100% attendance prizes.

[vintageteacups]

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!

My DD received her 100% attendance certificate this week, and attended a party to celebrate, and received a book and was entered into a prize draw to win a holiday to Centre Parcs, and had her name in the school newsletter - all to celebrate this achievement!!
Last year she missed out by a day because she was in hospital receiving oxygen, steriods and antibiotics for a severe chest infection!
I also disagree with the whole ludicrous system - it should be scrapped. I was going to complain about it last year but will definetly be sending an email of complaint this year!

It's obviously unfair-but so is any individual component of any reward system. If it's based on something measurable it just rewards those who get lucky (kids who grow fast win at sports day). So we also have less measurable rewards for personal achievement, effort, behaviour etc, but they're subjective and hence always attacked as unfair too.

But overall classroom praise, mix of recognition of effort and success and a balance over the year should even up and work to encourage all. It's if you feel that overall your child has not been praised sufficiently for something vital they achieved that you should complain, not if they lost out unluckily for one thing.

Because the point isn't just reward for children (nobody attends to get a medal) it's a way of stating as a community the things the school cares about-that full attendance-along with attainment, effort and working with others-is to be aimed for.

100% attendance awards are clearly discriminatory, and also encourage children with communicable illnesses to attend school. Im surprised that any school would think that they are acceptable.

I think it is a great idea. My job rewards 100% attendance with a finacial bonus, it certainly makes you think twice about having time off.

Yes I know it is a shame for children who are genuinely ill or have unavoidable appointments but thats life.

I say well done to those children who got 100% attendance. Having 95% attendace is the same as having a half day off every fortnight, hardly an achievement is it.

Yes but it's also the same as having a proper flu or chest infection & being off for 2 weeks and attending the rest of the year

I say well done as well.

There could an argument for any award, jimmy got the maths award but then his dad is a maths teacher.

and charlie got the running award but then his dad is linford christie............and on and on and on.

If only 12 children get an award, the other 238 can hardly feel they are being punished. A year's full attendance is exceptional and, I am sure, some of those children would have been ill during the holidays. A certificate is one thing, but a valuable prize seems quite another.

However, I do think it is odd to reward children for something out of their contol. If it is supposed to be a motivator for better attendance for those children who are often off for little or no reason, I very much doubt that it works.

This is not a new thing. When I was at junior school, there was an cup for the class with the best attendance the previous week. (Same cup - recycled). To me now as an adult, it just seems a farce to reward a class for something so random, when no individual class member (or their parents) can have any influence over the actions of the rest.

100% attendance awards are the only ones that encourage infectious children to drag themselves to school. With all the problems with flu in recent years I think that awards that reward attendance are bordering on negligence.

It seems dreadful if that is the case, cats. My son received an attendance certificate for a term's perfect attendance in P5. (Summer term, so not so many infectious illness about). Prior to that, I wasn't even aware that these certificates existed!

I think it would be better to award children for improved attendence rather than 100% attendence.

My son's school does have attendence certificates, but they let you off for hospital appointments if you show the letter in advance and you attend for part of that day. When my son went to the local child development centre for audiology he missed two hours of a school at most out of a school day. On a good day he was back at school within an hour.

There are not many circumstances that require a school child to miss a whole day of school. Piano exams are not whole day affairs.

The special school I used to work at has attendence certificates and quite a few of those children had full attendence inspite of special needs.

Why shouldn't the kids who don't make the grade for any of the other awards, but manage to turn up day in day out, get rewarded for that? There should be some pride taken in getting there every day to put in your effort. And yes, some children will be unfortunate enough to be forced to miss school through illness, but that doesn't change the fact that most children will be able to go through most academic years turning up every school day. And frankly, are you going to abolish the reading or maths awards on the basis that some children will never have the ability to be awarded them? No, thought not...

Then why not have a prize for children who manage to attend 100% excluding medical absences.

The point about maths and english prizes is different - awards for maths and english dont encourage ill, potentially infectious children to attend school.

sugartongue you sound as though you don't currently have primary age children from your remarks.

It's very different to maths/english awards (not that our primary has them).

Getting a merit for a good piece of work is indivdiual to that child, no matter what their ability; they could get a merit for maths because they put up their hand to answer a question, tried hard when drawing a graph or perhaps they got all of their work finished plus extra in the lesson etc.

It's given not just for ability but for effort.

Getting given a book prize for simply being a lucky statistic that cannot be altered by anything other than good/bad luck is sheer pointless.

It has nothing to do with pride and no, "most children" do not go through "most academic years" turning up at school every day. You're on planet cuckoo if you think 12 kids out of 250 is 'most children'.

My DS had on-going health problems and I feel it's unfair that he was discounted from a 100% attendance reward through circumstances that were well beyond our control. After most operations (he's had at least 18 we've lost count), he was not allowed to return to school for 2 weeks on average (infection risk) and we had work to do at home with him.

DD1 and DD2 are rarely ill and have both had 100% attendance some years - DD2 this year and she got a certificate -well woop dee do dah she wasn't sick so what? She didn't have an ongoing medical problem - well done her.

OMG, I can't believe that so many of you think that rewards for astounding attendance record = punishment of everyone else. DS's school has them for the month and the term and I don't really care. If he's sick, he will not be in school. If he gets a cert, he'll feel jolly happy about it.

Year2mum did you really send your DD to school the next day?

Yes but it's not even measurable - you don't have to try hard or put effort in to not be infectious - it's pure luck and discrimanatory at that!

100% attendance is only because those children managed to a)not be ill at all, b)happen to be ill during the hols or c)were ill but parents sent them in anyway - thus spreading the infection to everyone else - .

There is nothing worth celebrating if you made it into school on every day the school was open - you went because you weren't off ill or didn't have a funeral/health app etc. And if those kids were off, it was because it had been authorised by the head!

For those who are saying that it's the onlt certificate their children get in a year - surely you'd rather them be given a certificate for good effort/playing nicely, being kind.

The 100% attendance certs are really to re-enforce to parents that they should be sending their kids in as much as possible - well, we know that already.

Dione, it is not what I think really, it is what the kids think. This term, my DS was begging me and begging me to take him slightly late to a hospital appointment as being ten minutes late would mean he could be signed in for the afternoon and get 100% attendance for this term. He has never, never had it as he always has hospital appointments.

Of course, we went on time, the clinic were running 45 minutes late and he missed out on the certificate......

I don't think he was punished, as such, but I certainly don't think it taught him anything valuable - in fact, almost the opposite.

Oh, and he doesn't get any other certificates either..... that often happens to those with lots of hospital appointments too.....

Sports day at my school was pure luck and discriminatory (no one trained, tall, fit girls won most things), Pupil of the Week recipients don't have to put any effort in. 100% attendance is just another one of those things that happen in school.

MrsDaffodill, I disagree, it taught him that looking after his health is far more important than any certificate.

The last 3 years in DS' infant he has run a 95-97% attendance. But last term was the first time he got a certificate for 100%. So so silly. I didn't even know they did certificates until a few days ago Maybe the few days he was either vomiting/pooing through the eye of a needle or coughing up a lung that I should have sent him in :)

The difference in our junior school was that a big song and dance was always made of handing out the attendance certificates in a way that never happened about any other kind of achievement.

I would say this is fair the day the head gets up in assembly and makes a speech about how you are ruining your chances if you don't get 100% in the maths test, or if you are not on top table and then reads out the names of the fortunate few who did achieve in the maths test. But this is never going to happen.

My dd went to school in dreadful pain, she used to crawl up on her hands and knees to get to her maths class, she always got high marks, always worked conscientiously to catch up. But noone ever gave her any recognition: she had to sit through endless talks about how children with low attendance were letting the school down and ruining their chances in life. She never had an award.

Her brother was dead idle, day-dreaming in class, did the minimum of work, but healthy, so he got rewards. Totally undeserved as far as I am concerned. Then he was diagnosed with the same condition. His first reaction was "will they be angry with me now"? Because everything he had seen in the school had shown him that poor attendance, for whatever reason, was a totally different sin from not doing any work.

Have the heads ever thought through what is like to have to drag a reluctant child to painful medical investigations or physio (which you can't get scheduled for after school) when it also means they're going to miss out on their certificate and let their table down? That really pisses me off btw when whole tables/sets are rewarded for attendance: it means noone wants the sickly or disabled child on their table.

I hate it with a passion! Unfair - lots of parents get their children to school but can we have a prize for the most involved parent then! I read every night, hear dd read most nights, help with school trips and activities and do lots outside school so why when she is top of her class should I feel bad for taking her on 2 long weekends in lieu of a holiday because it is all we can afford grrrrr! Rant over!

My DDs school have done this,this year.

My DD was upset as she knows she will never get 100% attendance due to her health problems.

I don't think it's fair on DC that have medical needs/illness etc...