Receiving an attendance warning following absences due to illnesses

[Mimeee]

My son is in reception, he's 5. Since January he has had to stay off school on three separate occasions equating to 7 days due to scarlet fever. In addition to him actually being unwell, it's school and government guidelines to stay off school for 24 hours after starting antibiotics for scarlet fever. So we'd have to notice the symptoms, contact the GP, get an appointment, get a diagnosis, get a prescription, obtain the prescription and give him the antibiotics for 24hours before he can return to school. He got his 3rd diagnosis on Monday. The school have been informed each time and he has to take antibiotics during school hours so they are fully aware.

He has also had vomiting illnesses a couple of times, which we are advised they have to stay off for 48 hours for.

It's pretty evident that my sons immune system isn't quite working as it should, and he is currently undergoing further tests and waiting for a paediatrician appointment. This isn't anything new for us, unfortunately he's experienced repeated and long lasting illnesses since he was 6 months old and he's on his 2nd referral to a paediatrician.

Further to the illnesses mentioned that we have had to keep home from school for, he has attended school a significant amount whilst being visibly unwell as we're trying to encourage attendance as much as possible except when it seems to be something that puts him or others at risk.

We have followed school, government and GP guidelines.

Despite this, I have received a direct message from my sons teacher to say his attendance (91.5%) has been flagged and we need to make sure he is attending school regularly as he is at risk of becoming a "persistent absentee". This has, I feel justifiable, really angered me.

I understand policies and procedures are in place, however, surely individual circumstance should be taken into account? We are already informed of attendance % in school reports, parents evening and a weekly notification of school class attendance, so this message was sent in addition to this. Am I to expect myself and my child to be penalised for something that is quite literally out of our control? Do schools not have anything in place or recognition of individual circumstances? It seems extremely ignorant to take this approach and sound like they are implying that a % comes above his health, safety and wellbeing - as well as others, given what hes had recently is known to be contagious.

Am I overreacting? Sorry for the long post. It's hard enough not being able to help my child be healthy or know why he isn't, without the added pressure of being told we're doing something wrong for the sake of a %

FFS chill out. The school is doing what it is supposed to. As you have genuine reasons for being off, it's no problem. And please don't "write to the head". Don't you think they have got enough on their plates?!

Schools need to be doing more to reduce spread of infections, put this back on the school as it's their policies making him sick in the first place!
Forcing infectious children to attend just makes more children sick.

Are they using the Co2 monitors provided by government to monitor air quality? Are they opening windows? Would they be open to crowdfunding for HEPA filters or doing a science project where they build corsi-rosenthal boxes?

Ultimately schools are following government policies though, so write to your MP about this too.

There's a good resource here about safer indoor air for schools https://www.safeairschools.org/indoor-air-quality-and-climate/

Unison in Schools also recently did a good webinar about it (see their Facebook page) - apparently it's going to be uploaded to YouTube soon.

On a personal note, my son uses Boots Dual Defence nasal spray before and after school, plus a mouthwash containing CPC. He doesn't want to wear a mask all the time (understandably) but I always make sure there's one in his bag so if he's around anyone visibly ill he can put it on. I think it's reduced the amount he's sick but it's not perfect. If he has symptoms himself but no temperature I do a covid test to rule that out and he attends with a mask on. I wouldn't send him with covid regardless what pressure the school put on me. No one seems bothered when he wears a mask and it's good to look out for others.

Good luck I hope he starts to feel better soon and doesn't catch anything else.

Just saw your son is 5 not sure if mouthwash is suitable for that age but the boots dual defence is definitely ok age wise if he doesn't mind using it

Don't waste your energy, just bin and don't give another thought.

Sorry OP I read this back and it was way too harsh. I get that you are worried and upset. Don't take this personally though. Sounds like you are doing all you can.

I can understand being annoyed, but it is a standard letter when attendance dips before a certain point. In what way do you think you are being penalised?

I'm a primary school teacher and my school used to make us talk to all parents whose child's attendance had dropped below a certain percentage. I hated it! As teachers we have zero powers over attendance so you are under no obligation to attend if you don't want to.

I was sent a strongly worded letter about absence when the only absence DS had was the mandatory period of self-isolation following a positive covid test!

I know it was only an automated letter but I couldn’t help sending a terse reply pointing out that we’d have been breaking the law to send him to school.

It's fine to ignore it, but I would be furious at receiving such a letter. I would be writing a formal complaint to the governors about such a callous letter. Something like "xxx has been seriously ill on several occasions and is under investigation to identify whether there is a complex immunodeficiency issue behind these illnesses. The school are already away that each occasion of illness has required dr appointments and prescriptions and we have complied with the schools own policies on keeping him at home after vomiting illnesses etc. He has attended school the maximum amount possible including going in when visibly unwell. This is obviously extremely worrying and it is disgusting and insulting that the school is reacting with these nasty accusations. Any further such actions may amount to disability discrimination and I will not hesitate to name and shame if the school continues to act so callously towards a sick child."

Is it their policy to approach it like this? Even then, I'd have expected the teacher to explain that it's a box ticking exercise to cover themselves but that they understood that your son's absences were perfectly understandable. If it was the bog standard letter sent out automatically when attendance drops below x % then fine. But a direct message seems ridiculous.

The teacher has probably been told by leaders to email. They don’t want to.

also thank you for keeping your child off with Scarlet fever as my school had parents sending their kids in with it which was scary for the three pregnant staff in school at the time who then needed to be at home just in case to protect them and their unborn baby.

My son has an autoimmune condition, that as well as the medication, wiped out his immune system and he missed a lot of school. I complained about these letters and so they authorised all absences on the system, which resulted in one year him receiving a 100% attendance award despite probably having more like 50% classroom attendance. Which we found funny and highlighted how messed up the system was (on a separate note that school had a queen of a senco who got him an ehcp) so if you want to reply (I always did) you could ask for support around his absences with a meeting with the senco. At high school I was once threatened with being reported to the local authority because his attendance was so low, I surprised her by saying yes please as you clearly don't know how to support a child with a health condition, it never happened tho as it was a hollow threat.

Keep your child at home if he is ill. Teach him why it's ok to rest when you feel poorly. School are just bound by procedures and doing their job. I would also just get used to it to a certain extent, the letters will keep coming each year. It doesn't change the decisions you need to make to parent your own child day to day.

My daughters school put you down as absent if they miss the register (which happens bang on 8.50.. even if they arrive at 8.55 or 9 etc). Just a complete absent even if they still attend for the rest of the school day. It’s absolute madness

Zombie

The schools train you early to ignore communications from them now and not to take it seriously.

Seems counterintuitive to me, damaging the relationship and trust between parents and schools to fulfill a ridiculous ofsted requirement.

Dc has a disability and a health condition that required surgery in primary school. I broke down one day after a threatening letter from the school. When I called up the receptionist essentially told me to ignore it and she understood... but still they kept sending them, regardless of the impact it was having on an already distressed family.

DC was always trying their best, but wanted to know why they couldn't go to the 'good children's' attendance pizza party. It was heartbreaking, and I haven't trusted the school to have dc's best interests at heart since.

please elaborate xx

Zombie means you have rehashed an old thread to the surface