Thoughts on Attendance Certificates etc for kids...

[expansivegirth]

Our school has just started giving out attendance prizes for children. This is an infants school. The children are 4, 5, 6. and 7. The attendance prizes - certificates or a pencil... - are given both to individuals and to classes.

I'd like to hear your thoughts. This policy is seriously arsing me off.

I feel it's deeply unfair to hold children accountable for the fact that heir parents choose not to bring them to school or struggle to get them to school on time...

I feel it fosters feelings of failure and resentment among the class. Thus those kids who care about attendance end up feeling cross with the children who, for whatever reason, don't turn up at all and bring down the class average.

Also the school does not discriminate between absences. A sick child, a child with feckless parents, a child on authorised holiday - they all count equally towards absence figures. A child who is ill ends up not getting a certificate - or worse - getting told off for low attendance - even though she's been throwing up all night.

These are VERY YOUNG KIDS. Anyone able to defend this policy please?

(Other than a Govian attempt to train obedient workers who are able to adjust early to unfair employment laws).

[Hulababy]

But why should good attendance in a primary school aged child be rewarded. They are not doing anything in order to achieve it. They just happen to have either good health or parents who send them to school ill. The former is just good luck, no achievement as such as they have done nothing to work to make that so. The latter is bad parenting.

[JennyFromTheB0g]

It should be rewarded because it's better to feel that high attendance is what you're striving for. Later in life, I was far less likely than my colleagues to phone it in. My mother valued high attendance. We weren't forced to go to school if we were sick, but missing school wasn't done lightly and that is a good attitude to carry forward when it comes to work, and not letting people down.

If your child doesn't win an attendance award, so be it. They might win somethin else, or they might not, they probably won't be distraught about it, especially if their mum is at home filling their head with notions about how unreasonable an award it was

If a child makes it in to school every single school day of the year, that is commendable whether or not that child is your child.

My son has missed a few days from one thing and another so he won't be getting any attendance award this year, but I'll admire the attitude of the kids and parents who win it.

Don't let it bother you! I can't believe people feel aggrieved over it. Mystifying.

[teacherwith2kids]

Boffin, in the scheme we used - and as I say the school has now moved to a class-based scheme to 'keep attendance reaonsably high on the agenda' while realising that the initial hard push can't (and doesn't need to be) sustained - then

• Hospital and other appointments where appointments are not under the control of the patient e.g. those for chronic conditions
  
• Music / dance / drama type exams
  
• Any appointments recommended by the school e.g. optician, opthalmologist, hearing tests, doctor's visit after an accident
  
• Religious observance
  

etc etc
were not counted as 'absence' for award purposes.

What did was

• Holiday (we were in an LEA where no holiday was authorised)
  
• Unauthorised / unexplained absence
  
• Illness, unless connected to a known chronic condition / disability
  

I suspect that the latter would seem to many on MN to be deeply unfair. I think perhaps it would surprise and shock many how spurious the claims of 'illness' are for many school absences (and how they fall apart on the slightest questioning of the child ' 'Are you better, Johnny' 'Oh no, miss, I wasn't ill. My mum slept in / We went to the fair / it was my sister's birthday / My nan was down visiting ....so we didn't come to school). I have had a child kept off school (and this is in the juniors) for 'a bit tired', 'has a sore foot', 'has a runny nose', 'his sister has a bit of a chill so I kept him off in case he got it too'.

Of course the opposite happens too - children sent in with very high temperatures, with still-ongoing D&V, or with chest infections - but parents do vary wildly in what they consider 'too ill for school' and schools have to pick their way carefully through it!

[Viviennemary]

I thought they were quite fair and a way of motivating children then on MN they don't seem popular so I thought perhaps not. But on the other hand a lot of children won't win a sports prize, or a singing prize through no fault of their own. So on the whole I think they are a good idea. Unless people want to stop any kind of award altogether. Because perhaps all awards have a degree of unfairness.

[Katz]

Jenny - you've obviously never had a young child in tears about seeing her consultant (she sees 3 different ones) because it means they won't get 100% attendance. Her clinics which we have no control over are mostly mornings no way round this. Where possible we try to book apt for the school holidays but that's not always possible. She needs to have her condition monitored. Why should she be penalised for this?

Her school don't differentiate between types of absence. I'm debating raising this with the governors/head but then I can see their argument for keeping the status quo.

[tethersend]

Teacherwith2kids, I don't think that Ofsted's focus on attendance above all else should be accepted without question- however, given its current importance, I would suggest that any scheme, whether of rewards or punishments, is targeted solely at parents. Some schools fine parents for poor attendance. Some run outreach projects to engage parents and impress the importance of attendance. Rewarding children is a lazy and ill thought out strategy which is quite often in direct contravention of the Equality Act.

Jenny, I think it's important to realise that not all of the objections to attendance awards are because of sour grapes. DD1 has had two attendance certificates this year. She's four. That's mystifying.

[JennyFromTheB0g]

Katz, I've had a dc who four years in a row never won a prize, of any description. She clapped and cheered for her friends who had won them though.

Only about two or three children IF THAT get full attendance. So, it's not as though every chlid gets a cheer and a book token except for your child, so why a child would cry over not getting full attendance is beyond me. She must be picking up on your anger over something you perceive to be unfair. But it's not unfair. I bet that if your child was the best at maths you wouldn't be saying it#s not fair to the children who would cry because there are children in the class who are better at maths.

And did you not read what I said, if my child was seriously ill, the prize for attendance would be the last thing on my mind. My dc2 certainly won't be getting it, he's missed three days, so he's in the same boat as your child who has missed a lot more days.

[tethersend]

Statistically, children do best when:

They are Asian
They are female
Their parents earn enough to make them in eligible for free school meals

Which of these things should we encourage by rewarding children who achieve them with certificates?

[tethersend]

People aren't saying attendance awards are not fair because their children are upset.

They're saying they're unfair because they're unfair.

[NotGoodEnoughEitherWay]

I'm a teacher. At our school, individual attendance is "rewarded" but in a very low key way; A6 certificates that are slipped into trays/bookbags at the end of each half term. This was only started in response to several parents complaining that their children had achieved 100% attendance all year and had received no recognition. I have opinions on this that I don't think need to be shared here. What I would like to point out is the 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation that we found ourselves in. But hey, that's nothing new when you're a teacher.

[Katz]

Jenny - maybe that's thd big difference if only a couple of kids get it, in both DDs class it around half if not more. So it's a big deal to be the one letting your class down, as the class with most children getting 100% is top dog.

[Katz]

And the upset isn't from me. I quiet happily tell them I think the scheme is unfair and meaningless.

[JennyFromTheB0g]

Well, like the teacher a few posts back said, it's a low key thing, recognition, barely - because of parents complaining.

Find something sensible to worry about.

[Talkinpeace]

At DCs school one of the kids who DID get the 100 % certificate every term (as her mum worked full time) knackered up everybody else's chances by being in school with a tummy bug : mummy was too busy to collect her.
I has a few issues with that.

[BoffinMum]

At the school where I am governor we have a poster with a racecourse and little racehorses on it, one for each class. The racehorses move along throughout each half term so the children can see how their class is doing in attendance terms compared to the other classes. The winning class gets a small prize, such as a bit more playtime. That's all that's needed to push attendance up, tbh.

[Katz]

Jenny - I'm not overly worried about it, the thread is about opinions on attendance certificates. I've added my opinions and experiences. I'm pretty certain if I ranted about say the state if the NHS and how long my DH is having to weight for cardiac surgery then the OP might just be a little taken aback. Sorry I bothered to add my thoughts.

[tethersend]

If there's barely any recognition for attendance, what's the point?

Jenny, why on earth would you think that it's not sensible to be concerned about children's educational achievement and the way it is stimulated?

[tethersend]

Boffinmum, I'm not a fan of those schemes either, TBH- they tend to (further) alienate children from chaotic homes from their peers, and can be counter productive as the child feels the other children's resentment for their poor attendance.

Far more effective to work with the parents, IMO.

[Katz]

and for information it isn't a 'barely recognised thing in my DDs school its a whole school assembly where names are read out and certificates given out - a big deal.

Stepping away now

[MTSgroupie]

Katz - you said that around a half of the kids don't have 100% attendance. You then go on about it being a big deal being the one that lets the class down.

If 15 out of 30 kids don't have 100% attendance why is one particular child going to be singled out?

[Hulababy]

JennyFromTheB0g - if they are so pointless and nothing for children to worry over - well, why not scrap them altogether? What's the point of having a reward scheme if it is worthless and we are to tell various groups of children not to consider them as important?

[Katz]

and for your information Jenny - one of the reasons i haven't raised it is because i have a hell of a lot on my plate at the moment, and a hell of a lot to be worried about for more than attendance certificates. Your comment 'Find something sensible to worry about.' has really upset me.