Question for those whose school is obsessed with attendance

[MayDayChild]

DD in reception and I'm constantly by this thing called school!!!
For first half term 40% of all school pupils got 100% attendance
I really thought more than that would be at school everyday.
Sickness accepted but 60% of them?
Needless to say my robust been in nursery since 12m old DD has 100%.

Do you think this is high low normal??
They publish attendance for each class on weekly newsletter btw

I'm usually pretty draconian about dragging the buggers to school because:

a) I want to instill an ethos of not being off unless you're actually incapacitated, or infectious with something really antisocial &
b) I work ft, so does dh, & we 'pick up new puppies' or whatever at the weekend.

But I'll hold my hands up to taking ds & dd1 on a hookey day last Monday. Dh & I had booked a long weekend away (music festival), nanny was going to have kids, & then she couldn't on Sunday because it was Eid. So I emailed school & explained that we'd have to take the kids with us & they'd miss Monday.

'We may have to record it as unauthorised'

'That's fine'

Problem solved.

Our EWO threatened the new parents with gaol at the induction meeting for reception. And told us that our children would fail if we failed to send them to school. We were and relations to the school will never be quite right. It was absurd but probably ofsted motivated.

What exactly are we supposed to do when our DCs are sick? In some areas schools have had to be closed because so many children have been sent in sick.

Me, I smile and nod at the EWO when I get called in about DS2's attendance figure the week after he was on oxygen in hospital due to his asthma. He will NEVER have 100% attendance, and is often below the magical 90% figure that gets the EWO called. Also - even half a day absence for a medical appointment will have a greater effect on the attendance percentage in the first half of the school year than it would in say, July.

Because if there have only been 15 days at school - one day is a much higher percentage of that than it is of 100 days. Simple.

My DS2 often has the worst attendance THIS half term, due to his asthma, then in the last half term of the year, is usually around 80-85% attendance over the year.

It's all a bit meh IMO. My favourite part of my appointments with the EWO is when I ask her how to prevent my DS2 from having an asthma attack that requires hospital admission, therefore necessitating school absence. When she can't answer, I usually tell her that the meeting is over then.

I will add - my dc's only get time off if the 1) Have a fever 2) Have chickenpox 3) Have flu (proper flu) or Swine Flu 4) Have D&V (our school insists on the 48 hr rule) 5) Are in hospital or 6) have missing limbs accompanied by severe blood loss. .

The draconian approach to school attendance has left my dd so screwed up that she is in therapy and having 2 hour panic attacks on Sunday nights (last week we had to call out the paramedics as we just couldn't get her breathing under control).

I used to drag her in physically when she was crying with pain because I was so frightened of what the authorities might do if we failed to comply. If only I could have those years again - it wouldn't be dd having bloody panic attacks!

If you are talking about a class of 30 kids, those figures mean 18 absences.

18 kids having a half day off to go to the dentist or maybe one child has been on a two week holiday - 10 absences, and a further 8 children had doctor, dentist or hospital appointments. It's not unreasonable really is it?

But a school cannot get an outstanding Ofstead report with poor attendance, even if all teaching and pastoral support are outstanding one child being absent for one day can drag the Ofstead from outstanding to good.

I tend to send mine in with colds etc, but fevers, etc get a day off. Think dd1 teacher was bit suspicious when dd1 had two days off but was really bouncy when she got back, but she was on a school trip which we had to pay #25 towards, no refunds if ill, and she had a bad cough and fever all day mon, and had given neurofen before school trip. I decided was better that she was well for her school trip than to make papier mache volcanos. She has had quite a few medical appointments this term too, so no doubt got a black mark, but dd2 been in 100 percent at same school, so obviously not just off on jolly, afterall who would bring one child and a sick child to drop off and pick up just for fun.

medical appointments dont count as absences in dd/ds's school. DS has 100% attendance but also had a speech therapy appointment - it was recorded as an dental/medical appointment rather than an absence. Mine get sent in with a cold, snotty nose, etc but not if they have a fever, are being sick, limbs are hanging off, etc!

My sons school are always sending out boring letters about attendance.

If my son is sick he will stay home.

simple.

He has had a cough for 10 days now and feels ''not tip top'' as he says but he has still gone to school.

He is in year 5 and 100% attendance for all of those years except one and that year we got a snotty letter from the head, I threw it in the bin. He had had two sicknesses one for two days and one for a week.

I think schools should be concentrating on the serious offenders not genuine sickness once in a while.

Please listen - I am a teacher - it is NOT the schools - it is the EWO who calls in frequently, demands our registers are perfect (using TIPPEX is a hanging offence) and orders that parents are written to/called in to schools.

Nikon, can I also add "nor on genuine sickness which occurs ever so often"?

Because it's not fun to find yourself grouped- as so often happens- with genuine offenders, because you happen to have an incurable condition that will probably affect you for life.

I was very good with my older children and probably wouldn't have dreamt of keeping them off to pick up a puppy. But I am afraid with my third I have slipped a bit and seriously, I cannot see what they do in year 1 that makes one day off such a threat to their work ethic and education. D3s teacher seems to barely know who she is despite full attendance so far this term!