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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

100% attendance prizes.

177 replies

vintageteacups · 22/07/2011 10:41

I'm sure it's not me and dh but I cannot believe that primary schools actually make a huge deal of giving out prizes to children with 100% attendance.

For goodness sake - it's punishing the children who have been ill or been to hospital. In the assembly this morning, they actually added on 2 more children who's parents had obviously complained as their kids couldn't have their hospital apps at any other time than in the day! I mean - who gives a toss?!

My kids came home and without us saying anything, dd said she thought it was really unfair to punish her because she had been to hospital and had been off sick.

Out of 250 kids, 12 got the book prizes. It's basically just to make the parents feel utterly bad for keeping them at home.

Well fine - next time dd is throwing up, I'll send her in so she can vomit all over their carpet and not mine!

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JKB1 · 22/07/2011 18:26

My daughter came home with a 100% attendence certificate today. She enjoyed going up on the stage to collect it, but when I asked her if she knows what 100% attendance is she had no idea. She's 5. Prizes/parties elsewhere seem OTT though.

Original poster

vintageteacups · 22/07/2011 18:35

lawnimp I'm not moaning that my children don't have them (only 12 out of 248 kids did get them).

I'm moaning because they have the stupid, unfair system in the first place.

I couldn't care less if I had to keep my dd off because she had been sick 3 times during the night; it's just sad to see their faces when kids are being clapped in celebration assembly because they happened to be lucky not to be ill and didn't have hospital apps or their grandfather's funeral.

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Original poster

vintageteacups · 22/07/2011 18:35

Fine for the reception kids who don't understand (apart from the pointlessness if they don't understand) but the older kids do understand and it's unfair.

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Original poster

vintageteacups · 22/07/2011 18:38

mum2be79 yes, but even with a cut off point, some children will have the unfortunate circumstances where their gp apps/hospital apps and illnesses add up to less than the cut off.

There should just be a national 'no certificates for attendance' policy.

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lawnimp · 22/07/2011 18:39

it's about the only cert my son gets, how sad that some people would begrudge that.

btw as i said on the other thread the certs are from county not the school

Original poster

vintageteacups · 22/07/2011 18:44

At our school, it's the school that buys them books.

I'm begrudging your son anything but what about a certificate for doing well all year? That's not singling anyone out for being ill but showing your son he's tried his best all year.

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Hassled · 22/07/2011 18:45

The pressure on schools re attendance from the LA is relentless - set a ludicrously high attendance target, and the next year set a higher one - which is what drives all this. I can understand why HTs panic about it.

I got very worked up about a friend telling me with some pride that her DD was so determined to get her 100% award that she went to school "even though she had a really stinking cold and couldn't stop coughing". I thought cheers for that, now the rest of the class will get it - and most of them did. If the school pushes the 100% thing to that degree of lunacy then it's ridiculous.

Ofted and the LAs need to work out that while attendance can be related to lack of enthusiasm for school at secondary level, it's rarely the case at primary level. Primary kids don't have the power to bunk off like Yr9s can - if they're not at school, it's because they're ill.

SauvignonBlanche · 22/07/2011 18:47

lawnimpNo one is 'begrudging' your child anything!
Do you begrudge having children with disabilities or chronic health needs in the school?
I'm sure you dont.

lawnimp · 22/07/2011 18:50

oh lordy, i would not send my son in to school just to secure an award, we're not that sad.

just lighten up - why is everyone gettting so worked up about one poxy certificate. we had them when i was little in the 70s

some things just aren't worth getting worked up about

and shove your face

letthembe · 22/07/2011 19:08

Everyone else...it's the holidays now, so sit back and enjoy your DC.

CokeFan · 22/07/2011 19:25

If you only get the certificate for 100% attendance for the term/year then surely once you've been off for 1 day it doesn't matter how many more days you take off -you've already "lost" the prize. Where's the motivation in that?

HappyMummyOfOne · 22/07/2011 19:30

100% is harsh if over the entire year, perhaps it would be better if they did it at 97% or whatever the Ofsted percentage is to get outstanding in this area.

Whilst parents use Ofsted reports as a basis for selecting schools, then they can hardly blame the school for trying to get the best report possible.

FellatioNelson · 22/07/2011 19:30

I don;t like these accolades either. Whilst I don't see it as 'punishing' those who have had the misfortune to be ill, I do think it is rewarding children for something which is down to mere luck. Especially if they are quite young - the decision to assess the degree of illness and to either 'wimp out' or 'battle through' is really not in their hands anyway.

Franup · 22/07/2011 19:41

I don't like them and my dd did get one this year. A whole year of full attendance. A new initiative in a school where I imagine there isn't a great problem with non attendance.

Oh well, got a rucksack and some pens. To join the other 2 rucksacks she has.

I think it is unfair on kids who are ill, kids with SN, and kids with families who make the decision not to send them in, to go on holiday or other reasons. In primaries it is hardly the child making the decision to stay off.

tethersend · 22/07/2011 19:42

They are awful- primary aged children are not in control of their own attendance. You may as well reward them for how organised their parents' wardrobe is.

I am a teacher and work with children in care, and flexibility is rarely given for children with the most appalling home lives, even though their attendance rates often shoot up once they have been placed with foster parents.

I would love to start a campaign about this.

pointythings · 22/07/2011 20:39

I don't like them either, and I'm saying this as the parent of 2DDs who have just had 100% for the yaer. They've been 'lucky' enough to only get ill over the Christmas holidays (both of them) and Easter (DD1 - burst eardrum).

What really gets on my nerves is what DD1's school does - 100% attendance for term one gets them a £5 voucher from WH Smiths. The same for spring term gets them a £10 voucher, then if they manage summer term they get £15. So £30 for a full year with 100%. Very, ver few children get them though in fairness the ones with long term illnesses get their sickness discounted.

I still hate it, it's down to luck and DD1 gets upset that her best friend doesn't get them because she has been unlucky.

The school is competitive in other ways too - they have a House system with merit points and DD1 got a certificate for being the top merit earner in Yr5 - but she spends so much time being anxious over how many bloody merits she gets and how many she needs for her Hosue to come top !

Elibean · 22/07/2011 21:01

100% seems really rare - how could it not be, given the flus and vomiting bugs that go around?! I agree with all of you, mad thing to give certificates for.

Sadly, our school (which I love in most other ways) does do this. No one seems bothered about not getting one though, which may be down to the way the giving of them is handled - or to the fact that lots of other certificates are given out for all sorts of things at the same time.

megkat · 22/07/2011 21:50

Not bothered either way - butIi do know that DDs school doesn't count hospital appointments as absence, it's sickness that matters

pigsinmud · 22/07/2011 23:02

I am only wound up by it as I have had to sit through the bloody assembly today. I just think it is the most pointless thing ever. At dd's school it is 100% attendance. If you have a ballet or music exam you've blown it .... so much for encouraging a child's talents!

I don't believe it is a county idea here as my ds's primary school don't do it. When they go to work when they're older, they will probably expect a bonus for not having a day off sick all year.

My child had had one in the past and she's hardly proud of it - I mean it's not an achievement is it. It went in the recycling bin.

wannabefree · 22/07/2011 23:09

Funny, I was just thinking about this today. One son got the 100% for the year certificate and book token, and my other son was crying his eyes out this morning because he didn't get one. He was saying: "It's not fair...it's not my fault I was sick!" If his brother hadn't have got one I don't think it would have been an issue though.

I remember others getting them at school when I was a child and I don't ever remember thinking it was unfair. I think it's quite an achievement. And I agree with the people who have said it doesn't mean you have sent your child in when they were ill...some children ARE well a lot!

MonsterBookOfTysons · 22/07/2011 23:18

I was bullied quite bad during primary school, and skived alot. A book token would not of encouraged me to go in more.
I have all this to come, ds who is starting school next year always catches any bug and has a bad chest. He will never get 100% attendence unless he is very lucky.

Bohica · 22/07/2011 23:27

Our school doesn't do a book token, they take the children to macDonalds!

Fucking MacDonalds when I have had yearly reminders not to put crap in their lunchboxes.

DD3 has a heart condition, DD1 & 2 have both been to MacDonalds for their lunch this week & DD3 will never get to do this because of cardiac appointments.

How fair is that?

letthembe · 22/07/2011 23:27

I have worked in an area where the attendance is shocking, nothing to do with illness but apathy and disfunctional parents. You would have whole classes where not one pupil would have attendance above 90%. Something had to be done or Ofsted would have be saying we were unsatisfactory and this was so far from the truth. It's just a little thank you/reward. My DD wore her little medal with pride all day.

And now to shatter a few dreams.... pupil of the week certificates (et al) - always a last minute thought and you share them so every child, no matter how challenging, receives at least one every year. It's not because your child is perfect!! I prefer to reward pupils within the classroom setting - comments in books, share a joke, talk with them, get to know them NOT give them bits of paper.

So suck it up and let a few child enjoy a reward.

letthembe · 22/07/2011 23:28

Original poster

vintageteacups · 22/07/2011 23:39

Someone further up the thread (cokefan I think) said, quite rightly, that once the child has had one day off, then there is absolutely no more incentive as they know they haven't got a certificate/book token etc.

I'm sure numbers of truency (and let's face it that's all they're worried about really because authorised absences are just that......authorised) in 2010/11 were not that much higher than in 1971 for example.

Why don't Ofsted actually worry about how teachers teach, how kids learn and a whole lot of other far important things than making schools hand out pointless certificates for not being ill (like it's something we can control )

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