boring sorry, but...school absences - how do they count them?

[nally]

dd1 only had one day off during the whole of the school year due to her vomiting all over the place... so why does it have 3 authorised absences on her report? someone said that they count morning and afternoon as two separate absences...even then how does it amount to 3? she had to come home have way through one afternoon as she fell and had blood pouring our of her face. does that count as one?

I have the same question nally, I need to speak to teacher about it. DS was off twice this year, once for three days with sickness bug and two days with bad cold. He was 16 authorised and 4 unauthorised on his report. I am confused. We haven't taken holiday in term time so I dunno!

Yes, they count each session missed - so every morning and every afternoon is counted. Missing half a session is rounded up to a full session.

Yes, it's one per morning/afternoon session. Also counts if child arrives late to school. They are authorised anyway, but even if they weren't, I really wouldn't worry about it

the cheek! We were going for 100% attendance but obviously vomiting and bloodiness is not a good thing to have at school, so she had to be at home. oh well. at least now i know why the headteacher has written "excellent attendance" at the bottom.

(just noticed atrocious spelling in op)

Just curious, why do you need 100% attendance?

i am not that bothered tbh but dh thinks it's important

ds got 80% attendance this year. He was very poorly, and is scheduled for tonsillectomoy in September. I understand why they need to monitor attendance3 but I think this whole striving for 100% is unfair on the kids, esp if they have been unwell. The kids with 100% attendance at ds's school get a special award and their name written in school paper etc.

nally - one session is half a day. Just go in and ask at the office. In most primaries the attendance is manually antered into the computer so mistakes can be made. I've corrected a couple of mine this week after reports went out

Could your authorised abscences be dentist/doctors?

SMBK, how do you record absence from school for a sporting activity?

It depends - if they're in for registration and then go off they'll show as present, if out all day it could be 'Other authorised circumstances' or 'Educational Ativity'. Problem with these is it does show as absent rather than present.

Believe me it can all get a bit sticky when a child doesn't get 100% attendance and then it turns out that the only abscence is something like this.

Yes, when DS2 went to London with cubs, it was deemed "educated off-site" or something similar.

I ask because DS1 and DS2 have both been abroad with sporting competition, and we've recently discovered that DS1's were put down as holiday.

I've sent a letter in to school to ask for clarification, well, ya never know when you might need to book a term-time holiday