What was your average attendance at school?

[TazzyDrunk]

I twice won 100% attendance for the year in school , I think overall I missed only 1 or 2 days so about 98/99%

God knows - fairly low probably. I took a day off sometimes when I fancied it or had something better to do. Got straight A*s at GCSE and As at A-level and no one seemed to care whether I was there 85 or 90% of the time!

Attendance awards are one of my absolute bugbears. As a mother of a child who is regularly hospitalised, it amazes me why this is often lauded in such an arbitrary way. Sorry, just my personal opinion! As it happens..my other ‘healthy’ child, had 100% attendance for 5 years in primary..until she injured her foot and needed an op

I had pretty good attendance, didn't skive off, wasn't taken out for holidays, and no major memorable illnesses.

DD2's has been pretty good to now, often 100%, never below 98% or so. Until last term when loads of things combined and she's currently at 89%. It will definitely have impacted on her learning as she has missed whole topics in science etc.

Mines was about 80%.

I hated school socially because I was shy. And too clever aswell tbh and would often get bored.

We always took our annual holiday in term time. One - two weeks each year. I had the odd day off sick and never skived so maybe 8 - 13 days off a year. So that’s around 95% on average.

We weren't really allowed to be off school at all unless we were at death's door. I did three years on the trot with 100% attendance and pretty sure I didn't have any time off in the sixth form either.

About 4 sick days in the whole of primary, two for puking, one where I had a bad cold and the teacher said she didn't want me in the next day, which I thought was most unfair but everyone else with a summer cold just said it was hay fever. If not puking I was taken to school no matter what.

Another couple dozen days for consultant appts and minor surgery.

A week just before Easter every year to enable a long visit to family abroad and probably a day or two around Autumn half term.

179/190 is 94%, apparently. I remember switching schools and my mum telling the school I couldn't be in an Easter play as wouldn't be there, and the teacher saying "that's fine, she'll catch up in no time - it's not like it's one of the thick kids"! Oh the 1980s...

Secondary was boarding so skiving was restricted to Chapel, though in fifth year I skived a lot of maths and a few other lessons - I didn't have nearly as many needs to visit the local hospital as they thought! Had a little appointment card to write on...

I don't know about primary, but I remember having quite a lot of time off for physiotherapy appointments and because of asthma.

First year of secondary school was about 85% and the headmistress commented on it in my report. Second year I didn't attend at all. I'm actually surprised that they kept me on-roll. I probably had about 40-50% attendance after that, and I stopped going entirely partway through my last year and just turned up for the GCSE exams. I got all A and A-star grades anyway.

It's obvious from the above, but I really, really hated school. I also had a difficult family situation and younger siblings to take care of.

I've never had attendance problems at work, or at university, which I attended as a mature student. It was just the school environment that was horrendous for me, and the feeling of being powerless and trapped. I'm glad that I grew up when I did and not in today's attendance-obsessed climate.

I think I held the school non attendance record, especially in sixth form where my mum routinely wrote sick notes so I could study more effectively at home. It’s not a habit I’ve encouraged for my own kids who aren’t at risk of being beaten up. But I despise heads who make a Song and Dance about kids with 100% attendance. On what planet is stigmatising kids with poor health a good idea?

I still have my 100% certificates and punctuality certificates for secondary school, I used to start at 8.15am until 5pm everyday but would have never skipped school as my dad would have grounded me for life! In primary school, we used to go on holiday abroad once a year during school and the teachers would say "have a nice time" without a mention of a school fine!

Nobody kept track Back in the stone Age.

I probably missed 5-10 days/yr. We went on skiing hol for a week every year in term time. Lots of people did.

Mine was 100% or high 90s. Both parents worked so had to be really, really unwell. The problem was by the time they let us be off we often were already ill.

One day in seven years.

One day off that should have said

No idea because back in the day if you were sick you were off and if you needed time off for a holiday your mum wrote a note to the Head and told them how long you were going away for.

About 70%, got excellent results and professional qualifications (as well as good degree etc) later on. I went to a reasonable state school but most bright teenagers who are motivated would do better at home than at school. Sometimes I would skip 2 days to focus on coursework rather than work until 2am. Attendance wasn’t a massive thing back then but I was regularly told off. I think I was sensibly managing my workload and meeting deadline whilst maintaining good mental health