law about childrens attendance at school - is 95% realistic???

[cashgrab21]

Should you be getting a letter for proven illness???? Should the school
be threatening you when your child has only ever been off for illness??? Is this just a cash grab by the local authority by women who feel threatened by the authorities that be, consider the potential £1000 ? Is this discrimination against women?? You all need to ask yourselves this question. We have two choices send our children in ill to school or alternatively get a letter about them being ill. Does this seem like a reasonable ask of parents to you ? Or does it just seem like a way by the local authority to make money from hard working , law abiding , kids and nurturing mothers ???? I would like to know your thought on this attendance law.

Why do travel companies profit on people having to , by law, go outside of term time on holidays. I have proof it costs three times more in holidays.

I think this may be more about money than caring about children's education and welfare as is purported.

What about SMART :
specific , measurable , attainable , realistic and time orientated ???

Doesn't exactly fit the mould does it??? Their mould by the way not ours.

Ours is keep our children safe , healthy and educated. Amongst many other positive things . Money really isn't our main goal like others. Bringing up our children to be wonderful , healthy , educated , happy citizens is. There is a disconnect somewhere don't you all think???

Questioning this law and the reasons behind it big time.

Isn't it just common sense to keep our kids off school when they are ill and send them back when they are 100% well. Isn't that better for all staff and other children in the school as well?

This whole law was not thought through properly in my opinion.

The government also has records on who goes out of the country on holiday and also can track people who go on holiday within the country . Don't fool yourself they already would know if they wanted to be bothered to find out. Why the need for a law like this???

I have a problem with the whole thing . It doesn't make any sense for a start and secondly its just a way of making money for those concerned with creating the law in the first place. It's not about children's well being at all. If that was the case the government could track all of this very easily with resources which would ultimately cost them money. They don't so they just created a blanket law which quite literally is not realistic in any way , shape or form. It shows how disconnected with reality they really are.

95% attendance is not law. It’s probably a school rule where they contact parents about attendance if absences are over a prolonged period. So if a child has ongoing illness 95% isn’t relevant. 92% was used by Ofsted as being ok attendance. 95% is good attendance. Many DC will achieve this but a few won’t. If you take holidays I think you pay a relatively small “fine” for the saving in outlay. Again if it keeps adding up the school has every right to contact you.

Children learn best when in school. (In normal times). So schools try and encourage good attendance and parents should too. Talking to the school about issues affecting attendance never did any harm either. Parents and schools should work together.

There are no unauthorised absences on my daughters registration certificate.My daughter happened to be sick with illnesses which were called in each time and came to the amount of 23. She had been checked by a doctor prior to this as she was having bladder problems and going to the toilet frequently , which was difficult for her at school because of COVID and cleaning the toilers and she had blood tests which came back all positive and the illnesses were not linked to this initial problem. Mainly colds but not COVID as it is winter in the U.K.
I feel I am being penalised because I am a single mother , a woman and am currently trying to create a business to get off of social which I hate being on.
You tell me does this make me a bad mother , someone who does not care and someone who deserves a fine or being told to sign a letter so they can give me a fine.

Please let me know what you think of this situation. Thanks

It is nothing to do with you being a single mother, a woman or someone trying to create a business! It is because your child, for whatever reason, has had significantly more absences than is considered reasonable.

Have they threatened you with a £1k fine?

23 absences is a lot TBH.

If a child is Ill then they're ill though.

So she had 23 days off the first term of this year OP? Or 23 days last academic year, or 23 half days?

Most schools want to have a dialogue with you about absences. They would expect to know if an illness was ongoing and what was being done to prevent it. 23 days? If so that’s a lot. It’s not 95% attendance. So speak to them and I hope your DD improves.

This is the information one LA provide parents.

If you were a married man who was employed you'd still have received the letters so your point about being discriminated against are not valid.

Also, you say 95% attendance is not realistic? It really is. Has your child missed 23 registrations since September? That's 11.5 days off school, 2.5 weeks on top of the holidays. That is a lot of missed schooling.

Wow that's quite a rant for something that isn't even the case. There is not £1000 fine for 94% attendance and no one is punishing you for being a single parent or business owner . Why would you think that and why would those things be relevant to the fact your dc has needed a lot of time off? 23 days is a lot. My 2dc haven't had that many days off combined over a collective 10 years of school but if she's been too unwell then you just need to exponent that - maybe provide evidence of necessary (these procedures are in place to protect dc who are absent for no good reason). Are you in the process of being fined?

23 absences is a lot, even if that's 23 half days.

95% is realistic, its about 6 days a year. Most students manage it in normal times.

Illness is authorised absence.

You are not fined for authorised absences.

If a pupil is frequently off sick, it might trigger EWO concerns, rooted in the pupils wellbeing.

Where do you live that a £1000 fine exists? In England, there are higher fines if you are taken to court because you have not complied with a Parenting Order, Education Supervision Order or School Attendance Order. So fines and prosecution don't come out of the blue.

And interventions are very much rooted in the child's right to an education

95% is the government target. An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; this allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year. Persistent absence (PA) is defined as an attendance rate of 90% or below. As posters have said 23 absences is high.

I'm sure someone else has stated but 5% is 9.5 days, unless there is a medical issue that is a huge amount of absence hard to justify, never in my or my DH's school life or careers have we ever had that many absences nor have my children. It should absolutely be investigated for the child's welfare, and I don't understand the link to women at all, if anything isn't it harder for single parents to keep kids off?? Any family would be investigated for hitting that threshold whatever the family make up and rightly so.

As others have said, there is no law requiring 95% attendance.

If your child has missed 23 full days she cannot achieve 90% attendance for the full year. She will, therefore, be classed as a persistent absentee. This is a concern for the school as her education will be suffering. Even if it is 23 half days this school year, that still means her attendance for the year to date is below 90% which is a concern.

You are not being penalised for being a single mother. You are not being penalised for being a woman. You are not being penalised for trying to get a business off the ground. You are being penalised the same way as any other parent, male or female, single or part of a couple, unemployed, employed or self-employed would be.

As others have said, absence for illness is not unauthorised. However, given your daughter's level of absence, I would expect the school to want proof that these illnesses are genuine and justify keeping her off school.

If all the absence has genuinely been down to illness no action will be taken against you. However, your post suggests you are keeping your daughter off school for every minor cold. That is not necessary. Advice from the NHS is that she should only be kept off if she has a fever. You should send her to school with a supply of tissues and encourage her to throw away used tissues and wash her hands regularly.

I'm not sure where the £1,000 fine comes from. If the LA take you to court for failing to secure regular attendance, you can be fined up to £2,500 and/or sent to prison for up to 3 months. If they don't take you to court, the most they can do is fine you a fixed penalty for each unauthorised absence.

They shouldn’t go to court at the moment though. Especially if attendance has been fine before now. That’s why a dialogue and help to ensure DD gets to school is important. If you need help, ask for it. Make sure you are not accepting excuses from DD and make sure any illness is dealt with.

"I'm not sure where the £1,000 fine comes from." It comes from the 1996 Education Act section 444."if you are a parent of a child of compulsory school age who fails to attend regularly you are guilty of an offence" The court can fine each parent up to £1000 and issue a parenting order.

@Norestformrz

"I'm not sure where the £1,000 fine comes from." It comes from the 1996 Education Act section 444."if you are a parent of a child of compulsory school age who fails to attend regularly you are guilty of an offence" The court can fine each parent up to £1000 and issue a parenting order.

Depends whether they are prosecuted under 444(1A) or 444(1). If the parent knows the child is failing to attend regularly (which is clearly the case here) it is a level 4 fine which is up to £2,500. Section 444(1) applies where the parent does not know the child is failing to attend and is a level 3 fine, i.e. up to £1,000.

Yes section 444 (1A) if the parent knows their child isn't attending (as is in the case of the OP) the fine increases to £2500 plus costs and/or a three month prison sentence.

I feel I am being penalised because I am a single mother , a woman and am currently trying to create a business to get off of social which I hate being on.

I think that a couple, a man and people who are not trying to get their businesses off the ground would also be contacted if their child had 23 absences in a single term. So not sure why you think you are being penalised.

Most children attend school when they have a cold. Similarly adults continue to work with a cold. Does she have unusual symptoms when she gets a cold?