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!

No

Is that 'no' they do still get outstanding or 'no' they can't get OS from ofsted?

Oh for goodness sake! Lighten up everyone! Who cares?

My DS got 100% certificate for the year - no book token though, may have to change schools! He was well all year. No, he wasn't sent in to school poorly, Sadly, the two bouts of sickness he had happened in the school holidays.

Schools give out loads of pointless accolades - Star of the Week, VIP of the week, etc - the posters whingeing about attendance seem quite happy with these.

It really isn't that important.

Lighten up, who cares, my child got one, why should your child matter?

You are so right, as long as my child gets these daft awards then everyone else's complaints about them have to be completely unfounded.

Ofsted guidance /expectations

1 The school has up-to-date attendance and absence figures

2 The school has comparative attendance figures for the current year and previous years

3 The school has absence data for the latest term/half term and compares it to the equivalent term/half term from last year

4 The school can show the trend in the rate of absence over the previous 3 years

5 The school can show that it knows and monitors the proportion of PA

6 The school has a breakdown of attendance/absence by:

? gender
7 ? absence code
8 ? year group
9 ? Key Stage
10 ? vulnerable groups, eg SEN, EAL, new arrivals, FSM, ethnicity
11 ? attainment, eg under-performing groups from Raiseonline
12 ? ?at risk? groups, eg CLA, young carers, child in need
13 Attendance has improved as a result of actions taken by the school

14 Realistic targets have been set and achieved

15 The school can demonstrate that it actively monitors and promotes the attendance of different minority groups

16 Attendance compares favourably to schools in similar circumstances

17 Persistent absence has been reduced and reductions have been sustained

18 There is support for learners to catch up following periods of absence

19 There is support available to those pupils who are unable to attend

20 There is effective use of attendance data at all levels to identify the main causes of absence within the school and action is taken to address and improve those areas

21 There is effective use of attendance data at all levels to:

? identify and track individuals whose absence causes concern
22 ? identify and track particular groups whose absence causes concern
23 ? monitor and evaluate the impact of interventions
24 ? set and monitor targets
25 ? benchmark performance against successful schools in similar circumstances
26 The school can demonstrate that it places clear importance on maintaining and improving attendance
27 A senior member of staff is responsible for attendance

28 All staff have clear roles and responsibilities in promoting good attendance

29 There is a clear escalation of intervention to address absence from the first day of absence

30 There are effective administrative arrangements to encourage attendance

31 Early intervention is used to prevent pupils? attendance becoming poor or deteriorating further in becoming persistent

32 There have been improvements to the curriculum to re-engage non-attendees

33 There are effective rewards and sanctions

34 Governors are actively involved in monitoring attendance

35 The school seeks and makes good use of effective practice from elsewhere

36 There is effective liaison and partnership with carers in addressing attendance problems

37 The school works effectively in partnership with outside agencies

38 The school takes active steps to ensure the curriculum meets the needs of all learners

39 The school has high expectations of pupils

40 The school can demonstrate that it knows the whereabouts of each child and/or reasons for absence

41 There are activities outside of the normal school day to adapt the range of provision, meet the range of pupils? needs and interests, and re-engage pupils

Blimey - a bit of red tape needing to be reduced there then .

No wonder teachers/HT's get stressed if they've got that little lot to contend with!

It's getting a bit in my opinion.

Oh it goes on

Introduction

Learners? attendance is judged in comparison to national figures under ?Outcomes: how well are pupils doing, taking account of any variation?? The grade descriptors make it clear that if the pupils? actual attendance is well below national averages, or too many pupils are persistently absent, then attendance must be graded as inadequate.
Inspectors must use national averages, not FSM bands, to judge attendance ? see tables in next section.

The judgement on attendance is taken into account when judging ?the extent to which pupils develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their economic wellbeing.? The school?s work to promote good attendance and reduce absence is judged in care, guidance and support as part of the evaluation of ?How effective is the provision??, It is essential that inspectors make the distinction between the outcome ? actual attendance ? and the provision made to promote good attendance when making their judgements and when reporting.
The school?s efforts and strategies and their effectiveness should be taken into account when judging care, guidance and support, and commented on in the text of the report when appropriate. RAISEonline gives a contextual element to the attendance data by graphing the school?s attendance and persistent absence figures against free school meals information. However, whilst there is a clear statistical link between levels of social deprivation (as measured by Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility), this should not be taken as an excuse for poor attendance and high absence rates. At every FSM level there is a range of school performance on absence.
It is not acceptable to judge poor attendance as ?average? on the basis that the school is working hard to improve it.
There is a clear link between attendance and achievement, since if pupils are not attending school they will be unable to access the opportunities available to them. Inspectors should use their evaluation of attendance to assist their analysis of any differences between the achievement of different groups of learners, such as those of different gender or ethnicity. Inspectors should evaluate how much the school knows about the attendance patterns of groups of learners and the effectiveness of systems to alert them to changes in pupils? attendance, as a sudden or a gradual alteration can indicate a safeguarding issue.

When judging attendance inspectors should consider all the evidence available, including:
 figures for overall and persistent absence, using data shown in RAISEonline, and the school?s own data (there are no RAISEonline data for children not yet of statutory school age)
 the most up-to-date attendance and absence data held by the school
 the attendance of different groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those from minority ethnic groups - inspectors will find it useful to use the school?s own analysis of this data as a starting point. If there is no analysis this is a cause for concern and will need to be considered as part of other judgements such as care, guidance and support and aspects of leadership and management
 the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent, which is identified nationally as absence of more than 20%
 patterns of absence ? is there more absence at particular times of year, days of the week, from a particular class or year group?
 proportions of pupils with particular levels of attendance, for example below 85% or above 95%, and whether these proportions are changing.

Account should be taken of whether the percentage of pupils present in each lesson observed is broadly consistent with the school?s attendance and absence figures. Should discrepancies arise it may be necessary to investigate the school?s procedures for registering pupils and recording absence. Is truancy from lessons occurring after pupils have initially registered?

Judging the effectiveness of the school?s actions to reduce absence and promote attendance as part of ?How effective is the provision??

As part of making an overall judgement on the quality of the care, guidance and support offered to learners it is important to consider the effectiveness of the steps taken by the school to encourage regular attendance for all groups of pupils, including the school?s progress towards any attendance targets set by the DCSF or local authority. This includes a consideration of:
 whether attendance has improved as a result of actions taken by the school, or whether previously high attendance has been maintained
 whether reductions in overall absence and persistent absence have been sustained

Effectiveness should be judged in terms of the reduction of both overall and persistent absence and not in terms of conversion from unauthorised absence to authorised absence.

Inspectors should also evaluate:
 the effectiveness of provision to enable any pupils to catch up with work missed, for example through absence, through attendance at additional programmes, or through exclusion
 the school?s arrangements to monitor the attendance of any pupils who attend provision off-site, such as extended work experience or college.

Inspectors should take into account:
 the school?s monitoring and evaluation of any patterns of absence among particular groups of pupils and the effectiveness of action taken to address this. The school should know if there is higher absence among any groups of pupils, or if there are distinctive patterns of absence for individuals. For example, if some pupils are frequently absent on a Monday or a Friday or if pupils with special educational needs and /or disabilities are disproportionately absent, then these issues should have been identified and addressed.
 whether the school?s strategies to tackle poor attendance are appropriate. Different causes of non-attendance need different responses and senior leaders should be able to explain what they are doing and why.
 the support given to any pupils absent long-term for medical reasons, such as any in hospital, and arrangements made to keep pupils in touch with school work. How are these maintained during extended spells in hospital or at home? What liaison arrangements are in place with other supporting professionals, for example at the hospital school or home tuition?
 the effectiveness of partnership work to reduce absence, for example with the Education Welfare Service and with parents
 the extent to which the school has clear action plans for the re-admittance/engagement of non-attending pupils? Does it include plans for reintegrating them in all areas of the curriculum? Alternatively, can it show how another agency is pursuing their re-admittance to school?

If it is clear that the school has high levels of absence and/or high persistent absence and its actions have failed to reduce those rates and, as a result, it has failed to meet learners? needs, then a grade 4 may be warranted for care, guidance and support. Inspectors should also consider whether poor attendance is a result of other failures on the school?s part, such as a curriculum which does not meet all learners? needs or an ethos of low expectations.

for another 6 pages

by Ofsted standards...93% attendace is unsatisfactory....94% Satisfactory...anything more than 95% is considered good....

The primary school i work at (800+ kids) has attendace of 94.2...so to improve it the Headmaster brought in a weekly Trophy that goes to the class who has the highest attendace...so just an icentive to the children...not the parents...

thats the only thing the school wee doing..and the attendaces of EVERY class improves ...and at the end of the year verall it was in the 96/97% ish...
How does this happen?...

no kids were throwing up over carpets...less children were off school?..as one previous poster has said ..at Primary level its the parents who keep children off school...

bear in mind some children who are off school do not have Hosp appointments or are really ill!...its seems those children were actually getting their backsides into school...whereas before, their parents were allowing them to take time off that they didnt need to!

I think a class trophy is at least slightly better though - it's the whole class that's in it together - rather than the individual.

Would you like to be the individual who is absent and prevents your class getting the trophy?

There is nothing new about a class trophy. We had that when I was in junior school. The headmaster used to read out the percentages every Monday. As far as I can remember, no class ever achieved 100%, so I doubt if any individual was singled out as letting the side down. Classes were much larger in those days, so it was probably more than one person anyway. Although we felt quite chuffed to receive it, I don't think it was a great motivator; it all seemed a bit random, really.

dd3's teacher told me at the beginning of July that she was in line to win the 100% attendance prize. I had to tell her then that we were taking dd3 out 4 days before the end of term to go on holiday. Whoops

mrz which illustrates my original point that the whole 100% attendance thing is totally discriminating.

CecilyP the class trophymentioned in the thread was awarded weekly which I thin is very achievable

So was ours, mrz. Obviously, it was achieved by one of eight classes each week and recycled to the next class of worthy recipients the following week. All achieving ninety-something point something percent. I always felt that our class received it less than other classes - I don't know why. It is only as an adult, I might take an interest keeping note and spotting the trends.

hmm thinking about this now DS didn't get 100% attendance prize, but then we did take him skiing for a week, but the only other reason he was not in school was because he got his head slammed in a door at school had it glued back together and was off for 3 days due to a severe concussion. Completely not the schools fault, boys were being boys, but if you take into account that the week skiing didn't go against the schools OfSted figures due to DH being forces and it being the only time we could have holidays then that should not go against him for the 100% attendance prize. If OfSted don't count it then neither should school. As the other time he was off was due to lack of supervision on the schools part (not that I blame them but sending 15 boys into 1 toilet to wash hands on their own can only lead to high jinx IMO), then I think he has a strong case to go to a pupil equivalent of an equal opportunities tribunal.

Maybe this could actually be a way in teaching children about equal opportunities and discrimination.

Is that a defo pimms? That forces families can defintely take hols out of term time? We did give that reason the year before last as we had moved and the only time dh had leave was November - center parcs is chilly but at least cheap!

But if it's been agreed officially for forces families, then I won't feel as guilty asking for a short break next spring?

Under the new study done about forces families one of the things that came up was not being able to take holidays in holiday time always. As such if you put that DH can only take time at that point and state his job then OfSted have to take that into account and it does not count against the school. Our school just put the letter with the register and there is apparently a special code on the system that they put in and then it doesn't count against them, comes under the extra funding scheme, as in they can now catch our DCs up as they have extra money yo cope with their "issues"

vintage look at this
Ofsted Recognise the Need for Family Time During R&R
Many schools are already aware of the importance of families being together during periods of R&R and now Ofsted also acknowledge this fact, stating that ?Our inspectors understand and are sensitive to this issue?. What does this mean? Well it means that if a school is being inspected by Ofsted, both in England and in SCE schools, and there are a number of absences from Service family children who have returning soldiers on R&R then they will take this into account. The absences will be noted as authorised and not included in the overall assessment of attendance for the school. Consequently, it will not be to the schools detriment to allow Service children holidays during term time when their serving parent is back for this precious period of time.

extract from here

our school read above extract then talked with OfSted and were told that as long as there was a covering letter from the parents saying that due to forces job the only time holiday could be taken was during term time then it was ok. Preferably as parent to put in due to posting or operational commitments of unit.

Thanks Pimms - have saved article for future ref.

i think some of you are missing the point.....

Mrz:Would you like to be the individual who is absent and prevents your class getting the trophy?...(illnesses are illnesses..it all comes swings and roundabouts. The classes that win usually win with 100%...nearly every class this year has won which means that at some point in the year the class got 100%....kids are not stupid, the children themselves know which kids in their class bunk off school or have days off for no reason...or whether its a genuine illness or not!)
CecilyP: I don't think it was a great motivator; it all seemed a bit random, really....very much is a motivator in my school..and their are a lot less random days off now...

the questions to be asked are....why are the individuals absent?...if as a school we have gone from 94% to 97%...then two things..

1. It does seem to have added some motivation...probably to the children who pass this onto the parents.
2. why the 3% rise?....with no trophy we would still be at 94%...(which we were for the previous 2 years...)...the trophy in itself seems to have added the extra 3% attendance over the school as a whole...would these children have taken the odd day off school without that incentive maybe yes....did they need to take the days off..it looks like they didnt as they were in school!

I quite believe that it has acted as a motivator in your school, mhughes, and I do know that some children take days off for little or no reason. So these children might now be encouraged not to do so, so often.

As I was only allowed to take time off when genuinely ill, I can't say it was something that I would have thought about when I was off. I only remember being chuffed or disappointed, as appropriate, on the days that it was given out.

It was a long time ago. We had class sizes of up to 40. There were far more childhood illnesses not yet vaccinated against. Conversely, we were in an affluent area, so term time holidays were not unusual. I really don't remember a class getting 100%

mhughes I think that maybe the reason some are missing the point as you put it is because most would not dream of having their child off unless there are exceptional (throwing up) circumstances and in that case the child is upset that they didn't get a certificate because some, less concerned, parent sent their child in with a stomach bug. Our admin lady was saying the other day that a child threw up over 4 children 20 mins after school had started as quote from mother "felt ill before school but it was a week before the end of term and he wanted his 100% certificate so she sent him anyway". The class then had an outbreak of the vomiting bug and no one in the class got a 100% certificate, the certificates put pressure on children and their parents that isn't needed. Oh and we are talking about certificates for the end of the year I defy most children to not be sick at some point in the school year, so now we reward those who are ill during holiday time.

mhughes74 you are assuming that a disappointed child reacts the same way as an adult to an unfortunate illness costing the trophy