Attendence cetificates - am I wrong to be cross?

[Runoutofideas]

I've just had dd (5) in floods of tears because she wasn't given a certificate on Friday. After questioning it turns out that these were for children who hadn't had a day off sick in the time from Sept to Easter. DD had 5 days off to have her adenoids out and gromments fitted, plus a week off for chicken pox - neither of which could have been avoided.

Am I wrong to think that praising attendence at this age is pointless, as the parents make the decisions and the child isn't choosing for themselves whether they are sick or not? It's made me a bit cross that she's now sad over something which she had no control over....grrr

I agree with you. It's not as if a primary school aged child has any control at all over their attendance. Seems unfair really.

Yes it's stupid. Some schools expect children to schedule their illnesses over the holidays I think.

She'll get praised and given a certificate for something else though, swings and roundabouts.
Waiting for the roars of fury about having to record Walk to School week on a daily basis.
I disagree with competitive sports because my son is very bad at them and never wins anything. Attendance however, got a silver.

I thought the point of attendance certificates was to give something to the kids who turn up every day but may not have any chance of winning anything else - e.g. spelling contest, sports day races etc. They're just as unfair really if you think about it - I was hopeless at sports at school and I was never going to win a running race, but does that mean nobody should have received a prize or any praise for being good at running?
You are being precious. Nobody can win at everything - and very very few (if any) of the awards available at school are really fair.

Oh, I agree it should be for attendance and authorised absences. What about being stuck in Disneyland at the moment?

lol. dd2 has cp and sometimes has appointments for therapy during school. she never gets an attendance certificate either.

here it's even worse, lol, each term every child with perfect attendance gets their name put in a giant pot, and at the end of the year one of the names is pulled out and the child wins a new bike...

I agree with this. The school where I work hands out attendance and punctuality awards to the infant children as well as the Juniors. Most of our Junior children walk to school themselves, so I can understand that they are responsible for whether they are on time or not, but for the ones in my class (year 1) it is certainly not their own decision.

What bothers me equally is that it is a Catholic School, but has a significant proportion of Muslim children. These children all have a day off for Eid. That day counts as an absence, so they can never get an attendance award even if they are in school for every other day of the year.

I have told the Head what I think of this, but he shrugs at me and says 'it's a Catholic school. It's tough', which is nice.

Really? That's appalling. Eid doesn't count as an absence n our LEA - it is coded differently ('R' for religious observance) but it does not count as a day off when absences are totted up.

It doesn't count as an unauthorised absence, no - and that's what matters to the LEA, but even authorised absences are absences when it comes to attendance certificates. I know that is unfair.

I mean ours don't count as an absence, full stop.

I don't think you should object. The child who didn't miss a sinlge day all year deserves a little pat on the head.

madwoman That's CRAZY!!

Fair point yr DD couldn't avoid being ill. But do you know what - my DS1 hasn't missed a day of junior school (almost 4 yrs). I am virtually sure he will be the only one in his year (fingers crossed for healthy summer).

He will be so so so proud if he gets a 4yr 100% certificate. It will be the only thing he will ever win at school I am almost certain.

Would you really have him not get this prize in case it upsets someone who had chicken pox?

Sorry but I have no problemo with someone getting a prize for being a good runner - even tho it's not DS1's fault he can't run fast (super-flexible joints).

yes it is daft - our school doesn't do it thank god as my dds have health issues and have a fair bit of time off

Agree it's daft. My DD1 is asthmatic and catches every respiratory bug going. DD2 on the other hand hardly gets anything - oh apart from a broken leg last year, when one Yr 6 girl pushed another on to her - if they had had an 'attendance certificate' system going then and those responsible had got them and not DD2 - frankly I would have reported the school.

Agree it's daft. It's a reward for something that doesn't require any effort. If you're ill then you should be at home not infecting everyone else with your germs, otherwise you should be at school - how does that merit an award?
My dd got an attendance certificate in Reception - no effort was required, she was lucky enough to only be ill during holidays and weekends.
What a great achievement - we all learned a lot.

Some children are off for every sniffle or late night though. It's like mass manflu.

I doubt it was a lack of sick days. IME it is days off for any reason. No school minds kids being genuinely sick but they do get fed up with kids who take time off because parents can't be bothered to take them to school - or who get taken in by pretend tummy ache (guilty of that myself sometimes). for all the children who are really too sick to attend, there will be some who try it on with mum and dad because they want to avoid a lesson or a test. Or whose parents think a slight sniffle is a reason to stay in bed. It's not a bad lesson to learn, that perseverance, effort and reliablity are rewarded.

I don't see there is anything unfair about rewarding good attendance. There are many thing that some children are good at and many that they aren't. Some children will never come top of the class - no-one feels sorry for them or suggests that the 'clever' kids shouldn't be rewarded because it's unfair on the others. And as for it being down to the parent not the child? yes of course that is true but it's also true for children who always turn up with the correct uniform, the correct PE kit, a 'healthy' lunch, their HW or project done on time and well. That to a large extent is the nature of primary school. But observing that these things are valued is will make it's mark on the child.

'It's a reward for something that doesn't require any effort.'

When they are older, it does take some effort and motivation not to declare a duvet day when they're a bit under the weather.
Like learning that you don't melt in the rain.

Some kids maybe - most are only off for genuine illness - at least mine are only off for genuine illness. Thing is once you've missed a day it doesn't really matter anymore - you can miss as many days as you like.

I wouldn't mind them so much if they didn't also send letters home complaining about kids coming in who are genuinely sick. Try explaining to a crying 6 y/o who is desperate to get their silly bit of paper that she can't go in because she vomited at 10 o'clock last night. . . . I reckon a lot of people (including me at times in the past) will give in & let the child go in if they seem more or less ok - and of course, sometimes they will be, sometimes they won't.

(Fortunately dd is now older, and has realised that taking a day off school if you are genuinely sick is not, in fact, the end of the world, though it still takes a lot of persuasion.)

As a teacher, yes it is difficult to have full attendance in primary school, and most kids are absent with genuine reason. But there are kids that attend for a full year without absence (these are usually a small number of kids) and it is nice to recognize this. I don't recall any children being genuinely sad or upset because they didn't get a certificate and someonelse did- they need to learn to accept that they missed out this time.