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Original poster

I am outraged and bloody speechless!

74 replies

catbus · 15/12/2009 16:49

Hope I have managed to put this link in properly? Herewww.parentdish.co.uk/2009/12/15/boy-and-girl-barred-from-christmas-party-after-death-of-their-fa/

How utterly disgusting..if that were my kids school, they would be out of there in a flash.

OP posts:
JaneiteMightBite · 15/12/2009 19:19

Generally I approve of prizes for 100% attendance so long as they run alongside prizes for other things too, so that pupils have a chance of getting something, at some point, whatever their circumstances.

In this case though, the school should have been much more sensitive.

EvilTwinsStoleSantasSleigh · 15/12/2009 19:23

I think a lot of people are reacting strongly to this without actually reading the article correctly. It says it was "A disco" not "THE Christmas party". Exactly what the article was going for, of course, but schools in some areas DO need to offer some kind of reward for attendance. It's just the way it is. I'm talking the kind of place where parents wouldn't think twice about taking kids out of school to help with the shopping/because it's their birthday/because they can't be bothered to walk them to school etc etc etc. It's sad, but it happens - in plenty of places. And IME most children are aware that there are specific rewards for maintaining 100% attendance, and that they will only get the reward if they get the attendance figures. In the school I taught in last, there was a reward at the end of EVERY TERM. It usually involved those children sitting in the hall with a DVD on rather than going to their lesons. For what it's worth, the tutor group with the most house points got a similar reward. No one complained or quibbled. I think it's fair enough that children learn early on that things like good attendance, hard work and so on are rewarded. If you DC missed out on an A* by four marks, would you expect them to get the grade anyway? Probably not.

Sorry - I'm getting quite incensed about this. I know children can't help being ill, but many schools do need to try to improve attendance, and this way - rewarding the children so that they will say they would rather go to school than help with the shopping, is one way of tackling it.

Missus84 · 15/12/2009 19:24

I doubt it was really a mistake though - a mistake now they're in the papers. If it was really a mistake then why didn't the boy's teacher notice?

Things like this are part and parcel of a ridiculous attendance policy.

Ivykaty44 · 15/12/2009 19:25

There is a lot to be said for good pastrol care - my old head recently moved heaven and earth for a pupil that had lost a parent, all the teachers at the school where aware of the situation and supported not only the pupil but the other surviving parent.

some schools don't pay attention to the pupils and parents only statistics, perhaps the reasons why they are chasing statistics needs to be looked at.

chegirlwithbellson · 15/12/2009 19:27

Oh please! Floodgates, criteria, blah blah.

These rules are bought in to give those who keep their kids off for no good reason a kick up the arse.

100% attendence also looks bloody good on league tables etc.

What happened to treating children as individuals? So we have mns member's children who are told they cannot go on holiday after the death of their father, its unauthorised abscence, children take a 4 days off due to the death of their father and they are treated the same as a family who cannot be arsed to get up in the morning or want to go shopping for the day.

Not going to the party is a punishment, that the point isnt it? If you dont send your kids to school everyday they will be punished by missing the party.

How about this rule encouraging parents to send their kids in knowing they have an infectious illness just so they dont suffer the stigma of missing this bloody party?

You can think this is crap without being a school basher.

DisElfchanted3 · 15/12/2009 19:29

ITS AWFUL, the whole thing!

Even if a child had been off for a cold... to cart most of the class into a disco and leave some kids behind! thats horrible!

ThumbleBells · 15/12/2009 19:30

Eviltwins - might not be reading the article incorrectly either - you are making assumptions yourself. It doesn't say the party was just as a reward for 100% attendance, it says the criteria for going to the party was 100% attendance.

I have no real objection to children of primary age being given certificates for 100% attendance if it makes them feel good; but I do think it is utterly ludicrous to punish little children (and that is how they will see it) for being ill, or in this instance, losing their father.

DisElfchanted3 · 15/12/2009 19:31

But surely its the PARENTS choice to keep children off school? So why punicsh the children? Whay punich them for catching a bug - they can't help that!

hocuspontas · 15/12/2009 19:31

It would be better if schools could make a distinction between the children whose parents have chosen not to send them into school (holidays etc) and those who are away through no fault of their own (illness, bereavement etc).

I'm always amazed at children having a day off for a dentist or optician's check-up - espcially if they're local!

EvilTwinsStoleSantasSleigh · 15/12/2009 19:32

It is highly unlikely to have been "most of the class". Probably only about 10% of the school at most. This is a specific reward for a specific group of children who had achieved a specific target. It is no different from rewarding other groups who have achieved other things.

No idea why the mother felt the need to go to the press with it.

GrimmaTheNome · 15/12/2009 19:34

I assumed when I read it that by '100% attendance' in this context it must mean 'no unauthorized absences' - it said that all the othr kids in the 5 year olds class went to the party, I find it hard to believe none of them had been ill at all during an autumn term.

Rewarding on the basis of 'no unauthorized absences' would seem like the appropriate criterion.

EvilTwinsStoleSantasSleigh · 15/12/2009 19:34

I choose to see it as those achieving 100% attendance being rewarded, rather than those having a day off being punished.

I have taught in schools where this kind of system WORKS. And not one child had a problem with it.

deaddei · 15/12/2009 19:57

In our LEA, children with 100% attendance over the year get a special do with the Mayor...and these are not schools with a problem with attendance MrsStig.

It's amazing how many children get the award 9never mine)

cory · 15/12/2009 20:20

The problem is that schools that have these rewards for 100% attendance never seem to have any rewards whatsoever for the children who haul themselves in on most days and manage to learn against tremendous odds : children with serious illnesses/chronic pain/mental health issues. I'd think that was a greater achievement than just never being ill. But not one you get to see the mayor for.

cory · 15/12/2009 20:21

My dd used to crawl on her hands and knees imn horrendous pain to get to her maths classes. Did she ever get a reward? Did she hell! But she had to sit through endless assemblies where children who never had had a day's illness in their lives got rewarded for that.

chegirlwithbellson · 15/12/2009 20:23

So my son would miss out on a party because he issues that require him to attend several school time appointments a year?

How is that 'fair' in anyway?

Surely that is discrimination?

His missing school is unavoidable unless I withdraw him from treatment. So he doesnt get the prize all the healthy children get?

Its rubbish.

My DD missed tons of school due to us not bothering to avoid her getting cancer. DS1 had the cheek to take time off to visit his nan whilst his sister was dying at home and then we were feckless enough to let him go to the funeral instead of going to school.

How appallingly selfish of us to ruin the school's chances of getting 100% attendence rate.

I bet special schools dont have this stupid rule. They would understand better the needs of children with illness and disability.

What appalling pastoral care the school in the article has.

Why the HELL shouldnt the mother go to the press? How ungallant of her to complain. Suck it up and bite your lip woman - your are British after all

Hulababy · 15/12/2009 20:26

I disagree with rewarding 100% attendance. It is very very rarely a child's decision to go to school or not. It is the parent's decision - made for a range of reasons, and normally legitimate ones.

Re the person in question here - I would never just ask the school admin, always go to the head over anything important.

LadyBlaBlah · 15/12/2009 20:27

What pisses me off is that there is the assumption that children of this age are at all in control of their attendance. They have no control at all over their attendance, and the system only punishes the children who it is aimed at even further.

mummyofexcitedprincesses · 15/12/2009 20:31

And what about the children who would love to be in school but dire home circumstances make it impossible some days? Where is their reward?

JaneiteMightBite · 15/12/2009 21:03

Che - I'm so sorry to hear about your circumstances. That is exactly why it's vital that things like this are looked at on an individual level, not merely a numerical one.

slightlycrumpled · 15/12/2009 21:14

100% attendance pisses me off too. DS2 stands no chance of ever achieving it. His medical appointments alone see to that, let alone his admissions. He does however go when other children would be kept off school as we are aware of his poor attendance levels.

I can live with the certifactes (kind of) but not parties for primary children. It is a punishment for those who for no fault of their own will never be part of that group.

chegirlwithbellson · 15/12/2009 21:19

Janeite sorry that was a bit of rant but it does illustrate how bloody unfair this whole thing is.

TBH it wouldnt bother me if DS2 didnt get a certificate or if DD and DS1 didnt get one but a party is very different isnt it?

Ironically DD and DS1 did used to get the little blue certificate and badge every single year until DD got sick. So at the school in the article they wouldve got to go to the party every year until DD got sick. How can that be right? So we wouldve been the model family up until the dx of cancer?

Suddenly we wouldve been undeserving of that stupid bloody party?

Its bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it (stupid I know but FFS)

peanutbear · 15/12/2009 21:27

Unbelievable Im actually nearly speechless I cant believe a) the disco was in school hours b) that a child would be left in a classroom on their own c) that it was any kind of mistake surely

its all bollocks in my opinion this 100% attendance just like SATS, only this punishes children for parents not taking them to school, Sats punished children for having crap teachers erm I notice a common link somewhere!!!!!

GrimmaTheNome · 15/12/2009 21:27

DDs school does a special event (this term a film show) for children who have completed their 'word of the week' challenge every week with two slip-ups allowed. That seems like the sort of thing that is worth doing - a challenge they can all do with just a little application (even if you're off sick, you could still get the word off the website and send it in).

TotalChaos · 15/12/2009 21:27

che - yes I was also wondering about disability discrimination! instances like this show up exactly why these 100% attendance awards are a bad idea - particularly given the current concerns about swine flu, is it really wise to encourage parents/kids to go in when under the weather?