Appointments - why's it better to be in registration?

[ifonly4]

I can remember being told a while ago, it's better for them to be in registration and then be taken out of school for appointments, rather than have the appointment early, miss registration but be there for more of the lesson.

Is this true and what's the reason.

They get marked as present and continue to qualify for the £10 voucher for 100% attendance at the end of the year

Thanks for your reply - they only get a certificate here, so I guess that's not what was behind the comment.

It is clearly better for your child that they don't miss actual teaching, but it is better for school statistics that they are marked present for the morning/afternoon session.

It's just about attendance stats, which are closely monitored.

Yes, purely attendance stats. When dd had some ongoing dental issues at primary needing daytime appts they told us it was much better to come for registration then go off (hence missing much of the morning's teaching), rather than get an 8.30 appt which would have meant she got in by 9.30 or so.
Not the school's fault, just a stupid system . . .

The legal register is taking first thing in the morning and after lunch. These are the ones attendance is monitored on so the school will want you in for them.

Often parents around here get appointments after school. Only hospital appointments are dictated, local services are flexible so no need to be out of school at all.

"Often parents around here get appointments after school."

Sadly hospital clinics and hospital physio appts always seem to be mornings only IME. (I think they are then in theatre or out doing visits from late morning onwards? My experiences thankfully with dd have been confined to broken bones and teeth growing in weird places!)

Tough. Sorry school, but taking them to orthodontist appointments at 8 and getting to school for 8:40 means that I can then get on with my working day -- plus there's far less chance that the dentist will be running an hour late!

Not one of the appointments DS has (6 or 7 different teams at the moment I think) can be arranged for after school. I try to minimise the time out of school rather than worry about figures for the register!

Maybe for dinner numbers?

Unfortunately for any prospective secondary school and their statitstics, DS2's paediatrician has 9-12 appointments only and the first hour is usually reserved for new referrals. It's also across the county, so tends to require a while morning or even most of the day. Thankfully, his most recent appointments have fallen in school holidays.

His optologist only has afternoon clinics, though and he often needs to miss the last hour or so of he afternoon for those, so he may be safe for afternoon registration.

But no, it's not always possible to arrange appointments at a time that's more convenient for schools, particularly where specialists are involved.

It's just about the attendance statistics, and seems daft but yep schools prefer it if they are there for register then you can sign them put and it doesn't show on attendance as an absence.

My ds2 has lots of medical app for rheumatology, gastroentologist, hydrotherapy and physio and also the paed we see for his asc. We get little choice over when the appointments are, sometimes I can change the time others if I try and alter it I would end up waiting weeks/months for another appointment....

I did qualify what I said by saying hospital appointments were the exception!!!

Purely for attendance figures, as everyone else has said. Seems counter-intuitive, obviously, as you'd think it would be better to be there for more of the lesson time, but that's what happens when you get politicians interfering with education.

In my area the orthodontist that does NHS work will not book NHS appointments outside school hours (9-3.30), those times are reserved for private patients. So unless I could arrange an appointment in a holiday, as NHS patients my DD and DS both had to miss some school for their appointments. If we had been private patients I could have booked appointments before 9 or after 3.30 and not missed any school. This situation also means that a parent of an NHS patient would also have to take time off work to take their child.