Certifying Sickness for School

[risingstar]

I had a letter last term saying that as DD2's attendance was 84% any further absence through illness would be unauthorised unless it was backed up by a medical certificate. all my kids have had really good attendance but she was ill on numerous occaisons( as were a lot of kids last term). She is off today as she fainted this morning. What am I supposed to do? Do i really have to get the doctor to write a note for one day? will i have to pay? any advice gratefully received!

A GP letter like this wouldnt be covered by the NHS, but if the school say they need it then they should get your consent, and pay for it themselves.

I think if my child had that much time off, and actually fainted, I'd be at the doctors' anyway.

This is a form of bullying that we too have experienced. Dd has chronic health problems and we had a ghastly time. I would get your GP to write a general letter, to say that she has recurring infections or whatever. And get ready for the fight.

Schools and GPs do not see eye to eye on this one. GPs know that it is normal for a child to have a number of infections per year and that some children have a late-developing immune system. Schools think everything should fit their statistics.

I would ask to speak to the school's attendance officer and explain the situation, they can often be quite flexible and understanding if you are direct with them IME and then hopefully it will save you the hassle of having to get doctor's notes.
Hope your DD is ok

Naturally, as seeker says you should see the doctor anyway. But be prepared for him to say that it is perfectly normal for some children to be sick a lot. It's only if they get terribly ill with high fevers and hospital admissions that they start suspecting real immune system disorders.

If I've done my sums right - and it's entirely possible that I haven't - an 84% attendance rate means 42 days off in a school year. That means 8 school weeks off. In a child without any chronic health problems (which I'm assuming the OP's daughter hasn't) that does seem an awful lot. Surely the school should be concerned about this?

I did not know there was a limit on time children where "allowed" to be poorly I will ask our school what the policy is on that.

42 days off is a lot during the year though!

Nearly a whole terms absence is something schools should be concerned about - if they weren't a lot more children would miss out on valuable education.

Maybe you should go to the doctor and see if your daughter has any underlying problems that need to be looked at - faiting is not normal for children and should be investigated further.

Seeker, I went to an expert in immunology over this one, as I was so concerned about dd's many flus and UTIs. He said (after having done extensive bloods etc on dd) that some children simply do have a late developing immune system without having any diagnosible chronic health problems.

(incidentally, dd also has diagnosible chronic joint problems, but this is something apart; though in her case it may be an explanatory factor).

It seems to run in families to some extent. My elder brother was one of these children: always off with one infection after another, while his healthier siblings sailed through. He grew out of it eventually, but it took many years. Yet there was nothing you could diagnose as a chronic health problem, except that he was always ill. He is now a healthy adult.

My niece was the same.

she had 11 days off. This was 2 bouts of heavy cold and a couple of stomach upsets(48 hours absence due to School policy). I kind of agree that if she had this amount of time off every term that it would be a problem or certainly warrant some enqiury from the School. Last year, she had 2 days off the whole year and about 4 days off in the whole of lower school!! Added to which, the heavy cold she had laid half the staff up, they had to go to an emergency timetable.
It does just seem about stats rather than anything else. My kids are only ever off if they are genuinely too ill to go to School.. It seems mad to have to involve a doctor (and pay for a medical certificate) if she has a stomach upset or whatever. I have managed to get an appointment with the nurse at our Surgery this afternoon so I will ask her. If it involves money ( in addition to the day's pay i have already lost) I am tempted to write, saying i have taken her to the doctor and if they have any queries to write to them.

We had similar problems when ds had chicken pox and the flu in the same term. Sheer coincidence, as he otherwise has close to a 100% attendance record, but the school seemed to think that I was somehow at fault for not having spread out his illnesses more evenly over the year.

The doctor pointed out that it is in fact very common to get secondary infections after chicken pox.

Please note folks, that percentage figures are given per term or even per half-term, so an 80% attendance may only mean a couple weeks off spread out over the whole of the year.

Oh, right. Well as a school governor, I would say that you probably got a "form" letter, and you need to write a formal letter back pointing out her previous record, and explaining the circumstances just as you've done here. My guess is that you won't have any further problem. Schools are being pressured from "on high" about attendance at the moment and have to be seen to be doing something.

I'd still want to get her seen by someone about the fainting, though.

Risingstar - 12(ish) days off school in a single term is quite a lot - nearly 2 and a half school weeks, so I think the school is right to be querying any additional absences. No idea about any possible cost of a letter, but if your dd has fainted, I would take her to the GP anyway to have it checked out.

Cory - You're right that the percentage figures are just for the first term so far. So, if the OP's dd doesn't have anymore missed school, then her percentage will rise each term. However, this term, the OP's dd's attendance is 84% which would trigger the EWO's involvement (educational welfare officer)

The school are trying to ensure as little missed school as possible and asking for medical verification of sickness is just one of the ways they do this.

So...took dd to see the nurse, they are going to do blood tests to rule out anaemia. Nice nurse wrote out on a comp slip that she had been in and what the problem was....said it was the third request she had had that morning all go to the same school and they had never been asked before! Lets hope that she does not get a stomach upset or anything else as I am not taking a possibly infectious child to a waiting room full of ill people just to get a piece of paper. Think of the waste of surgery time as well! I do understand about school attendence but a bit of common sense must surely go a long way here?