primary attendance

[charletteboymum]

Hi there my son in year 1 has really bad attendance scores
He misses school when he is poorly as in throwing up (once) or most recently a urine infection (once) he also misses a morning or afternoon (twice) when he has an appointment at the hospital which happens once every 2-3 months. The school have sent him home 3 times so far this school year as he'd had spots and told me don't send him back untill they have been checked by a doctor so every time I call doctor tell them what school have said and they say there's no point in seeing him the spots come and go not causing problems I tell school every time this happens so I send him back the next day now I get letters about low attendance and warnings about fines and how my son needs to attend regularly which I completely agree with but I don't keep him off cause I feel like it or to go on holidays I know attendance is important which is why he's only off school if he's really poorly its so frustrating ....

You will get warning letters if attendance drops below 90% -so of he is off 10% of the time or more in any 6 week period. If it drops below 85% then they ate supposed to engage the LA due to persistent absence. Ultimately persistent absence us a safeguarding issue and can mean SS are involved so the letters provide you with information that your son is being monitored. My advice is to engage with the school and see what you can both do together to ensure attendance when your son is well.

My ds's attendance was worse than 85% at some point in reception. He had regular hospital appointments and also got normal viral infections, some ended up a week in hospital.
We didn't get into trouble at all, since we had all the evidence presented to school and school was aware of situation.
Keep close contact with school and keep all the evidence and send it to school.
They will send you warning letter regardless, but it's just routine.

The warnings of fines etc are for those whose children stay off even when theyre healthy. Not for those who are ill. I would keep a diary of his days off and also ask the hospital if his appts could be done after afternoon registration. That way his hospital check ups wont affect the attendance %.

I dont think personally school should keep sending home for random spots. Maybe take photos of what it looks like so they can have on file? Or go to gp about it when he has them so they can log it.
There arent many rashes that require time off school maybe even just chicken pox.
As you can go in with hand foot and mouth etc.
I think attendance will seem worse if they are off a lot at the start as there isnt a lot of attending to bakance it out.

What kind of spots? If they know what they are and he is safe, the school may get more relaxed.

In reception and YR1, I got few calls from school that my ds has developed rash/ spot and wanted me to come in to check. I was totally sure it's nothing serious, otherwise they will be using epipen/anti-histamine themselves and have no time to check with me. (My ds has multiple food/environmental allergies)
They got used to it, now I don't get any phone calls by a panicked teacher/ta/staff.

I did go to the chemist the first time he was sent home with spots it is just two or three he gets on his belly they werent concerned I've let the school know what they had said but they say it needs checking each time I have also tried to get doctors notes for the school when they've asked but the doctors don't do them and I've spoken to school office and his teachers and gone through each reason I've spoken to another lady at school and she says her son's attendence is really bad she has to pay a fine even though she has brought him everyday he gets sent home a lot for illness such as a cold or aches thanks for your replies I'll see if I can speak to school nurse or make a note for them and let them know what chemist and doctor have said about spots so then if my son is brought to her shell know

If he has spots on his belly, make sure he doesn't mention it at school, providing it's nothing contagious, etc.
If the doctor prescribe some cream, etc, you can bring in the leaflet comes with it to school, so they can see it's nothing to worry about?

I think you can pay to get GP's note, but that's a bit annoying.
Alternatively, when you have hospital appointment, can they mention about spots on the report? Then you can just hand them the copy.
When my ds receives report/test results from dr, they always seems to include all the history, condition, medication he takes, etc, even it's not relevant to what was the appointment was for.

Thanks for reply I will ask for the spots to be included in the next report I get x

The lady telling you she has to pay a fine even though the child has been sent home is misleading you.

The school cannot issue a fine, only the local authority can issue a fine and then only for UNAUTHORISED absence. If a child is sent home from school as the child is (or is believed to be) unwell it will be recorded as such which makes it an authorised absence. Educational welfare can get involved even for authorised absence but if it is the school sending the child home the EWO should be speaking to the school in the first instance.