Child had 11 days off sick for mumps from school and now im being sent an education welfare officer to explain attendance???

[honestyismybond1]

Child is at a good primary school who I have had an excellent relationship with.My childs last year attendance was 90%.This year we aimed for 100% but sadly caught mumps and was very ill off sick for 11 days.Child saw GP on first day of absence who confirmed mumps and school was notified on day one by myself.I called the school many times updating them and requesting missed work to keep up.My child loged into school website everyday for 2hours to complete math work to keep up but sadly requested work from school did not come.When child went back to school I let teacher know how hard child worked at home even though very poorly and all seemed fine.Two weeks later got a school letter saying being moniterd by educational welfare officer for poor attendance and any future absences will be marked unauthorised unless I get a doctors note even if its a 24 hour bug or cold.So when my child was ill yet again a week later for a tummy bug just for a day I took my child to see GP to get a note and showed her the letter and the Dr went mental but to my shock not towards the school but to me.Gp requested I pay £20 for letter or go! When I said I could not pay £20 Gp said was putting on my record that I am always to pay £20 if I want any information to stop me wasting her time.I felt sick and very upset.I pointed out to her that we were both on the same side and that it was the council,education board,school demanding this and if we both complained in some way it would help.I then dared to ask if this was fair and was clearly told what she thought did not come into this and she will only take the course of action of asking for £20 to stop it happening.So the parent gets blamed from all angles and the child gets unauthorised mark on school record!When I calmed down I rang eductation board who was delighted with the action my school had taken and even said to me "we have vast matters in this area and if a child is ever ill more than once a year then this needs investigating" who the hell has a child who is sick only once a year? If you do please clone them because this is not the norm.I am worn out with this so can anyone please share what they think and what they would do? Thanl you

Sorry didn't mean that at you personally duchesse... It's just the idea of a whole school type where lots of parents don't vaccinate. Makes me cross! As you can see

I know, I know.

Mine is fully vaccinated and I would imagine enough of the others are as well that there will be a certain amount of herd protection for the unvaccinated.

That assumption would go badly wrong in a Steiner school then since you need in excess of 90-95% of a population to be vaccinated to benefit from herd effects.

On the face of it. IT IS UFAIR TREATMENT

OP: "Child saw GP on first day of absence who confirmed mumps"

MillyMollyMama: "So, was this mumps? Probably swollen glands."

Amazing. Based purely on the statistical fact that not that many children catch mumps you are able to overrule the GP's diagnosis.

Mind you, according to the HPA the figure for confirmed cases of mumps in 2011 was 2372. Where does your figure of 273 come from?

what a load of crap millymollymama

ever seen mumps?

I thought the success rate for the mumps jab was 67percent first time round, or similar, one of the reasons why kids have 2 shots of it, to give immunity to those who missed it first time round

'avoidable' my arse (directed to whoever posted that little gem of info)

www.immunize.org/photos/mumps-photos.asp

sorry I can't make this a click link but a few photos of mumps

wanders off muttering about swollen glands . .

There is a difference between reported cases, over 2000, and confirmed cases, 273. Bad at links, but it was for 2011. The report also looks into measles and other infections. Sorry to have upset you all and I did miss the point about the GP. However, I don't think I should receive such venomous posts. It is not crap, it was an opinion based on information I researched. Obviously I will not be coming back. Bye bye.

Those HPA figures are the "Confirmed cases of Measles, Mumps and Rubella 1996-2012
ALL LABORATORY CONFIRMED CASES OF MEASLES, MUMPS & RUBELLA
England and Wales (England only), 1996 - 2012*"

I also don't understand where the 273 came from...

I think you need to tackle each group separately. Letter to head and chair of governors, letter of complaint to practice manager, less about charging and more about verbal abuse, and letter to your MP saying what a disgraceful system that stresses put parents with sick children, places crippling burden on overstretched NHS and increases risk of infection by carting your sick child around in public.

I'd tell the school that I will be happy to provide the doctor's note if they guarantee they will pay the £20 every time, plus any travel and parking costs for taking dd there.

Hi just wanted to say a huge thank to all of you who gave positive advice and even constructive critisim.Looks like our school is due an Ofsted visit soon and I suspect the new head is being over zelous and worried about losing schools outstanding ofsted.School attendance rate is 95% so I must look terrible to them but im still cross and upset about it.Tried to speak to head about it but not much joy.I find it hard to be pushy but wish I could really blast him to be honest.The stress it put me under was unreal.I have wrote a letter to practice manager about GP so waiting on that.I also asked to see medical records to be able to cross reference past absences with gp visits and told would cost £50 just to look or £100+ for a copy so wont be doing that!
My main worry is if child is ill for anything else ive git everything crossed she won't be but lets be honest with this time of year and kids being kids it looks likely.Child has had four op's in the past for example tonsilectomy,adinoids removal & 2 ear op's so just seems to have bad luck!

you have a problem with your gp practice

please raise this with them as it is important

this info is about you. they cant charge 50 quid to look at it. there are guidelines about accessing your information and charges under the freedom of information act. offhand I think aroind 20 quid is an acceptable amount

please challenge them on this. it could be important for someone else some time

I would also change gp personally

just googled

the hourly rate is 25 pounds per hour

they have to press 'print'

most gps dont charge at all btw

oops I was looking up frredom of info. think it might be data protection which is a tenner

obv not a lawyer

anyhow it is definitely not a hundred quid (faints)

I would also report them to
the informstion commisioners office
and the pct or whatever it is called these days
and complain to your mp

I would have hit the roof. perhaps you can tell

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/records/healthrecords/Pages/what_to_do.aspx

presuming you are in england

Keep calm
Whatever the school and EWO say, it is up to them to be able to prove beyond all reasonable doubt, that your child was not ill.You have to prove nothing.I wouldn't engage anymore with them about these absences.Let them take you to court
I would just send the school and EWO a very formal email to say that You have a legal and moral duty to take care of your child's health and will be keeping him off school in future if he is unwell, or to attend would contravene school exclusion policy or doctors orders.

you need to write to the data controller at the gp's practice using the data protection act.

This attendance stuff really has gone too far. I know some people take the piss and it's hard to legislate with one absence being ok and another not but kids are humans and situations will differ. You simply cannot have a one size fits all approach to school absences.
It is plain stupid that this school MUST have it logged somewhere this child was absent with a notifiable disease because they would have been notified by the health authority as legislation states this MUST happen.
I could understand someone getting chased up for several 24/48 hour absences but really a notifiable disease?
What an absolute waste of time and resources.
This really pisses me off big time as a close friend of mine has a dd with CF (cystic fibrosis). She is frequently off ill in hospital because sadly she now has a bug in her lungs that won't go. School know of her condition. They know sometimes she has her IVs at home as well. But my friend has just got a very snotty letter saying her daughters attendance levels are unacceptable and must have a meeting. She has also been told that the recent 11 Day absence due to a hospital admission will be logged as unauthorised. School have bee kept informed all the time buty no this isn't good enough for their targets. I suspect they will be hounding parent's of children with cancer next.

I think I would ask for a meeting and explain what happened with the gp and ask how they expect families to pay for this especially families who get free school meals. I would also express the obvious idiocy and waste of resources when they know your child was off with a notifiable disease.

I would write to your mp expressing concern in this matter but I would definitely express a concern of cost to chase bad attendance and waste of resources in a situation like yours where they have been notified by another government department as per the law of the land with regard to notifiable diseases. Because this is just a pure waste of time and money.
imo a case like yours should mean their systems do show the absence but you get the days he mumps back before getting flagged for chasing. With all the codes they use this must surely be possible.

I would also complain to hp surgery about how rude the dr was to you. Their complaints procedure will be on their website
good luck.

Slicedlemon, that is extremely. shit.

as if parents haven't enought to stress, worry and feel bad about when their children are ill.

Judging by some replies to this thread, some schools are very keen to record absences as unauthorised, even if medical and are attempting to pressurise parents into accepting that their child's absence is unauthorised (even if this means they get a fine). I would conclude that this is done to make their authorised absence figures look good for Ofsted.

The only way that this behaviour will change is if it is forced to change.

We can force change by complaining and bringing this scandal to the wider country's notice. Use FB, twitter, lobby your MP, refuse to pay fine and be prepared to go to court. Find others in the country who are in the same position and band together class actions are very, very powerful, a cruise company I travelled with this year notified me of a new Terms & Conditions clause which meant that in future Class Actions by passengers are not permitted. It makes no difference to me because should I feel it necessary to join a class action, I will, and let the courts decide.

I am certain that this blatantly unfair mandate will become an issue nationwide, and that it will be stopped. Keep all records, letters, notifications, messages etc., as evidence.