Primary School sickness policy

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This topic may have been covered many times before.
If it has, please can someone direct me to the appropriate threads please.

I dont have all the facts.
I just wanted to know is it usual that essentially, it seems that a school wants it's attendance record looking good, so a poorly child is still supposed to be sent into school.

You’ll need to ask your school but generally, no, we don’t want contagious children at school. If your child is not contagious and is well enough to come in, then ofc bring them.

Schools don't want contagious kids but on the other hands kids with snotty noses and coughs can often be well enough to be in school
In the winter if you were to keep kids off with a head cold, there would be no one in class..

Schools are expected to have good attendance from Dc. This used to be 92% plus. There’s a lot of evidence to show many Dc have dipped in attendance post COVID. All sorts of reasons have caused this. Schools are working hard to ensure Dc attend and they should not be off it can be avoided.

There is a lot of pressure from government to keep attendance rates high.

My youngest has had 6 days off this academic year already, that's how it is. The second episode of time off they tried to persuade me to bring him in but I stood my ground and they backed off.

Ofsted are putting pressure on schools since the pandemic to have high attendance levels.
So yes many expect poorly kids to be sent in. Crazy.

Sadly with most things school-related, the system is not set up with the children’s best interests rather the schools graphs and statistics.

And that’s not the fault of the school, but the organisation that demands these statistics.

For actually sickness as in vomiting, our school says no return within 48 hours. However I'm in Scotland and there's no pressure on attendance figures.

The expectation is now 96% minimum attendance across the school.

It’s ridiculous they want kids in who aren’t well enough to be there. I keep mine off if they aren’t well enough and we get so much hassle. They even wanted contacts signed for us to improve attendance and I refused as that’s like asking me to control time or the weather it’s utter nonsense . Maybe if they stopped getting kids in unwell then mine would be Ill less !

Lots of Dc are well enough to be there. What everyone is trying to do is encourage Dc back to school if they are used to being at home and rather like it. Genuine illness is another matter. I think targets are useful. Schools should also be proactive in working with parents and trying to get Dc back to school. It is a matter for concern that attendance has dropped.

Thank you for the replies.

Yes, it appears to be government figures are more important than a child's health.
Where has health and safety gone?

Sending a child in when sick, is just making the merry go round of sickness even worse.

Depends if it’s going to be caught by others. Lots of “sickness” is chaotic parenting, agreeing to Dc staying at home because it’s too difficult to send them in and children playing up then parents agreeing they cannot go to school. Any illness in a normally well child is always respected. Also Dc with ongoing illness. Plus why should we not expect Dc to go to school? Any goals for attendance are because Dc need education and we still have issues from COVID. It’s reasonable that we try and recover from that.

Yes totally agree, which is why I said ‘Ofsted are putting pressure on schools’.

The only thing I’d say is that whilst schools are stuck between a rock and a hard place, they are enabling the situation by not pushing back against it. If more Heads didn’t roll over and ‘play the system’ and actually advocated for children then children and families wouldn’t bear the brunt of all these ridiculous policies.

It has been shown time and time again that teacher (and headteacher) opinion is largely irrelevant to education policy. I think you believe heads have far more power than they actually do.

I also think the average MNetter underestimates how many parents keep their children off for very little reason. There are families with parents at home whose children have attendance of under 90% every year just because of colds or similar. That is not normal, every year for every child in a family, unless a child has an underlying condition. Attendance has fallen massively since covid and it really does make a difference to children's attainment. Unfortunately it's just become an all or nothing approach, where parents with genuinely sick children feel they are being hounded to get them back into school.

I live in a seaside town. You’d be amazed ( or perhaps not) at the number of school age children on the prom or the beach , at any week between March and October.

There’s also a link between poor attendance and safeguarding concerns. It is vital schools know where Dc are and what info regarding absence they can trust. I would rather a few parents are inconvenienced to ensure a better outcome for a few. I totally agree MN would not always be aware of this.

I’d argue that there’s also a link between constant 100% or near 100% attendance and safeguarding- children whose needs are neglected and they are sent in when they are unwell usually dosed up on Calpol / nurofen and then make other kids unwell like mine but when I keep mine off I’m a bad parent as their attendance is below or the required level. It’s putting adult wants and needs above a child’s well-being to send them in unwell

One of my dc is often off with a cold - he has severe autism and cannot cope with a runny nose and sore throat and sneezing it’s a sensory nightmare for him and he has meltdowns and can’t sleep

This gets on my nerves too! They sent us an attendance plan, I signed it but paid no attention (this was last year) they sent me one again this year and I binned it. My son vomited in school so they sent him home and I kept him off for 3 days as per their policy… then I get non stop emails about his attendance.

if he’s ill I’m not going to send him in and I hate all the nonsense about attendance rewards. Like don’t force people into a habit of working through illnesses. It’s ok to take time off to recover. Especially when they are of primary school age!

@Salmonspines Can you supply data for that? Poor attendance has often a sign of an abused or neglected child. Court cases have identity it as a red flag where professional should get involved. Not so full attendance.

I do not agree with attendance rewards. Or star of the week for that matter.

Shock horror! Not actual children out in the real world during the hours of 9 and 3 and not locked up in an institution?!

(sorry couldn’t resist, I get what you’re saying but as a home educator I find this so funny).

I think that government need to look at WHY attendance is down so much since covid and not just ramp up pressure on schools and families without putting any sort of research or thought into it.

From a quick google even i can see that some research has been don’t stating that some kids now see school as almost optional. Something fundamental has shifted in the way school is viewed by many. I have many many ideas about this as an ex teacher and now home educator. I need my own thread in this lol.

Be my guest if you want to start one picturethispatsy

The person I know, needs to look at the school sickness policy first and foremost.
Then maybe talk with other parents to see if they are having an issue too?
She needs her facts straight in the first instance.

I started this thread as wanted to see if things were the same nationwide or maybe just her school.

Policy is nationwide. Implementation is in each school and depends on slt approach. Depends on school community.

I agree that current research does show some parents snd Dc do see school as optional and not sure many homeschoolers are in the areas with the biggest absences!

Ofsted want them in. Schools realise that children are human beings not numbers and don't mind if they are off for being ill. Schools have to play pretend they aren't so Ofsted doesn't give them a shit rating.