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?

I slightly disagree OP and I'm one of the parents with persistently absent child(ren). Both my younger ones have migraines and DS2 is now on them, DD still has poor attendance.
School has informed the local authority that she's likely to not achieve the threshold.
I don't think it's a minority of less involved parents who don't make their child attend and the state needs to step in.

So I teach year 12 for two hours on a Monday and set that week's homework, which they have a week to do.

You don't need to miss many Mondays to be extremely behind. Plus of course you wouldn't understand much of the following lessons either.

Running at about 20% absence (one day a week) tends to cost about a grade at A-level and running at about 50%, two grades.

Of course there are exceptions. You do get the odd student who studies very well independently, but they're the exception, otherwise who'd bother with schools?

*statistics from my personal experience and not official sources.

Slithy - you seem very irate. Do you actually disagree that there is a link between attendance and outcomes? It’s been very well studied, obviously there are exceptions but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Are you actually arguing that missing lots of lessons doesn’t make it harder to make progress? It doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do well for any particular individual, but the link is clear.

The original OP asked why schools were so obsessed with attendance. Here is googles ai overview:. No moral judgement, just facts , AI Overview

+3

Strong evidence links school attendance to academic attainment. Children with higher attendance rates tend to achieve better results in standardized tests and GCSEs, and the link is particularly strong at secondary school. Conversely, persistent absenteeism is associated with lower attainment and can even impact future earnings.

Key Findings:
Strong correlation at primary school:
Year 6 pupils with near-perfect attendance (95-100%) are significantly more likely to reach expected standards in reading, writing, and maths compared to those with slightly lower attendance (90-95%), according to GOV.UK blogs.

Even stronger at secondary school:
Year 11 pupils with high attendance are nearly twice as likely to achieve a Grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs compared to those with attendance rates between 90-95%.

I would have thought it's obvious why @SlithyMomeRaths's angry. The government bangs on about attendance while simultaneously making it hard to impossible for children like hers to attend school.

Attendance is important.

So is, as legally required, providing a suitable education for every child who's parents ask.

I'm pretty angry myself, not at my school, which are decent as they go, but at the corruption of the system and continous expectations of a Rolls Royce service at a Mini Metro cost!

Kids never were, and certainly aren’t now being so ill they need material time off school.

Actually… fair enough.

I left my old school as it changed from being a good school in all regards (academics, SEN support, communication and relationships with parents etc.) to a “if you’re too disabled /distraught /traumatised to conform you can go” after it became an academy. Absolute pile of shite. Support withdrawn, staff told off if they went off script , forced half time tables and eventually off rolling.

We work really hard with the parents at my current school. It’s difficult, exhausting , and costly but overall it works. We still have a handful of kids that should be in school and could be in school but aren’t much, because of crap parenting, which is frustrating. Some of them end up home “educated” in secondary anyway. Some actually we manage to bring around because we keep the lines of communication open ,keep trying and offer understanding and support where possible, especially when it’s a situational circumstance.

They are actually. Acute covid symptoms aren't usually severe in children. But Long Covid is sadly common, in the US it's now the most common chronic illness in children overtaking asthma, no reason to think it'll be different here. It's very irresponsible for schools to expect children to come in with covid. And children with long covid, as well as all the other chronic illnesses and disabilities are likely going to end up missing school as a result. It's incredibly cruel to punish children for illness. And of course having to watch other children have treats when they are left out is a punishment.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2834486?utm_content=334100094&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-108930921605449

Of course some kids are.

My son was diagnosed with cancer last year and due to severe complications spent 10 months in hospital which meant that he missed the majority of Year 3 and only started Year 4 after Easter.

He's now disabled thanks to cancer so has constant appointments in regards to that on top of his regular oncology appointments so Year 5 is almost definitely going to be below 95% with the appointments alone and that's without even considering that this will be his first winter at school since having cancer and his immune system is still recovering.

Yes he's fine, needed another op but all sorted. He got the cards and visits as well. Long time ago for us. Hope your son is doing well, it's hell seeing your child suffering.

Just saw your update. I'm so sorry, I hope things get better for you both.

I hope you're proud of yourself. Must win worst post of the day/week/year. Yes let's go for year.

I'm glad.

Mine needed several ops. He's been home since January. He's doing well now thanks. Definitely the hardest time I've had as a parent, it was awful.

I don't think year 12 are the ones who need an adult to get them to school so very different to five year olds.

Thanks. He's been in remission for 10 months now, had his latest oncology appointment yesterday and he's doing well.

He's incredibly resilient and fierce. I'm very proud of him.

That's great ❤ Hope things carry on improving for him!

Yeah, well it's our responsibility as parents to make sure our kids get a proper education. That's not going to if they're consistently absent, is it?
It's no reflection on the child, it's a reflection on the parents.

Persistent absence is more than 10% of school missed. That's pretty serious and if that pattern continues he's losing a lot of education.

Kids get sick but they don't need to be kept home for every minor sniffle and they shouldn't be ill more than 10% of the time.

I had a kid in my class once who had missed 25% of school days and her mother wasn't taking it seriously at all. She would take her to the doctors for nothing and keep her off for the whole day for the appointment.

In the end I sat the child down and showed her what 25% looked like in a picture, and she realised how much she was missing. The next time she had a doctor's appointment in the morning (small rash on her inner elbow which turned out to be a tiny bit of eczema) she came in at break. Her Mum was most put out and said she'd insisted on coming in, even though she thought there was "barely any point now she's missed half the morning".

So the kids can help a bit.

You are right to be proud of him, you shout be proud of yourself as well, you've coped with slot.

Do tell the mothers on here who have had kids in hospital for months, I'm sure they will welcome your wisdom on not needing more than 10% absence.

That’s a lot of responsibility to put on a kid.

I didn't say that. I said children shouldn't be ill more than 10% of the time. If they are, there is something wrong which needs medical attention which they are hopefully getting in hospital. I spent a lot of my childhood on hospital and missed out on a lot. I would feel very angry if my parents had inflicted that on me by choice.

Well it must be true if the government are saying it…
Can’t think why they’d want to get kids into school by basically saying you’ll be more of a failure later in life if you don’t attend more 🙄

Maybe our wonderful, caring government could put some effort into looking at the root causes of poor attendance.

Yes you did. Read your post. You said they shouldn't be ill more than 10% of the time. If that wasn't what you meant just own it and dont try and pretend you meant something you didn't say.

I suffered from chronic migraines and my absence was often over 10%, I bet you'd be one of those teachers who'd say it's just a headache. I had some of those.

I’m very sorry about your son, and I can’t begin to imagine what that’s like - but I was very clear about ‘in normal circumstances’ which yours aren’t. You and your child should take all the time you need - the OP totally feels like having a bitch about schools looking to generally enforce/ encourage ‘normal attendance’ - which of course they should.

if the OP was ‘my child has had lengthy time off due to long time serious illness’ they’d be getting much different replies.