So the 100% attendance prize this term was an ipod shuffle!!!

[RaisinBoys]

Aside from my thinking that a prize for 100% attendance is questionable, what is wrong with the humble book token?

Yes, I am really old!

And no, It's not just because my DC did not "win"

[treesntrees]

The Head Teacher of the smallish primary my children first attended had a prize giving ceremony towards the end of each school year and believe me every child got a prize for something ranging from academic excellence to someone who was always the first to comfort a child who had fallen over or always held the door open for teachers. Her imagination was boundless and each child beamed when they went up to get their prize. She also celebrated each child's birthday with a present and the whole school singing Happy Birthday. Like I said a smallish school with tiny classrooms holding fifteen or sixteen children. No reason why similar can't be done on a class basis though.

[cory]

The difficulty to me used to lie in persuading a recalcitrant child that dutifully attending her painful and laborious medical treatment was as worthy as merely sitting in a classroom, when the school were so obviously saying the opposite.

Otoh my lazy son who never does a stroke of work at school unless bullied by his teachers and parents can feel comfortable that his mere physical presence makes him more worthy.

[Southwest]

Annoyingly things like this are used to judge our children though and assign worthiness whether it be for school reports or prizes or simply whose mother gets to accompany the school trip.

In our school again all the prizes went to the daughter of someone who helped out in the school it was really incredibly blatant and incredibly annoying you just looked at some of the kids and knew their chance of winning a prize for anything on merit was very low, surely they should be top priority for the reception nice sitting prize!!

[amck5700]

colditz - i don't mind them per se, as long as there are a variety of awards that all children have a chance of wining, Not everyone can be good at everything, so if there is a mix of academic awards, sporting awards, creative awards, behaviour awards then attendance can be part of that mix. Your children may not have a chance in the attendance stakes, but may be very musical or clever - some kids might not have much going for them other than they turn up every day which could be an achievement in itself.

[colditz]

As the mother of two asthmatics, I think these attendance awards are a complete pile of shit.

[amck5700]

I have a son who is academically at the top of his class - behaves immaculately, has never ever lost any Golden time in 6 and a half years, works hard I'm told - has perfect school reports, is polite, responsible and mature - he can be a little chatty but stops when asked - this is all taken from his school reports and parents nights not my own view. In virtually every report report I am told he is a pleasure to teach - the only thing he is ever told to work on is his handwriting which could be neater.

He has had 100% attendance, with no lates for 5 out of those years.

He has only ever managed to get star pupil twice. - 30 odd kids in the class, 40 weeks of school - you'd think there might be some opportunity for him to get it wouldn't you??

The whole thing is a farce.

[Southwest]

Completely inappropriate I'm with the book token but only if everyone gets one (I do think no one should)

I have 2 kids dc2 is super compliant easy to teach bright funny kind you get the picture dc1 is difficult disruptive poorly coordinated rubbish at sport poorly organised etc etc

The fact that dc2 received a 100 percent perfect attendance record with no lates and dc1 received over 10 lates must try harder kind of report just shows how totally crap the whole idea is and the fact that such useless data is collected analyses and used to decide who gets what and what goes on school reports is breathtaking IMHO !!

[LavenderPots]

we had a assembly once a year then at end of yr 11 their was one boy that had not missed a day in 5yrs - first person to do it in however long ya-da-ya-daya-da massive build up, call out his name.....he's off ill....

[RaisinBoys]

Well put NewFerry.

Couldn't agree more

[NewFerry]

Erm, what about effort put into a piece of work during the school day?
Or, keeping your workspace or book drawer tidy
Or, recognising resilience and awarding a child for having a go at something they find scarey, whether its singing in the choir, or tackling the climbing wall.

Except, the cynic in me thinks that whilst theses are all good targets that will help children grow into resilient, conscientious, adults who are willing to give their all, ofsted only like specific measurable targets in which they can apply a tick box methodology

[CaptainVonTrapp]

Perhaps we could think of some awards that aren't based on sheer good luck (or bad luck as the case may be) chickens? Also that the child has some control over - rather that the parent.

[amck5700]

NotLongUntilXmas I had a friend who's son was in hospital with a ruptured appendix - in Intensive care - no other absences.......and they got a letter about his attendance being below target and saying that they were watching him

[chickensarmpit]

Hmmm i'm on the bench a bit with this one.
On one hand i have a son with Dwayne syndrome so he has time off school for appointments with that.
Yet i have a healthy child who loves school and is never off.

Should we stop all awards in case we offend or upset children who are ill/disabled? Or should we praise children who turn up on time everyday.

Also just because parents work, doesn't mean they will send their children into school ill.
It doesn't matter what anyone does, someone will always be offended.

[amck5700]

My son had 100% attendance for 5 years in a row - he was being bullied for 3 of those. He got feck all. Oh actually he got a certificate one year that had been printed off/photocopied - it didn't have his name on and was dated June 1996 - he wasn't born until 2000.

Yes, we were lucky that he is extremely healthy, but we also never took him out of school for holidays and he never just refused to go despite the bullying. He'd have been ecstatic with a book token.

[CaptainVonTrapp]

Ours had a trip to a local ice rink. You guessed it, in school time...

(Love to know where the money comes from for these ridiculous awards)

[stormforce10]

its a stupid criteria on which to qward prizes. last year by sheer luck and good health dd got 100% attendance. this year shes already had 3 days off with a stomach bug. yet as she sat throwing her gits up in a bucket she was begging to be allowed to go to school as if I didn't let her she would not get the certificate this year.

its rediculous they really need to scrap it anjd reward other things

[incywincyspideragain]

All school rewards systems have faults.

100% attendance is pure luck and ofsted driven but my son was proud to get his 'I've been lucky' certificate for the first time (yr2) and those were his words. It's the only award his got and will probably get.
I went in to see the head about medical appointments in school time when he was in reception, if related to pre-existing condition or investigations then it shouldn't count against attendance, something to do with disability discrimination (can't find link) ds has various appointments and I wouldn't dare cancel a clinic app with specialist for fear of not getting one again so this shouldn't count against your child and you should speak to the head.
For all its faults 100% attendance is totally transparent - you know exactly why and how you get it although I like the idea of rewarding 97% or similar as that sounds more realistic, schools know which families they need to target for attendance and shouldn't penalise those with poor immune systems who don't want to spread the latest bug.
As a working parent I never send my child in if they are ill, that's about as offensive as me saying all stay at home parents should stop drinking coffee and be volunteering to work in school and bake a few more cakes for the PTA as they have nothing else to do

The awards that really annoy me are star of the week - can anyone explain how in a whole year a child does nothing of note?? Nothing if personal achievement or effort?? Even if its incredibly difficult to find something there must be something? That reward system is arbitrary and flawed, if I worked for an employer that used a system I didn't understand and couldn't explain and had no quality measure I'd be really upset... But that's another thread

[Churmy123]

My DDs school gives out certificates at the end of each term but think it's for attendance over 97%. My DD is in Year 1 and has been lucky so far as in she has not been ill and therefore has never missed a day of school. She has always got the certificates and has been proud to receive them. She does have appointments at the Eye Clinic at our local hospital every 8-10 weeks but we've always managed to arrange them in the school holidays or after school. I think we are very lucky to be able to do this! I don't think prizes should be given out but don't see a problem with a certificate. In my DDs school it's definately the minority that reciece them anyway. I think it's a bit unfair of some posters to say it's the working parents that send sick children into school. Yes me and my husband work but I have never sent my child to school poorly. Maybe the school should look at some of the parents keep their kids off when they are not really poorly. I have a friend who's DD is in my DDs class and she has missed nearly 3 weeks of school so far due to coughs, mild colds and stomach aches.

[Elibean]

Have to say, dd2 has just had her first day off ever - she is in Y1. She was ill a lot as a toddler (very ill, a few times) but has been pretty fit since having her tonsils out aged 2!

She has had all the usual colds, but always seems to start on a Friday evening and bounce back by Sunday night - I wouldn't send her in ill. Never in with a temp, feeling awful, or sick. It does happen.

But its pretty rare, and purely down to luck.

[Houseworkprocrastinator]

Mine child's school has a little prize every half term (pencil, rubber or something similar) The school has really poor attendance and i know of allot of children that are off not due to illness or even holiday. My daughter has not had a day off since nursery and she is now year one. I do not work full time and i don't send her in sick. she normally waits till the holidays to be ill. (been sick the last two days)

[Heifer]

phew, just asked DD (9) if her school does this. Thankfully they don't.....

I wouldn't know because she has never had 100% attendance. She doesn't have any health problems but has had the normal childhood coughs, colds, noravirus etc so I'm amazed that any child has 100%. Are they actually never ill??

[Elibean]

Yikes

That is a ridiculous thing to give such a huge prize for - mind you, I think its a bit of a huge prize to give at primary level for anything, personally

The education authority always insisted on attendance certificates at our school, but no great fanfare is made of them. 100% gets a book, 99% gets a pencil, and everyone is really clear that a lot of it is luck.

Glad to say the Head was ill just before the end of term, quite bad flu/infection, and made a point of staying home for a few days and letting kids (and staff) know it was just as good to stay home when really ill as show up when not!

[MrsJamin]

That comparison just doesn't hold up DizzyHoneyBee. Falling ill and doing the right thing by staying at home can happen to anyone.

[DizzyHoneyBee]

oh, not all the others..a lot of the others/some of the others.

[DizzyHoneyBee]

OK...a dyslexic child sees all the others getting house points for full marks in the weekly spelling test. An asthmatic child sees all the others getting a certificate for full attendance.
Neither can help not getting full marks because of something completely beyond their control. They both have to learn to live with that, however unfair it is.
Life isn't about making it fair for all and we all have to learn to cope with that, no matter how hard it is.