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.

* But what if your child has, say, cancer? Do the letters keep coming when they miss school for their treatment?*
No 🙄

It sounds like your DS had a virus , the fact back to normal causes replapse...

I think as you go through schools you do get to understand that there is bureaucracy within schools and a certain amount of jumping through hoops to satisfy Ofsted.

My DS last year was admitted to Hospital after his first day back and had surgery so by the end of first week his attendance was 25 % ...

The school will know your child was sick..

Some things the school send you have to roll your eyes and move on.

My DS knows he goes to school if he is well enough or doesn't have a medical appointment , however I really don't care about his attendance %

Another year 1/3 of his class went down with chicken pox.. Children get sick...

Thanks all. I suppose my point was they're obviously able to understand sick leave as acceptable absence in long term (extreme maybe) examples so what's the harm in cross checking for sick leave and not sending letters to the parents whose children were reported sick on their absence days? There is just no point in sending those letters.

Oh yes there is a point in sending those letters. We have had kids go off on holiday when the parents said to us that they were out sick. We have had parents keep their child off because they didnt want to be out in the cold, and then ring in to say they were sick. They're unusual cases but it can happen. Being off at hospital treatments is different to parent certified sick leave, you've no one else to verify it - the vast, vast majority of parents of course don't do this, but there are some that do.

Oh I see. Makes more sense

Schools have to be seen to be doing "something" to combat low attendance. Ofsted don't listen to individual cases or care about individual students. They'll look at an overall attendance figure for the school and rip it apart. At least the school can say well we sent a letter.

The school are covering their arse, ignore it.

Thank you, Liadain
He is missing part of his organ, so he will never be 100% , but he is very well and thriving (apart from having allergy!).
Anybody who knows him says they cannot believe he has chronic illness these days!

That's great Irvine! Lovely news

Dd was off a week too so her attendance will be awful. Far too ill to be sent to school.
I don't care though, I don't think we get letters like that in Scotland but if we did I would chuck it away and think meh she was ill.

There are parents who exist who keep their kids off for nothing. Nobody on MN of course. They wouldn’t dream of it. But schools can’t decide “well Mrs Moany always has good reason to keep her child off but Mrs x doesn’t”.

These are reasons I have been given:

It’s icy outside, he might slip so I’m waiting till it’s all thawed (14 year old) me: that could take weeks! Mrs X: maybe it will my love maybe it will

We’ve all had a cough and he feels a bit tired. No he can’t come in later he will still feel tired.

His trousers aren’t properly dry. No I can’t use a hairdryer on them to dry them. He should be back tomorrow.

He doesn’t like the rain and won’t wear a jacket so I told him he could stay home.

The car won’t start. No he can’t walk it would take him half an hour. No he can’t get the bus. He doesn’t know where to get it from (age 15)

We were up late last night as it was his uncle’s birthday. So he won’t be in. (Age about 13)

Hi Mrs Cauliflower
Here’s why he was absent on the dates you gave me:

Monday 15th diarrea
Weds 17th - opticians then I said he might as well stay home.
Friday 19th - can’t remembr

Tues 22nd - his nan felt unwell and he stayed with her

Thurs 24th - cold
Friday 25th - tickly throat

Monday 28th - he couldn’t find his bus pass and refused to walk

Thursday - doctors in the afternoon and I said it wasn’t worth him going in for the morning

Friday - we were up all night with the dog being sick so I said he could sleep in the day.

This is not even a joke. Schools get shit excuses all the time. There are families who couldn’t give a rat’s arse about education and feel schools are just there to annoy them. Yet those schools are judged by a legacy of generations of families for whom education is an irritation.

Thank you Bubble.

@CauliflowerSqueeze that is so familiar 😂