Attendance rate 86%

[VivaLeBeaver]

Dd is in year 9 and her attendance for the last two years has been ok, over 95%.

Report at Easter says its 86%. She had one maybe two days off before Xmas with an upset stomach, then she had a really bad cold/tonsillitis/temp and was off for a week.

The week after this she had one day where she refused to go into school as she said she was getting bullied badly. There was a big thing kicked off at school which the school were involved in. Dd was hysterical and crying and I let her have one day off to calm down. School put it down as unauthorised.

The following week she came down with shingles and missed the last two weeks of term. They know it's genuine as she also missed the schoolski trip she was supposed to be on last week and school are helping us with an insurance claim and we've got to get a Drs letter, etc.

Will the EWO get involved with us and if so what happens?

I doubt EWO will be interested since you can document the circumstances as unusual. What is school doing about the bullying problems?

The bullying has stopped. However none of the girls in dds year are now talking to her. (This may be an exaggeration on dds part but her ex friends certainly aren't talking). School have said they can't make her ex friends remain friends with her.

I'm hoping seeing as she now hasn't seen them/spoken to them in over four weeks it all may have blown over.

Schools tend to send "knee-jerk" letters out about absence at certain trigger points. They are under pressure to show they either have good or improving attendance figures. It's got much worse recently ime so if you have any older dc they might not have experienced the same hassle.

I agree with ragged that the EWO/Attendance officer is unlikely to get involved and, if they do, you can show them that genuine health problems existed. So I cannot see they will take things any further unless there is a continued deterioration in attendance.

I'd be more concerned about the aftermath of the bullying. Separating from her ex-friends could be a good move, but is she spending time with other classmates? Is there anyone she can invite over to socialise with?

You have one day of unauthorised attendance, so I would the school will be concerned with that. I guess you phoned in on the morning she was refusing to go to school and so they will have been well aware of what was happening.

Even if an attendance officer gets in touch, you will have the back up of a doctor as tonsillitis and shingles will have been diagnosed by him/her in the first place with suitable treatment.