Note from attendance officer

[Moanyoldcow]

I'm quite irritated to have received a note from the attendance officer and I'd like to understand the possible repercussions of lower than 'ideal' attendance please.

My son has just started Reception. He came down with a terrible cold on a Sunday with a fever, bad cough and very runny nose. He was off for Monday and Tuesday.

I sent him back Wednesday and Thursday but I misjudged it as by Thursday he'd relapsed and I had to leave early to collect him. He was off on the Friday and Monday. By Tuesday he was much better so he returned to school, only had a cough and has been in school as normal since.

The letter says some tosh about 'hope his attendance improves' but acknowledges he's been sick too.

What are you supposed to do? Send them in sick and keep attendance high just to appease the officer?

It's really narked me. The only way his attendance could've been improved would've been if I sent him in sick which is directly against their guidelines.

Urgh. I hate all this shit.

Ignore OP.

My local primary still have their reception classes on half days!

(Yes I know...still...I know it's not usual...they only start full time after half term.)

Thanks again. I'll be ignoring even though I want to call the school to point out the ridiculousness of it.

That's ridiculous Colours - and so restrictive.

Tell me about it. They've had numerous discussions with new parents over it. Most children will have done more hours a day in the attached pre school!

Just accept it's something they have to do...schools don't like sending these letters any more than you like relieving them . It's got nothing to do with " common sense", on the school's part. That's a direct " blame the government"., although blame could be placed on parents who think it is ok to perpetually get their children to school late, let them be off at the slightest sniffle, or take random days off for holidays, birthdays etc, etc.
You have done nothing wrong, school will know this particularly as you had to go and collect him. They're just letting you know his attendance percentage is not good.

My DH works for Tesco. They also get a letter telling them their absence percentage if they are off sick at all,so it happens in " the real world" too!

There’s no point ringing to say the ridiculousness of it. He has missed 4 days and that will trigger a letter. They have to do it.

Good attendance at our school is considered to be 97% or above.

There are 189 school days in the year. So more than 4 days off in the year is considered not to be that good.

185/189 X 100

Otherwise, 95% and above is considered just about ok. This would mean 9 days off in a school year.

But what the school considers 'good' attendance is irrelevant.

If a child is unwell he can't attend. They have guidelines about when you can't and can't send them in so we have no choice at times even if we think they're ok.

What are they actually going to do if a child had more than 9 days off in a year? My son had that off in a term whilst at nursery. It's just shitty luck.

Some letter 4 weeks into term when a child has been obviously sick is a waste of time.

Have you not read the posts about schools having to do this, OP? We need to show we're doing everything we can to improve attendance.

If your child had 9 days off then having a conversation with the school about whether there's anything they can do to help has got to be a good thing.

Every time these thread comes up, I always feel that my ds's school is
superb.
We received this many times in the past, due to ds's chronic illness and weak immunity. But it always came with a hand written note, that it is just automatic response to low attendance and there's nothing to worry about since they know the situation.
It was very reassuring and made me feel that I can trust this school that they care.

"What are they actually going to do if a child had more than 9 days off in a year? "

Nothing, as long as parents can confirm there was good reason for absence.

I haven't Suburban - school is 'new' to us as DS is an only child so I'm only recently on the Education boards.

I ABSOLUTELY understand needing to improve attendance where possible, but a school can't 'work with you' if your child gets bronchitis and rotavirus in a term - which was a truly delightful time for us all, I might add. It's just shitty luck.

If absence was unexplained or suspicious of course I understand but when the letter itself acknowledges all absences relate to a single episode of sickness it's irritating.

Irvine - that would've been far more reassuring and make me feel a bit less narked.

I meant the posts on this thread.

Actually we definitely can work with children who are sick and like all good schools, we do.

Suburban - I'm not being deliberately goady or obtuse. My issue is that the letter acknowledges he was sick. Their own guidelines advise me to keep him off. He had to stay off school.

So how can I improve upon that?

And I'd expect a school would indeed work with a child who was sick with an underlying condition or had a long term illness but that's not the case here.

I've obviously just got to get a thicker skin and accept that this kind of nonsense is just a new and unwelcome thing to deal with.

yeah, I totally agree. Even printed note that says it's just an automated letter and don't worry would be enough to reassure parents.

First time I received this letter in reception, even with the note from school, it did made me feel very worried.
I wish all school did this, as it's very upsetting to the parents, especially the parents of reception age children.

If any teacher is reading this, is it possible for you to suggest it to your school?
I know it's extra work for school staff who are already overworking, but just a printed note or post it saying don't worry should be enough imo.

We don’t send out the letters they come from the LA via the EWO.

I think another thing you might want to do is pick your battles. You've got many years of school ahead of you and attendance monitoring doesn't go away!

Mine definitely came from the school.

We got this letter once - when ds had missed 6 weeks of school with a notifiable disease which they knew about - saying 'is there anything we can do to improve his attendance?' . Well no not unless you're a world renowned bio chemist on the verge of a huge discovery.

Perhaps your right Suburban.

I just detest the officiousness apparent at every juncture [at my son's school].

I also hate this strange false equivalency that stricter = better and from what I hear from friends with older children it's pervasive.

Haudyer - see? Common sense lacking.

I know it's extra work for school staff who are already overworking, but just a printed note or post it saying don't worry should be enough imo.

We have one of our office staff off for six weeks after having an operation and another on maternity leave until July next year. We really don't have time to do individual hand-written notes at the moment, but luckily most of our parents would come in and speak to us if they are worried about getting a letter like this.

mrz, but it didn't come through the post. It came home with ds in his bag in my case. So the school must know what's it all about.

I think the parents who get upset by these letters are the ones who cares. Ones who don't just ignore it anyway. That's why I really think the approach my ds's school take is superb. They know we care. So they don't put us in unnecessary worry.

We definitely don’t send these out

Schools don't have time to be looking at individual instances of absence, they have to send the letter so they do, I don't suppose they expect that you will do anything other than bin it.

Honestly, don't get worked up about it, there are much more important issues