Warning letter regarding attendance.

[MamaMaiasaura]

I got a warning letter from my ds's school today and was really upset by it.

DS was had 9 days off school since christmnas, we thought he had tonisillitis and he had anti-biotics and I sent him back to school as the course was ending. HE wasnt right and struggled at school for a few days (kept getting sent to office as poorl;y but no bugger told me). Ending up being off again with same thing, more anti-b - no good and dr reckons it was nasty virus. HE has also had about 5-7 days off since september - tonsils/throat again. Each time dr has seen him

School have sent me a letter warning me his attendance is 83% this half term and that EWO has been informed and will be monitoring situation. I have only ever kept ds off school for illness (although have requested some days off in the coming week for family reasons.. first time ever - been ok'd).

I feel completely taken aback that I have been given a warning of getting apenalty notice served. Spoke to Dr and he will speak to school if need be. Have written letter to head teacher.

Has anyone else had this?

dd 8 is off today, she has a stinking cold and her head neck and whole body ache, she is also losing her voice (hooray!)She really wanted to go to school despite feeling terrible and off we went.we get the bus to school and it takes around 20mins, during that time she went white and nearly nodded off so i made the decision that she was not going in today. So we got off the bus crossed the road and got the next bus back!! Rang the school when i got in and told them, the secretary on the phone was very rude to me and made me feel like i was inconveniencing(sp) her by calling!! Am sure the head will say something to me as am sure she hates me for reasons unknown to myself. Bring it on i say, she is my child and i will decide what is best for her not goverment targets. This is her 2nd sick day off since september btw.

drosophila - I can totally agree that it's heavy-handed but I can't see that it was an insult. It was obviously a letter sent to every parent in your situation regardless of circumstances - so heavy-handed undoubtedly but not an insult. If they had followed it through with some further action regardless of the facts that would have been different. However I do think that a more tailored approach would have avoided all the stress. As it usually does.

These sort of letters went out at dc's school today. Apparently school attendance target is 93.7% and it keeps dipping below. They have to be seen to be tackling the "problem" and I'm sure they don't want children in when they are ill but want to discourage throwing sickies.

I'll put my hard hat on now.

I send these letters out in the primary I work in (I've only just started so don't shoot me!) They do exactly what it says on the tin - get you thinking about your child's attendance. If your child is genuinely ill it's fine, keep school in the loop, preferably directly to the secretary. Teachers are so busy we often don't get given the messages otherwise.

Holidays, whilst agreed still mean your child has been absent and affect their percentage attendance. Most schools aren't looking at just unauthorised attendance they're looking at abscence for whatever reason. Attendance affects OFSTED and everyone likes their school to get a decent report.

I do try to treat everyone as an individual and not just a percentage but honestly it's hard going finding the time, and it's even harder when parents don't ring in and you're chasing your tail ringing them.

Hard hat or not I disagree about the 'tin' thing. I don't think it is the office's job to address attendance as in employment it is the manager's job with input from HR and the same should be true of schools. The teacher should raise the alarm bells if they think there is smething odd.

Why do I find it insulting? The lette more or less says you are a shoddy parent who keeps your kid off for no good reason. If I were writing th eletter I would talk be much more inclusive in my approach and far less accusatory.

Here is a flavour of the letter and how I felt about it:
'It is very important that X attends school and that if X is absent due to illness, that you telephone the school as to the reason for this absence by 10.00am on that morning.'

I do not like the implication that I do not as i always do.

'It is not expected that children will be absent from school for reasons other than ill health or extremely unavoidable circumstances.' Implicit in this is the belief that DS is away from school for reasons other than ill health.

'I hope you will be able to ensure that X'S attendance improves over the next weeks.'

Unfortunately I have no control over the spread of infection nor how DS is likely to react to the next virus he encounters. Following his last acute asthmatic attach he now attends an asthma clinic at HOSP.

You get the gist....

I do know where you're coming from honestly. My own dd had 75% attendance last year (and that's in secondary) due to chronic illness. But for every parent who cares about their child's attendance there are half a dozen who just don't. They don't ring, they don't send a letter, they don't give a flying fig.

And the letter has got you thinking about your child's attendance so it's done it's job. If it doesn't apply to you, ie your child is genuinely sick, you do ring in, you're not persistantly late, then don't stress over it.

To be honest, I think the letter is almost certainly a standard one that gets sent automatically if attendance dips below a certain level..so try not to get too upset by the specific wording of it.

Teachers have so much to do nowadays that jobs like this are now done by the office, who may or may not know an individual's circumstances.

Although, if they've already seen doctor's notes, you'd think they'd have thought about it slightly more thoroughly before writing.

"I don't think it is the office's job to address attendance as in employment it is the manager's job with input from HR and the same should be true of schools."

The manager in a school is the head, and the office sends the letters on the head's behalf - surely you wouldn't expect the head to do it personally?

I don't think everyone should be tarred with the same brush. Just because there are some parents who don't care, every parent shouldn't be judged guilty until proven innocent. If the letters that go out only apply to the uncaring parents (you know who you are - or do they?) and the caring parents are meant to ignore them (you know it doesn't apply to you) what happens when the uncaring parent chucks it in the bin (cos it doesn't apply to me, they send them to everyone) but the caring parent is outraged and starts to disengage with the unfeeling school machine? Just a thought.

TBH juule the uncaring ones do chuck them in the bin, I've no doubt. The only time they take notice is when they get the fine, but you can't fine them without fair warning.

It's just time constraints - I'd love to go through my list and not send to the genuine cases but it won't happen. Under 85% (in our school anyway) and you'll get a letter.

What I mean about managers dealing with sick absence is that they are closest to an employee and if they have a good relationship will be the best person to communicate with an individual who has had a lot of sick absence or any absence. Likewise a teacher who is with your child for seeral hours a day and hopefully has a relationship with the parents is best placed to judge the situation and identify any cause for concern. I have a good relationship with DS's teacher and she knows all about DS's various medical conditions and is very caring and understanding. I even have a good relationship with the ladies in the office as I do fundraising for the school.

I think the school should get a printout of those who have absence over X % analyse it (do any names jump out that you know have medical issues) have a quick chat with the relevant teacher and establish if there is a cause for concern. If not put it to bed!!! Alternativly the teacher could approach the head or deputy prior to any spreadsheet being generated and explain the in her class X and Y have had a lot of absence and they are concerned etc....

I remember doing some work epxerience for a local middle school a few years back now. It also had the silly 100% attendance certificates. There was one child in this particular class due to get one at the assembly - guess what? On the day of the assembly, the boy was off school sick, in second to last week of school year! How typical is that, lol! Never did find out if he still got his certificate or now.

good posts dropshila.

I do understand that there are parents who arent bothered about attendance. I thinki t is important for ds to attend school but his health is more important. The fact that he had been sent by his concerned teacher 3 times to the office in one day and the office didnt even bother to call me. He was off sick in the end for a total of 9 days. 4 then back to school then off for a further 5. The office staff arent medically trained and they do have a school nurse on site. The ladies in the office gave my friends daughter mil & orange juice when she complained of feeling sick.. she then promplty threw the who lot up. Everyone knows not to give milk to a sicky child esp when you add orange juice!

To be honest I have colmed down alot about it and am sure it was a general broadbursh (letter titles derar parent/carer) but the effect it has is unfortunate as I now feel annoyed with the office staff and it has damaged my view of the school. Instead of them trying to work with me or asking me how ds is they have taken an oppositional stance.

Exactly awen. Send them on communication skills courses and get them to learn how to engage the parents not alienate them.

I have recieved one of these letters this monring, saying his attendance has been 77%, spoke to the school and they have said anything under 80% and they send a letter home, but the only time ds has had off is when he has had migraines and on these occassions i have phoned the school and informed them that he wont be in.

Of course it's insulting.

Just like those notices which say "don't beat up our staff".

How dare public bodies address me as if I am a criminal.

However, I expect to be insulted by my children's school tbh. Just as I expect to be insulted every time I get on a bus or go into a doctor's surgery, or deal with any public body. Being insulted seems de rigeur these days and if you object to it, you're just unreasonable.

lol seems to me that we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

I'm not medically qualified to decide if a tummyache is worth a call home but I (and othe unqualified school staff) should be looking at a spreadsheet and deciding whether poor abscence for medical reasons is a concern or not

awen - that is rather poor though. The school nurse should have checked him out I agree. We don't have one on site - in fact I've not yet met her.

My communication skills are fine thanks drosophila

Not if you send letters like that they aint

Cal you know you don't have to accept everything shitty that you get thrown at you.

Letters by their very nature are written personally to you as opposed to a Poster that you can ignore.

I've just been chatting to the person at school who looks after attendance & I think you may be getting annoyed at the wrong target. Apparently the procedure to be followed is normally set by the local authority not the indiviual school - so it's the education department at your LA you should be complaining to.

Apparently our procedure is that the attendance is looked at by the LA's aatendance officer & if it's under 80% our EWO will look at the our records on one of her regular visits. Explained absences are then ignored, unless she thinks there may be cause for concern - e.g if a child suddenly starts having a lot of time off ill, the head may ring the family to see if they need any help (or in the case of secondary schools to see if the little devil has been forging sick notes!)