Has anyone else home educated to avoid hassle over attendance ?

[backedintoacorner]

We can’t get the required level. Combination of pre existing medical issues and constant viruses etc .
can’t sign a contract as I know we can’t influence the % so there’s no point.

At this point seriously considering not returning after Xmas hols and just de registering to home educate as it seems to be either you are fine and can go 97%+ of the time or you’re not ok but there’s no allowance made so it’s constant hassle and threats of legal action causing stress on the whole family

I had to phone the parents of the children in my form who had dropped below a certain % despite their attendance being authorised and despite them being obviously unwell. It was ridiculous and included children at the beginning of September that had had one day off for a horrible virus that swept it's way through the school.

My own daughter who attends a different academy but within the same chain had a home visit last year for her attendance, she had had covid twice with supporting evidence and then just had D&V for two days.

This year we've had a 'supportive' letter reminding us of the importance of education and attending school. I know they are automated but it still makes me cross as her absences are always authorised. I only keep her off if she's really ill partly because it's such a nightmare for me to get time off too.

If attendance is that poor then yes I would because it must really be affecting their education if they can't meet 90%

To a great extent, where school and home communicate well and understand each other’s point of view, these things can usually be negotiated sensibly.

If school understands that you are concerned about your child’s education and doing your level best to get your child to school whenever they are well enough; and if you show that you understand that a school has to investigate poor attendance and that some parents do lie or worse, may fabricate illness to cover up safeguarding issues, then a sensible face to face ‘problem solving’ conversation is usually enough to sort things out. The school is likely to explain that they have to send attendance letters, and you will explain your child’s medical issues and all the ways in which you are ensuring they are in school when well.

In your shoes, I would call the school and ask to set up a meeting with the head, in which you can discuss the issues, show that you are keen to work with the school, share medical records et al and set out a reasonably way forward.

(Oh, and looking at the post above, discussing ways in which your child can make up the educational gaps caused by poor attendance may be useful - eg reading, being read to, times tables games etc - not only in and of itself but also cynically as an indication of the high value you set on their education)

I wouldn’t be forking out £30 for a GP letter! If the school want it, they can pay for it.

The school can't deregister your child if they are missing school due to sickness. They're not at compulsory school age so I don't think you could even be fined if you took them out on an unauthorised holiday, let alone due to sickness.

School can do nothing, they're just obsessive about impressing Ofsted which are hot on attendance. My advice would be stop pandering to them, stop paying for medical certificates and wasting doctors time. Do though phone up every morning they are off ill to inform them - beyond that do nothing and bin any letters. You've done your bit by keeping them informed.

There is no legal action they can take against a sick child. And if they do THEN you can home school. Until that time just ignore and bin. Or if you don't like the school generally consider moving to another school - they're not all like this.

Academically she’s actually doing really well. Obviously there are gaps due to time off but she catches up well and is at or above expected levels . Socially obviously it may be an issue but I dont know what we can actually do - it’s just down to being unlucky catching every bug and really suffering with them

Welcome to the joys of school OP, and this is only the start. My youngest is HE and best thing we ever did. Wish l had had the courage to take him out much earlier. The school should hang their heads in shame for what they put us through as a family , when my son was medically diagnosed with a mental health condition.

For clarity, I get the impression that the OP’s daughter is of compulsory school age (as it sounds as if this issue has recurred over more than one Autumn and Spring term). Another poster’s child was younger.

It is difficult for the school. Parents absolutely do lie about illness, and some do so to eg allow time for signs of abuse to the child or parent to fade, so it is vital to investigate abnormally high levels of absence. Equally, some schools are ‘one size fits all’ and don’t consider that eg having a severe viral infection may then make a child more susceptible to future illnesses. Open conversations are vital.

Eh? Just tell them you’re 1. not signing it… and 2. Not sending them in sick.

I just feel like each time we set out the reasons and send letters we get the same ‘yes - we see that BUT we need to get at least 97%!’ Totally ignoring the fact we really can’t seem to achieve that due to things beyond our control.

Academically she’s actually doing really well. Obviously there are gaps due to time off but she catches up well and is at or above expected levels . Socially obviously it may be an issue but I dont know what we can actually do - it’s just down to being unlucky catching every bug and really suffering with them

Did she go to nursery? It's quite normal for a child to get bombarded with bugs in a new setting, post Covid it has been particularly bad, it will be better by spring I'm sure.

School can do nothing, they're just obsessive about impressing Ofsted which are hot on attendance.

Schools are in a cleft stick here, as a poor Ofsted can lead to years of difficulty for a school, its pupils, its staff and its community. If you have even glanced at an Ofsted grade when considering a school, you are part of this problem - a poor Ofsted causes pupils to leave or not join. With finding being per capita, funding falls. Teaching headcount has to fall. Workload and stress rises dramatically. More staff leave. More educated parents disproportionately take their children out, so the school finds it harder and harder to maintain results…. making it more likely the next Ofsted will be poor as well. Is it any wonder schools caught in this system generate attendance letters if this might help?????

That isn’t the responsibility of the OP though, @cantkeepawayforever

We were issued a list of time off allowed so it was 24 hrs after start of AB for scarlet fever but she was unwell for the first 5 days of AB fever and sore throat and we had had to show the bottle and were being hassled she could go back the next day but she wasn’t ok and they couldn’t get their heads round that recovery varies person to person
48 hrs for d and v too but she was wiped out for a whole week, hadn’t eaten for 3 days and was exhausted and that wasn’t ok either

OP hasn't said her child isn't of compulsory school age.

No, and I wasn’t responding to the OP, but to the poster I quoted.

However, as I said earlier, if both parties - school and parents - understand the other’s point of view then it is easier for there to be a constructive conversation. That includes understanding the school’s likely position wrt Ofsted, which is, in the current situation with a largely punitive inspection system, part of the point of view of the school. Ignoring that, or blaming the school for paying attention to Ofsted is less likely to lead to a successful conversation.

Can you not ignore them? Standard answer: copy of consultant letter stating your dc’s underlying medical issues can contribute to lower attendance.

This^
If your child has a medical condition being managed by a hospital consultant then they know far more about the condition than GP. If school have a letter detailing his condition and that he may be ill more than other children then that is sufficient. Resend the letter every time and tell school it's hospital he deals with not GP. If they want anything further then invite them to write to the consultant

Hand foot and mouth too - we were told send back with the rash but she was so so sore and we got told she was fine to go back but she wasn’t !!

That only applies to a certain amount without a drs letter.

Most senior schools do

She is compulsory school age (year 5)

I wouldn't appreciate those letters either. Have you written to the HT? What was their response?
Next step write to the governors and then your MP. Start being noisy if it's really bad enough to consider taking the child out of formal education.

This was ONE of many factors that helped us decide to home ed when our kids were in year 1. They were prem twins and picked up so many infections at school. Not only were we worried about them being on antibiotics so often, we’d also had enough of the Big Brother attitude to attendance and feeling like we couldn’t make our own decisions. We didn’t look back, they had a wonderful child-led education, did well in GCSEs and are now at 6th form doing A levels.

The head teacher will be aware, the attendance manager doesn’t just pluck decisions out of the air and send out letters, they are standard and apply to trigger points. Blame the DofE, the school are just following their dogma.