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!

It is quite remarkable that some parents manage to make it everyday to school and it does benefit the school.

Since she started school 2 years ago, my dd has had an attendance record above 95%. She missed 3 half days this year because I had business trips I could not arrange otherwise and had to take her with me.

After reading this thread and many similar ones, I still believe the only possible solution is to reward the parents, not the kids. Rewarding someone because of someone else's behaviour is not right.

I would reward attendance in secondary schools

The trouble is,for a school like mine, (just gone into special measures ,low attendance being one of our prime problems,even though teaching and attainment was good/satisfactory) we have to be seen to be doing something to encourage attendance.
Now, we don't want children who are genuinely ill to come in, but there is a hard core of children who don't come in for the flimsiest of reasons. For instance:-
There are some who are only in school 2 days out of every week.
There are those that go to stay with an estranged parent or grandparent and get picked up early on a Friday "for a dental/doctor's appointment" then child tells you on Monday ( or most likely, Tuesday) where they really were.
There are those whose parents keep them off because "they didn't want to go on the school trip/be in the class assembly/dress up for a theme day.. etc".
There are ones who are "suprisingly" off on their birthdays.

You get the picture.

If we don't get our attendance figures up above the National Average ,it will be us in the s*t.
Whose fault is low attendance? Ours, or the parents of the children who allow it to happen??

As it happens, I don't like the 100% attendance certificates. My DS* missed out this year when he was genuinely ill for 2 days, and was totally gutted by it! However, I understand the reasons behind their presentation.

(*Same school that I am a TA at.)

jamdonut, we seem to work in quite similar places and have rather similar views...

I'm giggling at the idea of rewarding the parents. It's not that it's not a great idea, i'm just anticipating the explosion of fury on MN from parents who did not get their reward because their child was inconveniently ill....

snorkie a discalculic child could get a maths prize for effort and attainment - it's not based on luck like being ill is.

The thing is teacherwith2kids you cannot measure how ill someone feels so I honestly do not think that there's much point (other than writing to parents) doing anything.

For schools where attendance is a huge problem, I think there should be more 'joined up' thinking within the health authority/LEA etc to encourage/educate those parents about attendance.

For schools that have high achieving children, I don't attendance as a bit issue that needs dealing with.

And as for saying it's what Ofsted want and therefore HTs/parents can't do anything is wrong.

HTs should be lobbying against things that are simply red tape. HTs are there to manage the school and whilst some things may be out of their control, a few more being more robust and trying to change the way Ofsted measure some things, might actually work.

"I'm surprised BetsyBoop that you think a child with 100% attendance just turns up but does little work"

Well I'm equally suprised querky that you can't actually read what I wrote, as no where did I say that right back at ya

I have a question is someone knows the answer. For those working in schools with these prizes, do you know if the introduction of the award has made any difference to the actual attendance?

I find it difficult to believe that parents who do not take school attendance seriously change attitudes because of this. I would guess (only a guess) this has an impact only on parents who take the school already very seriously and may decide to send their kids to school a day when they are not sure if they are really fit for it, just not to make them miss the prize.

No BetsyBoop, you are right, you didn't say it out right, I can read though and it is absolutely definitely what you inferred about the people you work with.

Personally, I think that is an age thing. Older people seem to have a work ethic that the younger generation just don't have. That's for a another thread though :o.

Thinking out loud - Maybe the children who attain 100% attendance (or thereabouts) are the product of parent(s) who also had excellent attendance .

Querky... we are speaking of primary education. Most people are speaking about kids aged 5-7 in this thread. Obviously ir is not 'an age thing' and lack of 'work ethics' among the youth. It is much more related to your second thought.

Unless you know of any primary school children who decide by themselves when to go to school. Even if you did, it would be a parenting issue.

camaleon it was BetsyBoop who made a correlation between 100% attendance children then going onto have a 'turn up to work and do nothing attitude'.
I was just responding to her ludicrous suggestion .

qwerky, yet again you try to twist my words around into something I DID NOT SAY!

For the record and the avoidance of doubt:-

I was saying that I had used to wonder (before I had kids at school) where the attitude that I had seen in SOME young people had come from; that just turning up for work every day was the important thing, not working hard all the time you are there & taking pride in a job well done - and was suggesting that maybe, just maybe it had started when they were at school because that's what school had rewarded them for, so that's what they think is important....

Obviously this is only SOME young people I am talking about, there are of course a lot of very hard working and dedicated young people (who shock horror occasionally might take a day off sick) and a few too many lazy good for nothing older folks as well!

camaleon,

Yes, it has increased our attendance figures. I would say it has had the most effect on the 'casual non-attenders' (not the hard-core absentees), but whether this is a direct effect of the awards, or of the generally much higher profile of attendance within the school that the awards are part of, I can't say.

vintageteacups a discalculic child won't get an attainment prize in maths though I conceed that they could get an effort one though my experience of effort prizes is that they are often associated with highish attainment too (which is wrong) and an undiagnosed discalculic child my well be thought to be not trying rather than genuinly struggling, so again unlikely to gain an effort prize. The dyspraxic child wont get the handwriting prize and the tone deaf child won't get the music prize either. This is just unlucky for them.

And to those who think the prizes should go to the parents, while I can see where you are coming from, did you never as a child feign illness to have the day off school? I know I did at both junior and senior age too (though more often at senior to be fair).

I don't know of any primaries where they have subject prizes (secondary yes but strange for a primary).

If prizes are based on attainment, then that's wrong - it should be about effort and enjoyment at primary level.

I have 2 boys at the school where I work.

One of them got 100% attendance and received a certificate, special badge and 4 ODEON cinema tickets!

The other one had a day off due to throwing up one morning and got nothing. When he was being sick he cried because he wouldn't get 100% attendance.

I think it is a great thing. Some parents think nothing of taking their children out of school for holidays, long weekend, feeling slightly unwell and the incentive to be in school is there with the reward.

I even suggested that TA's ie me! should get 4 cinema tickets as I had 100% attendance too.

Every child has an individualised 'work based' award certificate once a half term - it can be for effort or attainment, for a moment of inspiration or a long period of sustained hard work. Every child will get one of these. I think this is normal for primary, though the frequency of awards will vary - some give awards once a half term, aiming to give the whole class one over the course of a year, others will give out 1 or two weekly.

We have a weekly subject award (different subjects each week) for children from each class in primary.

collision so you obviously don't mind sending your kids in when they feel unwell?

Thing is -if someone has been granted (authorised) time off for a holiday in term time, then that's the HT agreeing to them going. Therefore, I think all authorised abscences should be included.

It's the unauthorised abscences that Ofsted are worried about so why not just punish people for unauthorised time off (ie: skiving).

Actually vintage it is all absences authorised or not

Well - I can't believe they waste so much time on it.

Surely it's the parents who let their kids stay at home when they're not ill that we should be worrying about rather than those who keep them off when they're are really ill; adhering to school policy on the spreading of infection.

As a member of the SMT responsible for safeguarding I had to undergo an hour long interview with the inspectors to discuss our absenteeism and was questioned in great detail about what we had done already and our future plans to further reduce levels.

Vintage, yes, as I have said several times, it is exactly those parents we are worrying about. Can you suggest what more a school should do to ensure that they send their children to school? The LA does step in in the most serious of cases - what do you suggest for a school-based and manageable approach to those other cases if incentivising them via rewarding their children is not acceptable?

Exactly mrz. And I would say that rewarding children with high levels of attendance was one strategy that was discussed?

Just one example of a child in my class last year ... in three years in school he has attended for less than two years. His mum says he is ill, he says she won't get out of bed. When he does attend he may not arrive until just before lunch and struggles to keep awake (he says he couldn't sleep for the noise) ... Social Srvices won't visit the home after being attacked by an older sibling likewise the EWO. Mum has been threatened with a fine by the LA but as she lives on benefits isn't worried in the slightest. They could jail her but that would put 7 children in care ...

If it's a case of parents who don't give a toss, not taking their kids to school, then I think it's obviously a social welfare problem but being handed a 100% attendance certificate isn't going to change that.

In schools where attainment is high, then I see no problem with no extra incentive other than letters home to parents reminding them about non essential abscences.