Attendance Treat advice

[ben1234]

I've seen a few posts on attendance awards like a certificate. My son has just had 3 days off sick. The doctor had to get a second opinion and was thinking of sending him to hospital. He went back to school with antibiotics.
He has now missed out in the attendance treat for being off sick. If it was a piece of paper I wouldn't be so bothered. However in the past it's been bouncy castles or a pantomime. Which is a big thing to a child to miss out on especially when they have been genuinely ill. All because the schools need to worry about stats for Ofsted.
How is it fair on a child ? One day they are allowed off sick. What illness lasts a day ? If you sent them in ill surely that's neglect?
It needs to be changed to look at it on an individual basis ie the whole picture as in are they performing at school, homework being done, how often are they late or off school. Children can't help being genuinely poorly. Schools can not punish children in this way just because of the bad parents that don't care about a child's education and won't bother sending them in and instead take them to Chessington during a school day. They are the ones that need targeting. The type of parents that don't send them in are hardly bothered if their child gets to watch a pantomime anyhow.
What are your views as I am looking to get things changed in schools with regards to attendance. Some children are more susceptible to being ill. They or us as parents can't help it. Views please

Only responding to opening post! I agree some of the attendance treats are a.bit much. In 2012 or school gave put gold medals at the end of July. ds was distraught as he'd had 1 day off in September when he was hospitalised for asthma over the weekend and discharged on the Monday pm. He was in school Tuesday. For 9 months he had gone in every day. Luckily they have gone back to certificates which us fine as it recognises attendance whilst not penalising the other kids.

why avoid talking about types of parents when the types of parents in my opinion is the problem

Because you'll come across as a judgemental loon and no one will take your opinions seriously. Believe it or not, the head/governors will have a much better idea of the attendence issues in school than you have.

Schools should address serious attendance problems with individual families but the attendence awards are a way of improving attendence levels across the board. But as I said, if you have an issue with them at your DC's school then talk to the head.

Regardless of the "type"of parent,primary school children imo have no control over their attendance, or in most cases their punctuality. If the child is "sick" who can truly know if this is genuine sickness, a parent being cautious, a child pretending as they want to avoid p.e. or a child being taken on holiday?

I have 2 dds. In the past one has got an attendance treat for 100%. The other no treat due to sickness. So I said to dd2, darling did you go to school every day that you were well? she did, so dh and I got her an identical treat.
Staff in schools do a hard enough job so I try not to stress too much about this sort of situation.

Some of the parents who are late could have illness mental health issues. They may be carers for disabled children or adults. The one time my dd was late was because the taxi to take her disabled brother to school was late because of an accident. What was I supposed to do leave her brother (which is a safety risk and the taxi can't collect if I'm not there) or have my dd late? A neighbour or friend wasn't an option because she goes to a school out of catchment because of her own disability.The children themselves may find attending difficult, there are a myriad of reasons why on a certain day a child isn't in school.
In her school which has many children with many issues they prefer to put in support to enable children to attend (so TA's do collect children and bring them to school, they provide breakfast for those who haven't eaten) rather than encouraging parents like yourself to be judgemental of families who might very well be struggling.
Oh and btw dd's attendance this year is better than your dc's so no axe to grind here.

Ive not once said children should be blamed for the inadequacy of the parents. But if they miss out because of the parents then so be it. If the school intervene and speak to the parents and try and resolve the issues behind it happening all the time then maybe the parents will change and seek help for whatever issues they are having and then the child will actually not just get to school on time but also have a happier life at home. I have had a problem with the scheme since reception class when my child was ill and he missed out. That was the first I even new of the scheme. His now in year one and I along with many parents don't agree with it. However not many parents speak up for themselves. Before it's said yes I have spoken with the Headteacher a couple times over this and unfortunately haven't got very far as yet.
My child has excellent attendance too. In his first two years he has probably had six days off. All for sickness. Maybe your children are very lucky and do not get bugs.
So impatient if your child missed out on something at school through no fault of their own, would you not say something to the school and have concerns because of it ?

You say it yourself why should a child miss out through no fault of their own be that through illness or through a parent unable or unwilling to support their child's attendance in school?

Ive not once said children should be blamed for the inadequacy of the parents. But if they miss out because of the parents then so be it.

Being happy for innocent children to miss out because of their parents; My very first ODFOD.

So impatient if your child missed out on something at school through no fault of their own, would you not say something to the school and have concerns because of it ?

I would have raised my concerns about the unfair punitive nature of such policies long before it affected my child directly. Only doing something because your precious darling is directly affected is just the sort of thing that I would expect from somebody who comes across in the manner that you are doing.

Sorry, not read entire thread, but granted it does seem an unfair scheme as a child really can't help if they're genuinely poorly. Its essentially an award / treat for managing to not fall ill for an entire school year!

However... it does seem like you could be slogging a dead horse with this one- if you've already approached the HT and he/she has done nothing about changing it, then the HT presumably has the scheme in place because they really do believe its improving attendance at the school....perhaps the school has a history of poor attendance and Ofsted wanted something in place to improve this?

As an alternative, you could try writing to the governors about it - ask them to discuss at their next meeting. Set out all your points as regards to why its unfair etc. They should hopefully be more balanced about things.

AS a parent, I think i'd rather funds be channelled into providing new equipment for classrooms / new reading books etc as opposed to treats for good attendance.

insanity that's right more reason for the whole treat thing to be scrapped. Children will miss out for many reasons that are unfair on the child themselves.

impatient - I think you're being slightly harsh. As I commented in another (horribly heated!) thread only this week - you often bubble along with life completely oblivious to other stuff (I think somebody called it wilfully blissfully ignorant ) until something affects you directly.

I think OP knew about the scheme since reception but it has only just affected her child, and now that she has felt the unfairness of it first hand, she is wanting to do something about it. Plus she has raised it with the HT several times to no avail....although see my above post, I think HT likes the scheme / can see its working, hence is continuing with it even if unfair to others.

ben1234

I agree that absence due to genuine illness shouldn't be treated as somehow being naughty and deprive you of the opporunity of some form of treat. I know some schools take kids to an amusement park for a day to celebrate perfect attendance to that point.

However, something else is going on (at least at our school) - parents are calling their children in sick in order to have a long weekend away or even a few extra days off (we had one week with a bank holiday + a teacher training day and parents phoned in their child sick for the remaining 3 days so they could have a week abroad). The habit of taking a sicky is now so ingrained in the English psyche that I fear absence through illness is doubted.

Indeed our school has now written suggesting parents make appoitnemnt for before/ after school or during holidays and insisted parents supply proof of a medical appointment in advance for any absences during term time.

I fear the kind of rewards (days at alton towers, gift certificates, etc...) that are being offered are related to the degree chronic absence was a problem for the school. These 'perks' aren't about people like you ben1234 - with a child who's usually at school and interested/ supportive parents - their aimed at catching the child with the chaotic parent, who might just get their act more together if there's something in it for their parent.

I think it could be handled better, but how......

There are WOH parents who will do everything in their power to get their child to school each day as their employers are relying on them and will take a dim view of them 'phoning in the morning (short notice) requiring a day off. Illness has to be fairly bad (not manageable with calpol) for them to keep the child off sick.

There are other parents who have less stress over a child being a little below par/under the weather as they are SAHP who can re-arrange their days activities to accommodate a day at home for the child in question.

These are 2 extreme examples of possible parent types but you can see how one's view of a cough/sniffle/slight temperature might differ to the others.

Perhaps there could be half termly league tables with competition between local partnered schools with a prize to fund a piece of play equipment/extra computers to incentivise parents. Something achievable with just a little extra effort in not having days off unless absolutely necessary. Parent peer pressure just might then come in to play if X school got a new outdoor climbing frame because they won the attendance league this term and Y school parents really wanted the same for their school.

As I see it the only room for improvement would be guilt tripping parents who either
a) keep their child off for very minor health reasons, or

b) use "illness" as a cover for a duvet day at home with their dc (This really happens, I know of 2 parents who do it a couple of times a year) or

c)take their kids out of school to visit a theme park type place in term time as "you'd be mad to go in the school holidays or at a weekend, the queues are horrendous !", or

d)take their kids out of school for family get togethers like weddings/funerals etc. (Personally I suggest one guilt-free day a year amnesty which parents can use at any time for a funeral/wedding etc. Incidences of both must be fairly standard across the population).

impatient as I said I knew nothing of it until my child was affected. So obviously could not raise a concern about the unfair punitive nature of such policies long before it affected my child directly as you put it.

Poopsy I did know about it in reception but only once my child was effected by it. I spoke to the HT then and now it has effected my child again I have spoken to the HT again to express my views on it.

ben1234 - I think you're best bet is to put across some better, fairer attendance schemes than the one that your school currently has i.e. those detailed by SATsmadness. Your HT surely can't argue if you've come up with a better, fairer idea? GOod luck!

ben1234 - I do agree though, you're scheme doesnt seem fair. I would be too if i were you

I agree, I don't think sickness should be included in attendance either. Like you say how many children are poorly for 1 day, if you have sickness or the other you aren't allowed back for minimum of 48 hours.

Not sure how they would go about deciding which kids are "really" ill and which aren't. not sure how they would make it fair.

oh well ben1234 could be the judge of that i am sure, after all she is a really good judge of character apparently

This thread has gone very oddly, it must be because you used the term bad parents op.

You are right to be annoyed, schemes like this are terrible imo. Especially when they involve a visible treat that the others miss out on. No one can help being ill.

The people who don't care and keep their children off at any pretext won't be affected by this anyway.

Atleast the last few comments are actually answering the point in question and Sats has put it better then I may have done.

our school started a "wear own clothes on the last day of each half term if you have 100% attendance in that half term" (new head). I pointed out that DC with medical conditions/disabilities leading to time off school either ill or for medical appointments were being visibly singled out. Head countered with "resetting the attendance each half term gives each DC a chance to aim for the reward".

However, this half term's attendance reward is "taking into account individual circumstances", so I reckon I've made a bit of a difference. Although, DD2s absences have all been due to her medical condition, and that hasn't yet "been taken into account". She does have a copy of the head's email to me assuring me that she has no intention of discriminating against anyone, and is quite looking forward to being challenged by SLT on Friday when she turns up in own clothes and isn't on the list.

It's a ridiculous system whereby DD can miss more lesson time if I schedule an appointment for 11am but she still gets her session attendances recorded, than if I pick an 8am appointment meaning she misses morning registration and part of lesson 1 only.

As you say Humphrey the thread has gone oddly due to a couple people. Ok I may have put it in some peoples views wrong regarding types of parents.
Mostly people have responded with comments of how it is at their school and given helpful suggestions.
Some however are the sort of people that post on face book when somebody has done a good deed in the community they choose to turn it around and look it in a negative way or just pick out spelling mistakes instead. Unfortunately you get the occasional person that think their better then others.

Humphrey as you said
You are right to be annoyed, schemes like this are terrible imo. Especially when they involve a visible treat that the others miss out on. No one can help being ill.
The point of this thread is not that I'm supposedly throwing my dummy out of the pram.

I do not have facebook ben1234 if that was a dig at me. and if I was going to pick out your spelling mistakes I would have done it already.
I just did not like your judgemental tone about 'types of parents'