School asking absent child to come in later

[TreeXmasTree]

Hi

My Y4 child woke at around 3am sneezing constantly with a runny nose and said he didn’t feel well enough for school. He’d been awake from then on, so I kept him home and left a message with school saying he had a cold.

School called back asking for more detail and said that under NHS guidance sneezing/runny nose alone are fine for school. I explained that I’m normally quite strict about attendance, but given he’d been up since 3am and was exhausted, I didn’t think he was fit for a full day. They said that was ok but suggested he could possibly come in later for the afternoon register if he’d had some sleep.

I said I’d see how he was and let them know before 1pm register. Just wondering where others stand on this - am I being overly cautious, or is it reasonable to keep him home for rest in this situation?

His attendance has always been over 99% so I’m a little shocked at how the school is handling this (although I realise this is due to pressure from DfE)

Please share your thoughts? What would you do?

TIA

Or maybe winter illnesses wouldn't spread like wildfire because people are coming in ill and giving whatever they've got to everyone around them?

I'd have kept mine off and my Mum would have done same for me (sixties).

They have a duty of care and a safeguarding responsibility to fulfill.

As have the parent’s!

using scaremongering and emotive words to try and intimidate a mother keeping her child off when they are unwell is absolutely deplorable, the child is ill, the mother has made the decision to keep her child off , who has a high attendance record, the school don’t get to override a parental decision for their tick box exercise!

Send him in. It's a sniffle.

My school does the same, I don't think there's any need to be upset about it, just say, no problem if he's better, I will send him.
and that's it, and just do what you want.

Indeed.
They know full well who the families are who take term time holidays and/or are repeatedly late and/or often keep children home when not justified.

Keep him home.

This is likely just the school trying to keep their attendance figures looking up as family demographic changes means less funding and more closures and attendance is a measure that can impact this. So they are doing their job but you got to do yours as the parent.

I would say "thanks for the advice. I am a competent parent who can assess when my child is not well enough for school. I'll let you know when he is returning if you would like."

If he’s ok I’d send him in. I probably would have anyway because that’s me.

I think the school may have high levels of absence so they’re doing anything to keep them from getting worse as Ofsted grade pupil attendance and there are probably other impacts on the school.

Wow. This is absurd. Calling to chase sick children to come into school. And some people on here agreeing..."give him Calpol and see how he is". Surely if he needs Calpol, he's not well enough to go in?

what have you decided to do?

The schools abscence level and ofsted is not op problem

Its not the sniffle its the lack of sleep

I always think the same when it comes to how schools gaslight and dismiss the wellbeing of children when it comes to things like bullying, just so they can fake their records and lie that they don't have any bullying issues.

Imagine if you were an adult at work - where you do at least get paid for it and aren't forced to stay at that workplace for years - and one of your colleagues (who is already very unpleasant and so whom you obviously don't actually like) started physically attacking and beating you up. Would HR really tell you to run along and sigh "Ah, kids and their friendship issues!" before saying that you just needed to learn a bit more resilience?

I think a lot of schools seem to just write off the tricky cases and prefer easy targets instead to keep up their numbers.

Like when you hear of the police all turning up immediately when somebody inadvertently says something that hurts another person's feelings; but if there's a violent career criminal on the prowl, they "regretfully" don't have anybody available to attend, because of lack of funding and resources.

Hes Yr4 so 8 or 9 yrs old.

@TreeXmasTree YANBU at all. It’s hardly like he is revising for his A Levels. Year 4! Your poor son should be allowed to recover properly. Just another scenario that makes me glad to have retired from teaching. Utter madness! Trying to encourage sick and probably infectious children into school. I doubt the pressure on schools, teachers, parents and children from OFSTED actually does anything to improve attendance levels of the pupils who are persistently absent from school.

They are worrying about their stats not your child. The important stuff is done in the morning. Let him recover.

Thing is, if all the teachers who had colds stayed home, classes would have to close. This would have a huge impact on working parents. Having a cold is a fact of life. Unpleasant for most, but can be fought through.

My kid has missed precisely one day of school this year due to illness, and we have never taken her out during term time for anything other than illness. I called school in the morning to let them know she wouldn't be in, and they called again in the afternoon asking if she'd be back tomorrow! It's ridiculous hassling parents with poorly kids to bump up their attendance numbers. Makes me really cross as it leads to sick kids going to school and passing it on to classmates, so surely less attendance than there would be otherwise!

He has a cold and is tired. It doesn’t sound like he’s slept this morning so could easily have gone to school and then been sent home if too tired.

A polite reply stating you'll see how he is. Sending an ill child to school is a safeguarding issue and they could be reminded of that.

You're the parent. You decide whether he's fit to attend.

I could understand if he was off frequently but that's not the case.

They're overstepping the mark. And I'd make sure they knew that.

Colds are often worse first thing in the morning so it’s good to no he would be welcome for the afternoon if feeling up to it, but would I take my child in …. No lol one day to rest and recover is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

even when i'm home sick and curled up in bed sleeping on and off, i've got reruns of greys anatomy on or something. No TV is ridiculous. That requires zero energy.

I can understand about sitting up playing games..etc, but not the TV.