment in school hours, you turn up with no time to spare and expect them to drop everything to fetch your child, and you assume that the other parents' business was less urgent than yours. Time to mend some fences there, or you'll be spending the next six years right at the bottom of the receptionists' priority lists.

They called you ignorant in front of the other parents?

Is that right?

I do wonder why the attendance is so high for young kids as they pick up every week long bug going - chickenpox slapped cheek hand foot and mouth to name a few we've had!!

The letters are automatic. The bit I don't understand is how, when a child has been diagnosed with a chronic condition/terminal illness/longterm serious injury, they can't set up a system so that the parents don't get the automatic letters
They aren't automatically generated and straight in the post without a second throught. Attendance officers will look at the data (likely on a weekly basis) and will write letters (using a template and maybe mail merge) for those whose attendance has dropped or is below a certain %. They will look at each child's attendance certificate and take into account the circumstances before writing. Throng timr I wouldn't send a letter would be if there were obvious medical condition/evidence or child protection issues which might need different action.
I don't think schools have smart enough systems to just generate automatic letters like it's been suggested.

"Ignorant?"

Seems to me like someone needs to look up what the word means.

It certainly does not mean "rude" or "disorganised" or "impertinent".

Zombie thread....doubt any of the original posters care any more.

These letters go out to virtually everyone, I wouldn't worry. Nobody cares about them at my DS school.

I would be concerned about being called ignorant though.