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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

Year 6 awards assembly......

66 replies

Keiza · 18/07/2012 09:18

Sorry if sound like a pushy Mum but

My DD had her assembly yesterday where awards were given to pupils for their achievements of the past year, one of the awards they receive is for attendance, I watched as several of her classmates got their certificate but none for DD, why? I asked, well its because she had ONE day off for the whole year so it wasn't a 100% attendance. The day she was absent for was when she attended her Aunts funeral, am I right to feel somewhat aggrieved that she has been penalised for this. I know it's only a small thing but she has worked so hard this year and I think it's sad the school couldn't recognise this.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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TheOriginalSteamingNit · 18/07/2012 09:26

As you say - one of the awards was for attendance. Probably lots of the children who didn't get that award had very good reasons for having been absent. But remember your child has not been penalised, she just didn't get that certificate.

Sloobreeus · 18/07/2012 09:36

Your DD has loads of time to win awards. If the school made an allowance for you, other parents would complain that their DD/S had only had one day off for perfectly good reasons. There will be lots of ups and downs during the remainder DD's career at school. Try not to sweat this one. Have you had the parents-in-the-playground-comparing-spelling-lists experience yet?

wigglywoowoo · 18/07/2012 09:50

OP I do feel for you, I was annoyed when this happened to my DD. Her school do trips each term for 100% attendees. So it was frustrating for my dd who is only 5 to see her friends being rewarded for something which is in the headmistresses own words "in part, luck". :(

hanahsaunt · 18/07/2012 10:04

Awards for attendance really, really irritates me - it is just wrong. There are so many reasons why a child doesn't get 100% and to be penalised (school trips!!) for not being able to be there every day is horrible. 2 of my nieces will never achieve 100% attendance because of chronic illness - it's just not possible - and there will be a myriad other perfectly valid reasons for others. Plain wrong imo.

germyrabbit · 18/07/2012 10:08

my son was the only one in his year to get 100% attendance this term , to be honest it irritates me that it irritates others

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 18/07/2012 10:14

Yes, there are lots of very very valid reasons why a child might not come home with this particular certificate. But there are children who skive, and parents who are complicit in it - I know plenty. Making it clear that attendance is appreciated and valued and doesn't go unnoticed is a good thing, IMO.

dizzyday07 · 18/07/2012 10:18

Technically none of the Yr 2 children in my DD's Infant school could receive 100% attendence as they were marked as absent for the Transition day they spent at the Junior school!

norahjonesisnotmyname · 18/07/2012 10:22

One day off means it wasn't 100% attendance. It can feel unfair and I sympathise but that's just how it is. My daughter has to miss one morning every 3 months for a medical appointment which is not possible to have done outside of school hours. The clinic only runs on a Wed morning once a month so she has no choice but to miss a morning of school when her appointment is due. She'll never have 100% attendance ever, she has no choice unfortunately. Like others have said, many children will have a valid reason for absence.

Wellthen · 18/07/2012 10:23

How are they penalised? They didnt get an award? Its not like they were punished or stopped from doing a fun activity. I know its disapointing, especially for the little ones, but to be honest very few children actually chose to be away from school. Many children are taken on family holidays or kept off because their younger brother or sister is ill. How do you decide who gets it, the kid who was off for one day because they went to a football match/had a late flight the day before/mum couldnt be arsed to get out of bed or the child who was ill. None of these are the child's fault but some are definately more frowned on than others.

If the cut off is 100% then thats the cut off. There has to be a criteria for the award. How annoyed would you be if your child won, I dont know, most reading books read or something and then another kid also won, who hadnt read as many but was allowed to win because 'its not their fault the didnt read as many, they have lots of clubs after school'.

This is like the people who arrive at the gate for a flight 5 minutes after boarding and complain 'but its only 5 minutes!' Tough. You knew the cut off. Rules is rules. It isnt your child's fault they missed out on 100%. Its just too bad.

AChickenCalledKorma · 18/07/2012 10:25

I totally understand why schools have attendance awards - my children's school has had a real problem with poor attendance which is greatly improved since they started doing this kind of thing. And surprisingly enough, academic achievement is also spiralling upwards.

BUT I really wish the system could include children who have only had one or two days' off in the entire year. By any stretch of imagination, that is a completely acceptable level of attendance and would prevent people like the OP's daughter from being penalised for having had a very painful reason to miss a day of school.

wigglywoowoo · 18/07/2012 10:32

Wellthen My DD missed a train trip that was the reward for 100% in the autumn term. She didn't get to go as she had bad case of tonsilitis, subsequent terms she only missed school because she had appts at the ENT. She is 5 and didn't really understand why being sick in October meant she couldn't go on a trip in December!

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 18/07/2012 10:34

A bronze, silver and gold system might be a better idea?

bradbourne · 18/07/2012 10:44

Keiza "I know it's only a small thing but she has worked so hard this year and I think it's sad the school couldn't recognise this."

But the attendence award isn't about recognising hard work, it is about recognising 100% attendance. And "not getting a certificate" isn't being penalised, it is not being rewarded. There's a difference.

tiggytape · 18/07/2012 10:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bradbourne · 18/07/2012 10:53

No, I would agree about school trips.

tiggytape · 18/07/2012 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

norahjonesisnotmyname · 18/07/2012 11:14

tiggytape, reading your post makes me realise that it is very unfair for those children who can't avoid an absence due to regular hospital appointments, my daughter included. I've never worried about it much but it is very unfair. Most children, although they won't achieve 100% attendance because they might get ill or some unforseen circumstance may arise to cause an absence, can at least attempt to achieve it. My daughter, and others in her situation, don't even have a hope in hell of achieving it because it's never going to happen for them no matter how hard they try, they know from the start that it's something they can't strive for.

wigglywoowoo · 18/07/2012 11:18

It did annoy me at the time but I have a fantastic little girl who loves going to school and is doing really well, other than attendance. We've talked about the whole awards thing, as she has had 3 this year whereas some of her friends have reecieved none, which puts things in perspective for her.

I do think that they should work on 95%+ attendance but I know this attendance drive is in part due to Ofsted.

She has a hearing test and grommett check booked for the start of next term so I already know that she wont get one for autumn. Such is life!

stopraining · 18/07/2012 11:30

Hi,

I've just started a thread on AIBU which mentions awards in the thread.

A boy in the year 6 leavers assembly has had one day off in seven years which was early this year.

The attendance award went to a girl in their class who has not had a day off sick in year 6 but has done in previous years!

The girl's mother herself was totally shocked by the award.

Infortunately school life is very unfair.

mummytime · 18/07/2012 11:32

I would object to there being an award for attendance. Lots of kids miss school for good reasons (eg. long term ill health). Also those children who have 100% attendance often have working parents who have strong motivation to send them in even when it might be better for everyone else if they didn't (especially those pupils with compromised immune systems).

manicstreetpreacher · 18/07/2012 12:13

Ours were given out this morning and to be honest it's just luck isn't it? Luck in the sense that you haven't fallen ill once during that period of time and that you have had no family emergencies, appointments etc. It's hard enough to get your child a doc's/hospital appointment at the best of times so you have to take what you are given and, 9 times out of 10 that is within school time.

I personally think it is a silly thing to reward for. I'd rather see awards for trying hard, good deeds and good work. But that's just my opinion.

Original poster

Keiza · 18/07/2012 12:31

OK, so I'm being unreasonable, thanks for setting me straight.

bradbourne the hard work I was referring to was in relation to attendance, in making sure she got out of bed every day in what could be bewildering circumstances for a child.

This was an authorised absence and the school were well aware of the reason for her being absent. If it is to encourage good attendance then they really seem to have shot themselves in the foot because where is the encouragement if you don't get rewarded for the effort.

Yes there are several perfectly valid reasons to miss school & I think its a shame that schools can't differentiate if they going to give attendance awards.
It really would better not to have them at all, that way no child is left disappointed just because they were ill/medical appointment etc.

OP posts:

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 18/07/2012 12:37

No, I don't think it is just luck. Our place doesn't do them, and if they did, dd wouldn't get one, but it might just send a message to kids who get a day off because their sister is a bit under the weather, or because their mother has decreed they need a 'duvet day', that's fine, do that, but you're not going to get a certificate saying your attendance is good.

I think trips are taking it a bit far unless the school has an overall problem with low attendance, which suggests not a lot of poorly children but an endemic poor attitude to attendance. However, a certificate saying, well done for showing up every day is a nice thing to have (might be the only thing some children do get!) and sends out the right message about school.

tiggytape · 18/07/2012 13:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wellthen · 18/07/2012 15:21

Tiggytape attendance has a huge impact on progress. Schools which have attendance problems (which is of course, in mainstream, never down to lots of illness but in fact an apathy towards school) have to show that they are trying to combat this problem. It is not actually aimed at getting all children to 100% but on getting all children to attend regularly and not have large amounts of time off in 1 go. The 100% thing is, I think, a way of avoiding the questions 'so I could just have 5% off (only actually 1 day I think) whenever I feel like it?' - it is trying to show the attitude that everyone has to TRY to be there everyday.

Attendence isnt a measure of a good school, it is a measure of the problems the school is facing. But a school that sees these low statistics and does nothing is a bad school.

It is not meaningless but I dont think it is meaningful enough to render a trip as a reward. Im so glad your daughter has been congratulated, your school clearly has a great attitude. But awards like this arent designed to upset her or leave her out. In the same way they arent trying to leave out children who regularly visit their home country or have days of for religious holidays.

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