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?

Every additional day absent means a secondary student misses £750 in future earnings.

Each single day costs that much. It adds up quickly.

In the last school year my school have secured over £13 million extra future earnings for our students by increasing their attendance this year compared to last year.

I would be livid if that was our school. I was pretty annoyed that we had a letter stating concerns about absence even though DD had had chicken pox for a week and a half, same as the rest of her class!!

If she'd have missed out on a party for that I would have asked them for a letter telling me that I should send her in with a contagious disease lest my 5yo be unfairly punished for something they can't control. I'm a massive believer in education and she will never have days off for holidays etc., but that's a ridiculous policy.

I think it’s the beginning of ableism. For a child to miss out on a prize because of a medical appointment, or to get in trouble because of a chronic illness? The lack of compassion around the why really upsets me. For them not to differentiate between the reason for absences is incredibly wrong. Ill health (which no one wants!) is actually being punished.

Why is there not more value on health? As adults we often don’t prioritise our health until we’re at breaking point and children that are being brought up like this are going to struggle even more. The priorities are just all wrong….

Dc are in private and it’s always the same parents there too. Always the random Mondays, always the last few days before half term, always the same day as their siblings. Literally throwing their money down the drain. If it’s costing a fortune, and they’re still not invested, you can see why schools have trouble.

You’ve got the meaning of obligatory wrong. Surely you mean not obligatory?

I think the primary schools in England are nuts. It’s another example of ridiculous overreach imo. I find home visits shocking! It’s like they’re the parent police. This is just another example of crap decision making - I totally agree with you op it’s misplaced and leverages the child’s disappointment.

You only have to ask a few teachers what happens when they are ill or become disabled and you will have your answer!

Disclaimer: not all schools are like that but schools don't operate in a vacuum and our society as a whole is increasingly horrible to those who are perceived as "weak" in some way.

I agree op. It’s punishing children because of the few hard nut feckless tossers who don’t give a shit, and never will give a shit. Whether it’s the selfish dicks who need their 2 weeks cheapo in Benidorm or the lazy fuckers who schlep up to the school gates in their dressing gowns, the authorities should be pursuing and holding the parents accountable.

Genuine evidenced illness should not count towards attendance - small children are often ill as they have weaker immune systems. My kids got bloody ear infections and tonsillitis virtually every week so no chance of mine ever getting attendance awards. I didn’t care about that but there is a difference between genuine parental discernment and piss takers. The children should not suffer either way. School should be the safe place.

This also makes me livid!!
100% attendance means there’s a good chance life is going well for you.
A lot of those under 100% have likely experienced illness or difficulties of some kind. They are the ones that need an ice cream at the end of term to say well done for preserving and doing their best.
As a country why are we not looking at the why? Why are we not supporting and encouraging those that need it more. This measure of success is just awful and sends such terrible messages to young minds about what success truly is.

my child is in a public school and last year I was volunteering in the school. I was volunteering for 1 day of the week and it was always the same people being late on that day. I imagine they were late every single day not just the day I was volunteering. A dad had to sign his daughter in on the school system and he couldn’t remember his daughters date of birth or her class name. The school changed tactics and put up a notice that everyone’s whos late will have to meet the head teacher and explain why they are late every day. That made some parents angry with the headteacher but it worked.

There are 140,000 children with less than 50% attendance and they are going to be unemployable and we are going to have to support them via our taxes on benefits. That’s why school attendance is important.

This is really shocking.

My son's attendance is awful, less than 50% but school know why and are supportive. Thankfully they only do the 100% certificate which my son isn't bothered about because we call it the ''congratulations for not being unwell'' certificate and did before his attendance plummeted.

I'm in EU country with PISA score very similar to the UK. Let's agree it shows that children do get educated here.

We don't obsess about attendance.

While we consider education important, we see that in a supportive family a bit of absence doesn't really influence the outcomes. In troubled family, improving attendance is useful, but not achieved by stressing the child (who has little say in the matter) with certificates and further exclusion, more useful is working with the family so they know why they want to send the child to school - free school meal helps, walk-in homework club helps, community assistance helps.

One threshold is about 20 hours of unauthorised absences (social services involved to support the family, potentially police). Another threshold is 70% attendance at each subject, below that (even with authorised absences) the school can refuse to mark the work and order a summary exam instead, as if the child was homeschooled in the subject.
The school authorises almost anything reasonable (illness, regular dr. appointments, family reasons, term time holidays if otherwise the attendance is good and the date isn't cheeky, extra curricular's one off events,...) and talks with parents if concerned about absences and progress. Unauthorised absences mean that something doesn't work well - the school will talk to the parents and if it doesn't improve, escalate.

We don't have what I think you mean by "community assistance" any more. Just the occasional overwhelmed charity.

Police and social services have mu h higher thresholds for intervention than that. Sometimes they won't act when child is suicidal.

We are not permitted to take those actions with low subject attendance.

Certificates and grumpy letters is pretty much all we've got!

Because children are supposed to be in school, and it's a parent's responsibility to make sure that they are.
Try living in a country where education is sparse, and children walk miles to get to school!
Parents in the UK don't know how fortunate they are - we, as taxpayers, pay for your children to get a free education. And yet, bizarrely, some parents seem to think that it's optional or unimportant.

Not in school, no lessons, no learning. Yes, dc walk miles to school in many parts of Africa. Here some do not value education but value sitting around a swimming pool.

Another use of the word vulnerable i think people stick it in as they think people will go awwww, parenrs jobs is to ensure children go to school teachers job is to teach if thr two dont match it is a bit hard for teaching to happen

The obsession people have with thinking the world will end if children dont go on a beach holiday every year is one issue, the bigger one is parents not taking school seriously, if parents lack intelligence it is hard to pass on to children

Whilst I disagree with blanket attendance awards which are ableist and often make kids with genuine reasons, poverty, young carers feel worse - prizes for those with genuine reasons can be good. So many young carers for example cannot go on trips or to a restaurant for dinner so getting a trip to Thorpe park is massive for them. Or again kids who maybe have to care for siblings, are in poverty, they cannot get those experiences at home. However the archaic and ableist 100% attendance award is ridiculous, and it needs to be more on effort (so you can come in eith a sniffle but if you're sick then no) and also kids who have improved. Many more schools are doing part-time timetables when needed and pastoral support for those who need it. However some kids sleep in and their parents say don't bother going in, going in at 10 is better than not going. Some kids haven't done homework (agin not because of not having resources e.g computer so they cannot do it and they can't stay in the libary because they do pick-up for their siblings etc), some go out on Sunday night or parties and are too tired. Those reasons need punishment or at least some discipline because it's ridiculous. So if it's done sensitively and rewards kids who cannot get high attendance but put effort in then that's good e.g FSM/PPG students, disabled students, young carers, kids with safeguarding issues etc.

That being said attendance needs to stop being so correlated with a student doing well. I've seen it where students with safeguarding reasons - on reports teachers write it mist be going well because they 98% attendance when that's because the kid even when sick would rather be at school than home because school is the safe haven. You'd think that's obvious but they see it as the parent is making sure their kids goes and not hiding them from us, but many kids are good at hiding signs and just because they have high attendance doesn't mean nothing is wrong. Again situations like this tend to be complex and should be dealt as such.

It's a very complex issue and shouldn't ever be reduced to simplistic causes and solutions. My eldest child hit 100% attendance most years, my youngest has averaged about 30%. I don't need lectures on the importance of school, though lord knows I've been subjected to many.

The latest was a few weeks ago, from the education welfare officer. I responded by listing for her the exhausting number of things I have tried and people I have begged to try to get my dd the support she needs. I told her I was desperate and would welcome any advice. She said, Ill think about that and ring you back. She never rang back.

It's an important subject, but oh how I wish more people would lean in and listen to parents who can't get their kids into school. Some actual help would be nice too.

Btw, I have never been prosecuted for my failure to get my child into school regularly over six years, and I think that's because of the evidence I can produce of how completely she has been failed by the services that are supposed to help.

I'm so sorry for your experience @Ketzele. Unforgivable that they never phoned you and didn't have anything to offer.

Are they going to be unemployable because of poor school attendance, or do they have problems which would lead them to be unemployable when adults and those problems also happen to impact their school attendance?

Let’s not pretend all children get a good( or even adequate ) or suitable education.

My children’s school is under a trust called Athena. It’s mainly in Cornish school and I urge you to Google it. I have been in to countless meetings with one of my children in particular for her having low attendance. Her attendance is perfectly fine in the sense she’s had 2.5 days of in the whole school year and I send her in to school every day. They just have an extremely high suspension statistic. She’s been suspended for sitting on a jumper during her period. Not having a phone in school when phones are band in school, having a rubber band on her wrist that medical gave her for her anxiety. The list is endless. The teacher sat there and said your attendance is actually really good. It’s the suspensions that’s brought it down. What can you to improve it 🤦🏻‍♀️
I wish whoever would see that the poor attendance in our area isn’t due to all bad parenting. Majority of the time (yes there are some parents who do care!) it’s school rules, but we take the blame.

My 12 year old had 95% attendance this year. This was more luck than anything as he had major surgery at the beginning of april so his recovery time was mostly during the Easter holidays. My dc school do certificates for attendance with certificates for all children who have attendance over 92%. That's fair enough i think, it's the ice creams, bouncy castles and trips out that are wrong.