Attendance

[123mumonthego]

Just got a letter from school regarding my sons attendance.
He only missed school when he got chicken pox, and I was specifically told not to send to school.
Since he started primary school he was never late, I mean NEVER.
I am always running around like a headless chicken to get my 4 year old ready and my little baby. Feel like in not fair that I was told that is attendance is an extreme cause of concern and that the school will continue to monitor the situation???
"We would appreciate your support to ensure you son's attendance improves",.... Honestly and the worse thing the head teach is such a waste of time, last time I had to deal with her she made me feel like a child, and pretty much told me off..... Communist cow!!!
What to do???

I'm afraid it is probably a standard (but stupid) letter! I'd be tempted to write back reminding them of the chicken pox and asking for a meeting so they can advise you how to avoid further such absences!

I hate standard letters churned out without looking at what has actually happened.

In this case, I would recommend writing back stating that the only absence was for chicken pox and that you has believed that the school was fully informed at the time and did not want an infectious child on the premises. As the only way you could have 'improved' attendance in the period in question was to return him whilst he still posed an infection risk, would they please out in writing that that is what you should have done and state that clearly what they wish you to do with an infectious child in future.

I agree, thank you very much ??

That is a good point lol. Thank you ??

How long did he have off? Chicken pox is usually a week, and if this is his only time off in this school year, that doesn't sound like enough to trigger the standard "your attendance is poor" letter.

How much time did he have off for chickenpox? Round here the letters kick in at 85% attendance, which assuming we've had around 30 weeks of the school year, would require him to have missed over 4 weeks.

Even 90% attendance would be 3 weeks off, which would be unusually long for chickenpox.

So I would query whether they have made a mistake. Ask to see the attendance sheet for him.

Communist cow?? How long did you keep him off for when he had Chickenpox?

We get a warning letter after we drop below 95% at DS's school so it's not unusual to hear people have got one after chickenpox, generally its because the school haven't looked at the reason before sending the letter.

We are so lucky... Due to hospital appointments, an operation and recuperation, as well as various bugs and illnesses, DD's attendance is about 60% this year. Our lovely school have not triggered an attendance letter for her once. Although I do feel a little sad that she will never be eligible for attendance prizes due to her lifelong disability.