Seeker and Orm, I don't think most of us would object if it was simply a case of handing out one certificate amongst many. Can't speak for the OP, but most dcs are tough enough to cope with that. It's just that attendance is not usually treated in the same way as other achievements.
If the headteacher held a weekly assembly telling the children that only the children who have managed to learn their timetables care about their education and that it's only these children who are going to succeed in life- then I think you would get a few threads complaining about other things that attendance certificates!
How about a weekly assembly praising children who have managed to reach top set and suggesting that the rest are letting the school down? Surely only cosseted and over-indulged children would take any issue with that?
Feenie, I think it is great that you ask and I don't think anyone denies that attendance is a big problem.
Personally, I would have no problem with a school deciding that holidays are not allowed or only allowed under very special circumstanced at the discretion of the headteachers. Our schools have not allowed holidays for years, and I haven't got a problem with that. Holidays you have control over, with illness you do not.
(Though I do think exceptions should be made in cases of bereavement, such as dd's friend who got a holiday to be with her mum as there was no guarantee that her mum would still be alive when the next school holiday came around. Adults get compassionate leave from many workplaces)
Again, the occasional assembly on attendance will do no harm as long as it is managed tactfully. Simple things like if the head makes it clear in his speech that he is not speaking of children who are genuinely ill. That he understands that children can be ill just as teachers can.
Maybe even giving instructions to the teachers to have a quiet word with children with known health problems to reassure them that nobody is cross with them. Remember my ds- "will they be cross with me?"
And instructing teachers to find other ways to award children with real problems who are struggling to overcome them. More certificates or just a quiet word of praise.
It is very bad for your morale if you are made to feel that none of the things you can do are rated as much as the one thing you have no control over. Unless somebody remembers this, a child can end up going through an entire education without ever getting a sign that anyone has noticed how hard they try. (dd went through the whole of junior school)
An informal school policy would help.
And for the whole family, a few words at Parents Evening to show that you do notice other matters than attendance too can make a huge difference, which in its turn will impact on the child.
Dd has been ill since Yr 3. Though I knew from her reports that she was getting good grades and was always polite and pleasant, it was not until Yr 7 that we finally attended a Parents Meeting that mentioned anything other than problems with attendance. I was so overcome I nearly burst into tears.
Again, Education Welfare Officers have an important role to fill, but it would help if the school gave them clear information (with parental permission if necessary), so they knew when they turned up on your doorstep if your child's absence was due to a hospital stay or to nothing in particular. Otherwise, the misunderstandings can be quite shattering.
It's all in the balance.
Do what you have to do, but do it sympathetically and with an open mind, in the awareness that not all families are going to be the same, that not all children are the same.
Remember that just because Johnnie and Lauren and Kyle have been off on very flimsy pretexts, that doesn't mean that Kayleigh can't have a perfectly valid (and possibly quite serious) reason for her absences. She is not responsible for what dozens of other children in her school may or may not have done.
If the head develops health problems, would he really like to be judged by the appalling attendance record of the office next door?
"But we do know that there are major problems with attendance at UK workplaces; just look at these statistics!; you can't expect us to treat you any differently just because you had a heart attack."