Absence notes

[PurpleAlerts]

My DD IS 18 and a half and in the upper VI. She had to have Friday morning go off to go to the doctors as she has tonsillitis and needed antibiotics. She went in for one lesson in the afternoon but was told I had to write a note for the morning's absence.

She is 18 FFS! She is no longer obliged to be in full time
Education so why on earth would a parent need to write an absence note? I also have to sign forms for when she has to request time off for university interviews?

Is this usual? Surely I don't have any say in the matter as she is an adult?

At 18 she can sign her own note. You could have rung in the morning and explained though... an absence is an absence.

I did ring in the morning and explain the absence but DD was told that I needed to write a note too.

Seems a bit like overkill...

That would be enough where I teach. You have informed them she will be absent. Is her attendance good other than that? That's the only other reason I could think that they might need a note.....

No her attendance is good . They always insist on calling on each day of absence and then need a note when they return. No note means unauthorised absence. I also have to fill in and sign a form for every university interview she attends on a school day...

See I can understand the uni day but I think the rest is heavy handed if you have phoned...... and what a lot of paperwork for the school!

In fact the attendance officer told her that she would need to see the Head of VI form to ask permission to attend Uni interviews (she wants to do a subject where offers can't be made purely on predicted grades.)

She has applied to 5 places so 5 interviews, all of which she has written confirmation for. Are the school suggesting that she doesn't attend?

Sorry for the rant but it is not the first time I have had issues over attendance at her school- she had three days off sick in one term in year 7- two of these days off were because she was sick in school and they called for me to collect her and take her home. I was then sent a snotty letter asking me to work together with them to improve her attendance!

The worst one was on the day of my mums funeral, I was asked what time it was on and when I said the afternoon they asked for her to attend morning school so she could get the attendance mark...Her school is 14 miles from our home so to collect her is an hour round trip- hardly the sort of thing one wants to do on the day of a funeral.

For the record her average attendance each year is around 97%.