Medical appointments and attendance register

[nothappymummy2014]

Hi,

DD1 has regular medical appointments for a disability, hospital is not local so takes a while to get there and back. If she gets back after afternoon registration eg just after it has been taken should she be marked out as "M" medical appointment all day?

Yes.

Ok thanks. I would have thought they needed to record she had been at school that day.

But will still be counted as an absence

Yes. If a child is not on the school premises at the time of the register being taken they must be given the appropriate absence code.
Which code do you believe she should be given?

I would add a note on the system to record what time she returned. However, this would not improve her overall attendance percentage.

I'm curious, if a child is late for registration as above so marked as absent what happens if there is a fire drill or actual emergency? I know registers are used to monitor attendance but aren't they also a safety feature?

I would record the afternoon as U (late arrived after register closed )

Pen our register is amended by the office to show a late arrival, and the total number of children is updated.

We are also expected to know how many children are in our class at any time, including late arrivals.

Out for a medical appointment is marked as M. When a child returns to school they are signed in at reception, and that signing in book along with class registers is brought out for fire drills. A note is added to the electronic register to state time of return (we do the same for lateness, as it helps our monitoring) but it doesn't change the code.

We use M not U for absence related to medical appointments (reasonable travel time to and from being included) as M is an authorised absence code, whereas U is an unauthorised code. Although we might discuss with parents whose children need a lot of medical appointments what can be done to minimise their effect on a child's education, including their attandance, we would not think it just that travel back from an authorised absence should be regarded as unauthorised absence.

I use M for medical U for returning after register closes

Thank you for explaining

O is unauthorised according to government guidance

mrz, we would use M for returning after the register closes bexcause of a medical appointment, as we would use P for children who e.g. had a sporing fixture but returned to class before the end of the day, or V for those on a trip that got back in mid afternoon etc.

We would use U for arriving after the register closes for no reason covered by another code.

Our practice matches that described in this Government guidance.

Unauthorised absence codes are G, N, O and U.

I'm an attendance officer in my school and we do exactly the same as cant.

Children leaving earlier or arriving later than usual are signed in or out by the parent or carer and the attendance code is recorded separately.

However we can only mark an absence as M if we are told that it's a medical absence. If we're not told the reason, it's recorded as O (unauthorised), but it can be updated if necessary.

A U code is counted in the overall unauthorised absence percentage so it would be unfair to use this after a medical appointment.
If a family were to be progressed to legal for non attendance the U would count as an unauthorised session.

I only ever use U for the morning session when children arrive after register closes (9.15am in my school).

If a pupil did not return from a morning medical appointment without good reason I would code the afternoon session as O.

M counts in the overall attendance percentage and marking the afternoon session as M indicates the child has missed a full session rather than a few minutes

Is there any chance of getting a slightly later appointment and making it to morning registration even if only briefly. So say go in to school, pick up at 9.15 and then go for the appointment? Mad in terms of actual education but looks better on record.

My understanding is:

A U mark counts as an unauthorised missed whole session for attendance statistics (even if in fact only a few minutes are missed)

An M mark counts as an authorised missed whole session for attendance statistics.

In both cases, we use notes in the elctronic register to record time returned to school, and use this in monitoring and following up any issues.

Both unauthorised and authorised absences are looked at together for an overall view of a school's attendance figures. However the balance of authorised and unauthorised, and the reasons for each, are taken into account when proceedings are taken against any individual family.

As I say, that is my understanding, and my school's practice, and seems in line with the published government guidance.

Without wishing to labour the point, M only indicates that at the point of registration the pupil was not present due to a medical appointment. U represents missing registration through unauthorised lateness.

If school are choosing to authorise the absence it cannot be coded as U.

O counts as missing the whole session U indicates the child arrive after registration closed

Exactly - but both count as full missed sessions for attendance statistics.

So O and U are whole / part sessions of unauthorised absence, but both indicate unauthorised absence at the point of registration.

M indicates that the reason the child was absent FROM REGISTRATION was an authorised medical appointment. The same as V does for an educational visit (ours often return to school e.g. at 2.30 pm, so are in school for part of the session) and P does for a sporting activity.

Equally, if a child is present for morning registration, but then goes home ill midway through the morning, the first session is marked as present, not I.

The registration mark shows the status at the point of registration as is required, then our signing in / out book (and the non-statutory notes we add in to the register) indicates changes to that between registration points, so as to be prepared for fire drills or other emergencies.

Just while we r on the topic! ... I have a massive rant!! ... my son has had to miss a few days of school (about 2 days per term max.) for hospital appointments. He hates the hospital and loves school. I hate taking him to hospital appointments because it upsets me to see him in pain with blood tests etc... but he has to go! To top it all off - poor ds misses out on end of term 100% attendance certificate :( which upsets him. I think if schools give certificates it should be for all children who have no unauthorised absences - not just for the lucky few who are fortunate enough not to need to attend hospital appointments or be off ill etc ... !! Talk about kicking them while they're down :( Rant over! !!

O counts as missing the whole session U indicates the child arrive after registration closed.

Yes. However both are classified as unauthorised absences so marking a child at a medical appointment as U is incorrect. Unless, of course, school deems the appointment to be non emergency or proof has not been provided where requested.

Ds had lots of missed register due to hospital appointments in the past. I think it was always marked as M.
We had to sign in/out at the office separately.
I never thought about fire drill etc, but it must be covered by the office register.