Why are Schools so obsessed with Childrens attendance?

[Darren2134]

Last Month, a parent told me something that really unsettled me: their child had received a letter branding him a “persistent absentee”. The kicker? If his attendance improved by 5%, he’d be invited to a party.
Let that sink in. A 5-year-old—just starting school life—is being incentivised to “try harder” to attend. But this isn’t really about motivating the child, is it? It’s a covert attempt to pressure the parent—using the child’s disappointment as leverage. The message is: Get them in, or they’ll be left out.
But who are these so-called “persistent absentees”? Often, they’re the kids who’ve been sick repeatedly—maybe with covid or other bugs. They’re the ones with unstable home lives, whose families might be struggling with poverty or mental health. Maybe the child is deeply anxious, overwhelmed by the transition to school, or dealing with SEN.
What good is a party to a child who is unwell, exhausted, or afraid? A glittery invitation doesn’t cure illness. It doesn’t magic up a bus fare. It doesn’t suddenly make school a place where a child feels safe.
This isn’t motivation—it’s manipulation. It weaponises disappointment. And it risks making vulnerable children feel ashamed, excluded, and “less than” for things utterly beyond their control.
The way we talk about attendance needs to change. Education should be accessible—but for some children, 100% attendance is simply not realistic. We should be asking why a child is struggling to attend, not punishing them for it.
We need to move away from blame and shame. Instead of pushing attendance as the end goal, how about asking how we can support children who are struggling? What would it look like if schools were funded and resourced to genuinely include all children, even those who can't always make it through the gates?
Curious what others think. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?

Exactly. These posts are so vile, people supporting the idea of punishing children for things beyond their control, who are already suffering with problems that those who can easily attend school regularly don’t have to endure.

For goodness sake, your reading comprehension is poor.

If your child is in hospital or under medical investigation and the child is missing school, that's not a choice. If you're trying to get medical help for your sick child and not getting it, that's not a choice.

If you're voluntarily keeping your child off every time they get a sniffle, that's a choice, and having experience of how missing a lot of school can impact on a child I think it's a very bad one that the child will not thank you for.

My reading comprehension is poor, is it? Hilarious. You wrote:

I spent a lot of my childhood on [sic] hospital a and missed out on a lot. I would feel very angry if my parents had inflicted that on me by choice.

I don't care if the 5 year old doesn't have a legit reason to be off, it isn't a 5 year olds fault and they shouldn't be punished because of it.

A poster several pages ago now stated that a child with leukemia was left out of an attendance reward. Unfortunately, not all schools are decent.

That makes that school shit for sure… but, in general, attendance should be rewarded, like being good at sports should be rewarded, like being good at art should be rewarded.

its not a punishment to not be automatically included in a very specific success, which is just one of many. 🤷‍♂️

Why should children be rewarded for not getting ill or not having a medical issue which requires regular appointments during school time?

It isn't a success, it's based purely on luck. No talent is involved.

I'm so glad my son's school doesn't do attendance rewards.

But what is attendance actually rewarding?
Being good at … not being ill?
Being good at having parents who can’t take time off so they go to school whether they should or not?
What exactly are you rewarding the child for? What skill? What effort?

It’s ultimately about balance isn’t it.

the bottom line is, undisputedly, kids with better attendance in early years perform better in literacy, and numeracy by the time you get to secondary school.. Fact.

therefore attendance should be encouraged and rewarded whilst balancing coming in sick at all costs and more serious illness.

Ffs we’re talking this being a really small part of a wider end of year assembly where tons of achievements are celebrated. Like the attendance award is a piece of paper for maybe 3 kids who actually get 100%.

only the piss takers are actually excluded from things. (Normal sickness does NOT get you below the thresholds schools ask for).

*shitty schools aside

done with this thread - you guys are bat shit.

You’re completely ignoring the part where no, it’s not just a certificate at the end of the year amongst many others.

There are parties,sweet treats, days out, toys/prizes and so on. The other kids get excluded. Sometimes every half term/term.

You still haven’t answered what exactly are they being rewarded for?

If it's such a tiny part and if only 3 kids are realistically going to get it then what's the point? Again, they are lucky to have 100% attendance, it isn't an achievement.

Some schools also go OTT with parties and other celebrations which do feel like punishments for children who won't hit the required attendance for whatever reason.

Of course its obligatory. Its a legal requirement

I disagree with rewarding good health, or children lucky enough to have engaged parents etc. it just further pushes down the children who are unlucky enough to have medical conditions or chaotic home lives.

Our DC was one day off 100% attendance in his first term at high school because his grandmother passed away and he went to the funeral. He was absolutely devastated to be made to sit in isolation in a classroom with a teacher whilst the rest of his year group enjoyed an attendance reward breakfast. He spent the whole time in tears and came home so upset that on top of losing his grandmother suddenly, he was being punished for going to her funeral. It was so unfair and really kicked him when he was already down.

It really isn't. Education yes school no as we all have a right to home school.

I'm so sorry, they really were sadistic, imagine the mindset of people who would exclude a child from a treat because his gran died. Bloody disgusting.

You are trying to pretend you didn't say what we can all see that you said. If you didn't mean it you shouldn't have said it and it you didn't mean it but missed out the qualifier you should admit that.

Name calling just shows who you are.

I recognise the reality, possibly because my child missed school because of surgery and recovery but then again maybe it's just commonsense.

You'd seriously give a ten year old the pill. Madness. Do you know what finally cured it, a hysterectomy with removal if ovaries. I suppose you think that would be a good idea if it was messing up my education. Funnily enough I never met a doctor who agreed with it.

No it isn’t. School in the UK is not a legal requirement at all.

An education is a legal requirement but school is optional. School is an opt-in service.

Yes, I'd give a 10 yo the medicine they needed to not be so ill they can't function for 10% of their whole childhood. Why on earth would you not?!

The pill doesn't even necessarily work for migraines. I have migraines about 50 percent of the time, as yet nothing has worked for them, I'm on the waiting list to see a neurologist which could take years.

In PP's case, she's said that the pill would have resolved the issue. But for some reason, she's acting as though the pill would have been worse than having 10% of her childhood ruined. I'm not sure what she thinks the pill would do to a 10 yo but clearly it's worse than being in debilitating pain a significant proportion of the time and missing out on education, fun and life in general.

😂 you guys do you.

No I did not. I said it was hormonal so I suppose you'd think I should have been given the pill. When I did take the pill at 18 it made no difference.

Feeding kids hormones isn't healthy, hysterectomies at ten aren't great either. Spending two days a month in bed isn't great but no long term health issues.

Didn't ruin 10% of my childhood, the hormones didn't kick in till I was ten.

Yes we will continue to support disadvantaged and sick kids.

Yes, im aware of that. However, the OP is very clearly not referring to home educated children, as these children are not included in attendance figures.

Strange then that my daughter met all “learning objectives” for the term she was absent according to her teacher, despite the school refusing to send work home for her or provide any curriculum guidance (or, indeed, communicate with me or her doctors or advocate at all for three months despite multiple requests for a meeting) and the LA refusing to comply with its legal responsibility to provide her with an education while she was unable to attend. Strange that her reading and writing and maths improved at a far faster rate while she wasn’t attending school than it has done before or since, as well as her not attending meaning that she ceased to be suicidal.

Strange also - given that there were medical reports from multiple consultants and specialists setting out how the school was failing to meet her needs - that her absence was marked as “unauthorised” and the “support” for her to be able to attend again consisted of telling the LA to prosecute me and making false reports to social services claiming I’m neglecting the poor child, which a subject access request revealed to have been assumed because I am a single parent.

You can imagine the social worker’s confusion when she turned up here unannounced and saw all the photos of our holidays, picnics, playdates etc, my daughter’s room full of books and lego and sensory lights and art materials and the swimming pool and swings and sandpit in the garden, a fridge full of food, and a much-loved child who had spent the morning making cupcakes and doing maths in the garden with me and who then went off to pick a bunch of flowers to give to the social worker that she was proud to have grown herself from bulbs we planted together, and then bent her ear about how much she enjoys her swimming lessons and violin lessons and singing lessons etc…

But sure, it would have been FAR more beneficial for her education for me to ignore the medical advice and continue to send her into an environment that was making her - as a 5 year old - say she didn’t want to live anymore and would jump out of her bedroom window if she had to keep going there because the staff were being cruel to her. I’m sure she’d have been improving her maths and literacy no end by being forced into that situation instead of being here with a loving parent.

As you can see, your blanket statistic are not applicable to all individuals and the specific circumstances are highly pertinent.