94.6% attendance and summoned to a meeting with head

[Pantone363]

DD broke her arm, novo virus and has been late 4 times this year (all before register is closed and we live 5 miles from the school so traffic/accidents/stuck behind a tractor!)

Meeting with the head, class teacher and EWO.

Overboard or not?

totally

ridiculous

but you have no issues to address and everyone will see what a total waste of time it is.

blame the people over on the "I'm taking my kids out of school for a cheaper holiday" thread for depleting schools attendance averages and leading to this insanity

Overboard. But i think you have to go along with bemused smile and a large stock of patience and remember at least two of the other people in the meeting probably think it's just as much a waste of time as you do.

I don't think I'm going to go and I'll send an email to the effect of kids get sick etc etc.

The letter states it will be an opportunity to discuss existing barriers that may be effecting my child's attendance at school and strategies for improvement. I am therefore strongly advised to attend.

Unless they've come up with a cure for broken bones and the norovirus I'm not sure there are any solutions.

To be fair though under 95% attendance is low so it's right it has been flagged up. A phone call would have probably been better though.

You should go because otherwise EWO will think they are onto something and probably never get off your case. But a simple explanation of the circumstances should probably elicit - if not an apology or a magic cure for DV - a dismissal of any ill founded concern.

I would go too. It will probably be a very short meeting but much better you are there putting your point across than being discussed in your absence. If you don't go they may conclude you are not interested in your child education which would be a shame.

Silly not to go and thus give them another stick to beat you with. Anyway, it could be an excellent chance to raise any concerns you have about the school. Could it be putting strategies in place to improve?

The school will have an attendance policy in place which states that they must meet with any families with attendance below a certain level (probably about 96%). They will be following this policy, as Ofsted and the Governors will require evidence of what they have done to support families with poor attendance.

The meeting will be so that they have a paper trail to show what they have done. I am sure that the meeting will take place, they will record it has taken place and then everyone can move on.

I would definitely attend, as non attendance will encourage more communication, rather than closing the subject with a quick meeting.

It's a pain I know, but just the school following their policies.

Sons report states

99.4 % attendance, this equates to 10 lessons lost this this year and 50 lessons lost over a five year school career

He was off sick for one day and 10 minutes late (was on school property but didn't go in til I delivered his pe kit...numpty)

I'm ignoring it partly because I don't care and partly because I think it's a load of rubbish. How can you extrapolate 5 lessons lost from being 10 minutes late to sign in

And then to reason that because he has been late once in four years that you can further extrapolate that to 25 lessons missed over 5 years!!!!

Muppets!

(I do realise that schools are tied to rules and regulations and it's not their fault as such but such faulty reasoning really pisses me off)

I do agree that you should go, if only to reiterate the reasons for absence

Ive been waiting for a letter regarding ds as he had 2 weeks off with illness and 2 days off to attend my dads funeral.
Such a bloody waste of everyone's time but I agree you should attend or they will think you don't care about his education.

How much time did she have off because of the broken arm? Was it quite bad?

I have sent an email to inform the head in detail about all absences (broken arm, tonsillitis and norovirus) and 4 instances of lateness (I live 5.5 miles from school by car so unfortunately traffic/accidents etc) and that therefore I saw no need for a meeting and would not be attending.

I reiterated we have not and would not remove children from school for any other reason than illness.

She replied that my non absence was noted and it would be referred to the company that deal with the schools attendance. Quick google tells me they've outsourced attendance monitoring to a private company who would like my phone number to discuss my child's attendance.

Is this NORMAL?!

Yes she needed an op to reset her arm and had 2 days off recovering from general anesthetic.

Was sent home from school with the tonsillitis, could not swallow or eat.

Noro on a Monday, last sick on the wed then 48 hrs clear meant she was absent for a week.

I'd attend the meeting. Purely so I could rant.

This would make my blood boil and I'd want the opportunity to say my piece. Providing you're not keeping your child off unnecessarily then what can you do?

My son started a new school just after Easter. He's year 2. He's not had one day off since starting in reception. Unfortunately , since Easter he's been sick so off for two days and then he got tonsillitis so was off for one day ( luckily he got it on a Thursday night and antibiotics soon kicked in so he was back Monday )

Nonetheless, that's suddenly three days off in a month or so for a child who has previously had a 100% attendance record. I'd go absolutely nuts to be summoned to the school to ' explain myself ' because, like you say, what the bloody hell can you do about it?

Very unusual for an EWO to get involved unless attendance is below 85-90% (depending on circumstances).

Hup the government have set the level of 95% attendance for all schools - EWOs get involved as soon as levels fall below

There's no bloody way I'm going, total waste of time. Head caught me in the playground yesterday and asked if I would speak/discuss it with the outside company. Can't wait to hear from them!

It's a waste of time for the school, too, and a waste of money.

So that the real problem parents don't get offended that they seem to get "picked on" all the time, everyone has to be picked on and treated like they are a potential problem. Apparently, this makes life more "fair." Ignoring past attendance history and already communicated and valid reasons for a lower than average attendance percentage is "fair," because it catches more of the people who are not behaving reasonably who might otherwise slip through the net. Obviously, we have to ignore the fact that the people who are not behaving reasonably continue to behave unreasonably until some judge sends them to prison, and everyone else just gets caught up in a system that is perfectly designed to upset and alienate people.

OK but you cutting off your nose to spite your face if you don't go. A meeting with you there would almost certainly be an end to the matter. A meeting which you don't attend is more likely to cause more follow ups. I can see you're angry about this but the more co-operative you are the more likely school are to draw a line under it.

God, my ds2 has had weeks off school...he is waiting to have his tonsils and adenoids out.
Off again today with tonsillitis.
:(

Can't believe this sort of thing is outsourced to someone who won't begin to know the child or your circumstances

We got a letter saying our attendance target is 98%. This is incredibly difficult to achieve if you have averagely sick children. I have more than averagely sick children (vomiting episodes at least 6 times last year for each of them). One year my daughter had 84% attendance but that was 1) vomiting on several different occasions, 2) swine flu as diagnosed by doc, 3) chickenpox.

That's not even a particularly bad run for a 5 year old. Thankfully our school is not crazy and they saw it exactly as it was - normal childhood illnesses.

However, I must say, I think you should go to the meeting and just be clear and open about everything. You've got nothing to hide so go and show everyone what a total waste of time this is.

I can well understand your anger but I would do as a pp suggested tbh...
Go to meeting. Explain each absence.
Then ask for the vaccine/cure for noro and a broken arm.
Then sit back and watch them squirm.
I am just waiting for the letter tbh....ds2 had seen a gp for each absence. He has seen a respitory paed and is awaiting an urgent ENT referral.

I can't do anymore.