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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

The school attendance system needs an overhaul; just sent poorly DD to school, because if I keep her off I have to get 'medical attention' or she gets an unauthorised absense

55 replies

KatyMac · 05/02/2014 08:34

She has a 'virus' eg a bad cold; she needs fluids, paracetamol & rest. It's fairly bad - she has missed 2 nights of dance class

She is grey and looks awful; but because she has asthma and a fairly ropey health record I'm not qualified to judge if she is well enough to go to school or not Hmm so I have to send her in

Last May they sent her home too ill to attend on Tuesday & gave her UA for the Wednesday Hmm - it was her only one ever!!

This is wrong

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 05/02/2014 20:00

The LA's code of practise regarding fines applies to all schools including academies.

theborg · 05/02/2014 20:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FrancesHB · 05/02/2014 20:35

As if GPs aren't busy enough. There is no slack in the system for NHS GPs to certify self limiting illnesses just to keep schools happy.

DrNick · 05/02/2014 20:37

whats her %?

DrNick · 05/02/2014 20:38

Is it your daughter is going to a stage school thing? are you SURE she will be able to cope physically?

I would question if it is worth her while tbh if she has such chronic sickness

PrincessScrumpy · 05/02/2014 20:43

All secondaries have an attendance officer.

I agree that parents should be able to judge but unfortunately some can't and keep kids off because they are sleepy as they played xbox all last night (actual excuse I've been given) or for a sniffle. Many companies are the same - if dh takes 3 seperate days sickness he needs a sick note from a gp so I think schools are going down that route.

A friend of mine had a daughter on life support in hospital and the head called her up saying she was calling ss due to non attendance of her dd! It's ludicrous

Original poster
KatyMac · 05/02/2014 20:46

This year it's just over 90% (but only about 4 days for illness the rest is 6th form stuff - she is flexi schooling too & they haven't really sorted out the recording) but last year it got as low at 82 at Feb halfterm. Actually while I was typing it changed from 90.4 to 93 between the main page & the details

There is so much going on tbh Auditions, Open Day, Orthodontists, hospital appt & GP appts; she is struggling to keep up, but she attends every catch up session she can. But if they had put her in for less GCSEs like we asked.......

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Original poster
KatyMac · 05/02/2014 21:10

You could be right DrNick - but she is finding the regular exercise is reducing the incidence of the chest infections and combined with a bit of TLC (taking a day at the first sign of a problem) it has really reduced the problem.

But as Pictures says they thought she had Glandular Fever this time last year & surprisingly since she worked through it she has (touch wood) been better

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cory · 06/02/2014 13:05

if it's any help we found dd's health improved dramatically when acting became a bigger part of her curriculum

basically, I suppose it's controlled exercise, it's the kind of thing she used to do with the taxpayers' money in physio sessions at the local hospital- except now it doesn't make her think about being ill but about entertaining other people

but it's always a bit of a balance

and glandular fever can play havoc with A-levels and university studies as well, so it's not a given that another route would solve that problem

Original poster
KatyMac · 06/02/2014 16:43

That's it - I reckon the dancing acts like physio which combined with actually taking her medicine Hmm really helps

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Original poster
KatyMac · 13/02/2014 07:50

DD was given 'Unauthorised Absence' for being off last Friday - this really, really annoys me

She had a fluey cold, not flu just a cold but she managed Monday in school, was sent home on Tuesday, Wednesday she was sent home straight after registration & Thursday she managed 2 lessons before she was sent home. So on Friday I kept her off as she was really poorly, the weather was awful and tbh she was dressed & ready to go when my deputy looked at her & said 'FGS Katymac you cannot send that child out looking like that'

So she got unauthorised absence.

She is going to get another one for today, as she was up half the night being sick, with dizzyness, headache and painful eyes.......I know how she feels I had it about 10 days ago & it was terrible.

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Starballbunny · 13/02/2014 08:16

It's getting ridiculous and Y11 is just stupid, DD1's been going in drugged up on pain killers for ovulation/period pain where ones running into the other.

She's going to have to go back to the doctors, but had a run Orthodontists appointments to have her brace off and retainer fitted and then she was properly ill for two days, so I haven't dared.

It's stupid, she needs to get it sorted well before the exam.

Your DD needs to learn to manage her health, I used to get chest infections as a sixth former, first year student. Fresh air and walking and swimming when felling better helped a lot. Dragging yourself into a stuffy classroom when you'd been coughing all night doesn't.

Picturesinthefirelight · 13/02/2014 08:22

Katy 26 kids are off with this sickness bug at dds school. Doesn't sound that many but there's less than 200 in lower school.

Original poster
KatyMac · 13/02/2014 08:23

The stupid thing is, she is really work orientated and focussed - if she doesn't pass her exams she can't go to college. Nothing focusses her mind like 'not dancing' so she is working harder since she had offers than she ever has before.

Even when ill she sits on the sofa revising & at her last mock (Physics) she got a B - she has never had a B in science in her life!!

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Original poster
KatyMac · 13/02/2014 09:57

I phoned the GP to whinge about the school

He immediately picked up "she had a cold last week" then "she got better" with "she had a temperature with chattering teeth last night" & "coughing up phlegm" and has diagnosed Bronchitis & antibiotics

Bugger!

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Original poster
KatyMac · 13/02/2014 20:03

She had a letter saying if her attendance was too low she couldn't go to prom

I phoned up to check & 'of course' she can go to prom - it's for children who choose not to come to school Hmm

In a strop

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toolittletimetoomuchtodo · 14/02/2014 14:38

does the schoool have a nurse or other person responsible for sickness? Mine have been off all week with with a nasty case of Norovirus/D&V. I spoke to the school nurse who very firmly said that they were not to return to school until they had been clear of symptoms (both ends!) for 48 hours.

it is ridiculous to expect parents to take their kids to the gp everytime that they are sick for a note for school. the gp's don't want snotty, virus fueled kids in clogging up their waiting room. Generally most parents know their kids well enough to determine whether they are sick or not and you (and your child) should not be bullied for the sake of form filling and box checking.

Starballbunny · 14/02/2014 15:10

Patients like my DDad with heart failure don't want DCs with colds in the Drs. People with suppressed immunity clearly don't want random virus breathed over them.

The Drs. don't want children with viruses and D&V in their waiting rooms. They especially don't want DCs with the sort of self limiting throat and ear infections asking for antibiotics.

Yes DCs might get back to school a day or two earlier, but the cost to the NHS and the risk of increased antibiotic resistance in the community is not worth it.

Also the fact that DD2 may have got a day or two extra off school earache meant she got the weekend to recover too. She and many Y7s found the long days hard to a just to, it was an awful winter for virus and D&V, time to get properly better was very valuable.

Original poster
KatyMac · 14/02/2014 20:21

Thanks guys I sent "I spoke to the GP about last Friday’s absence; he would not have considered it appropriate to see her or offer any consultation about a ‘cold’ or indeed any minor illness of less than one week’s duration. Although he was happy to be consulted at the point at which it escalated to a secondary infection (yesterday). He assured me that he knew I was able to monitor DD’s pre-existing medical condition and knew when medical intervention was needed"

I haven't had a reply (yet)

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Bogglescrabblechess · 15/02/2014 20:20

I would word for word tell them what your Gp said

NearTheWindmill · 15/02/2014 22:04

Hmm. In the workplace a medical certificate is not required before the 8th day of absence. This is a statutory regulation. Can someone like Phr47 confirm if this does not apply for schools. In the work place if an employee requires a medical certificate before the 8th day, the GP will charge because it is not a statutory requirement because until then employees should self certify.

How can schools possibly insist on this and behave like this. I would be kicking up an almighty stink in writing and asking the school to confirm their position, your options and what you are and are not entitled to do.

Pythonesque · 15/02/2014 23:21

I've read discussions about sick notes from the GP's perspective - school sick notes essentially aren't statutory at all and I've seen suggestions that parents can be told to ask the school to first send the fee for producing a sick note if it is the school insisting on receiving one ... I think GPs get as exasperated as parents by some of the stuff that goes on.

ravenAK · 15/02/2014 23:36

I'm a teacher, & our Head of Year trumpets in every assembly that 'unless you are ACTUALLY vomiting or CANNOT leave the toilet, you MUST come in! If we decide you are ill, you will be sent home! It is NOT up to your parents!'

Luckily, my year 9 tutees let it all wash over them. I've told HOY she is being a loon. To be fair, she's just parroting what the Head's told her to say.

It's absolute bilge. After 14 years' teaching, I don't even notice when I'm hacking & coughing until someone else points it out, & I'm fairly robust about chivvying my own kids in to their school (because I can't take time off to look after them), but that's not to say that the general health of any school is improved by most of the kids either getting a cold, recovering from a cold, or catching their third lurgy of the term off someone else who's come in despite the fact they're spraying virus-laden snot everywhere...

NearTheWindmill · 15/02/2014 23:46

Good job I'm not a parent at your school Raven Wink. Oddly we get e-mails from the school nurse telling us there are shocking lurgies and the best form of infection control is absence and allowing children to recover.

Do you think indy children are sent in more ruthlessly because parents are paying?

Original poster
KatyMac · 16/02/2014 09:40

This is the bot that annoys me "If we decide you are ill, you will be sent home! It is NOT up to your parents!"

I sent her in & they sent her home on Tues, Wed & Thurs - surely anyone with any sense would assume that on Friday as she wasn't in she was still too ill to attend?

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