Kids being marked as ‘absent’ for not attending zoom classes?

[Lovemusic33]

Dd is 14 and attends a sn school, technically she should be attending school due to being vulnerable but school only has a number of spaces so she’s at home. She has ASD and language delay. During the first lockdown we didn’t get much work done, dd found it very hard and would self harm so we just did our own thing. This time I’m being told she has to do all the work that’s set and now today I’m told she has to attend 3 live classes a day or she will be marked down as absent. Dd needs a lot of support and one day a week I work (just a few hours) and dd either goes to my mums or stays home with her sister (who’s studying a level) so I’m not there to support her during live lessons or make sure she’s logged on. I have already had to reduce my work hours to almost none and I can’t afford not to work my one shift a week.

Surely she can’t be marked absent for missing a live lesson?

Just to add...she loves the live lessons but needs support to log on. She’s refusing to do other work that’s being set and it’s a constant battle to keep up with everything.

Absent just means 'not there', there won't be a consequence

It is different thus time round.

First time it was very sudden, and the curriculum was suspended.

The curriculum remains in force thus time around, and there has been more preparation time to deliver lessons remotely.

So yes, unless you have no tech (in which case you wouid be in dialogue with the school already - as you don't mention it, I assume not)

Your choice here is to support her at home so she can access lessons, otpr you send her in .

What you reallymshouidnt do is act as if the curriculum was suspended when it is not. That will do your DD a massive disservice, because even if remote learning is less effective than actual classroom, not engaging with the remote learning is even worse.

And yes, it is right that schools know who is not engaging in education

If it’s just the days you work that are the issue tell the school that she needs to come in on those days or she won’t be participating as you are not there to support her .

Yes, there are no consequences for absence for school, DfE have been very clear about that.

If she is struggling to access the live lessons then school may be marking her as absent.

We are doing the same in our school - however we are marking the LESSON as an absence, not the SESSION (am/pm reg) as the session is what is reported to DfE. You may want to clarify with school what they are marking as absent. Lesson absence is an internal school only mark that isn't reported to anyone. They may be using it just to monitor engagement with online learning, many schools are doing that at the moment and it doesn't have any consequence for absence rate as absence is measured on the am/pm session attendance. As it is lockdown children not physically in school will be being marked as X on am/pm session attendance which means that they are not required to attend school. It is not an absence mark.

Sorry if that is deeply boring and way too much detail, but marking it as an absence isn't necessarily something to worry about.

Let them mark her absent if they want.

You could email them and say when you are working you can't ensure she attends.

@Floralnomad

If it’s just the days you work that are the issue tell the school that she needs to come in on those days or she won’t be participating as you are not there to support her .

Yes, it’s just half a day each week that I can’t support her but those 3 live lessons are in that time, I will try and get her logged in before I go to work but I have told school that I can guarantee she will stay logged on.

Yes we have access to tech, school have loaned us a laptop as dd was struggling accessing google classroom with her iPad but it’s taken me and dd a few days to get he hang of the laptop (I’m only used to using a iPad).

Dd is only sitting one GCSE (next year) and working towards one BTEC but it’s very unlikely she will ever work, she quite severely autistic and not very verbal, though she loves seeing her class mates on the live classes.

And I understand that it’s much different this time, I’m pleased it’s more structured because last time dd could not access anything and just couldn’t cope with being sent work sheets, she’s responding much better to the live lessons so I’m all for how it’s been done this time. I’m just struggling to juggle being DD’s TA with working (I am a single parent).

I've got an ASD child who needs me to do full time 1 to 1 and we now have a full-time timetable and they were originally marking unauthorised absence anytime he missed one. But I asked them and they said they are changing and there will be no unauthorised absence during lockdown.

Think they still have to not attendance to see who needs help / what engagement levels are but its just for internal records. I've had to stop work altogether but there really should be some support available either financial or in school but there's neither. It's worth asking school if she would engage there.

@Silkiechickscat

I've got an ASD child who needs me to do full time 1 to 1 and we now have a full-time timetable and they were originally marking unauthorised absence anytime he missed one. But I asked them and they said they are changing and there will be no unauthorised absence during lockdown.

Think they still have to not attendance to see who needs help / what engagement levels are but its just for internal records. I've had to stop work altogether but there really should be some support available either financial or in school but there's neither. It's worth asking school if she would engage there.

Thank you, it’s hard work when they need 1:1 support isn’t it? I can set dd up on a live class but I have to stay nearby incase she needs my help, she’s getting better with it, she then needs full support accessing and doing the rest of the work set. I’m struggling to do my one shift at work. I do have a child care bubble with my mum but my mum can’t support her with school work as she’s useless with the laptop and dd would probably refuse help from her.

I have spoken to the school and they have said they will make a note that dd has no support on a Monday so may not be on all live lessons.

I agree that we should be getting more support from school and financially, a school gets a lot of money for each child with a EHCP so they can provide support and resources but we don’t get anything when they are stuck at home.

At our school we are marking students absent if they do not attend zoom/teams lessons or meetings. The only "consequence" is that a list is circulated to their form tutor to enable them to make 1 to 1 contact to establish whether there is any further support required/pastoral issue that needs assistance; it is certainly not included for punishment reasons. They will also use this data as a tool to see where there may be gaps or issues with missed learning.

Same as everyone else we are marking pupils absent if not attending lessons (live or recorded) at set times. I get a list of kids in my form not engaging and then have to contact the parents.

If your DD has an EHCP and attends a specialist provision, I would expect the school to be able to facilitate online access for a teenager for half a day a week. Depending upon which platform the school is using for live lessons, it may be possible for her to be 'called in' to the right lesson or for a recurring lesson to be set up for the correct time each Monday so all she has to do is click 'join' on the pop-up box that will appear a few minutes before the lesson starts. Could the school provide a TA to provide phone support to log in to the Monday sessions so she is being talked through the process and is provided with a script/social story to help her develop her independence over time? It seems as though she may benefit from being in the lesson with her friends and so that could quite reasonably be prioritised over her completing any work for the time being.

I teach in an SN school (primary) and we're using Google Classroom for all the work with Meet being the platform we use for live lessons. It's been a nightmare to get all the devices sorted, parents and children trained up on GC, alternative submission methods sorted, delivery of laptops to homes but I think we've finally cracked it, two weeks after twice daily 1:1 teaching sessions started.

Do go back to the school and ask for support with getting DD to be able to login when you're not there. If that means the school calling her 10 minutes before the session and then again at 5, I would hope they would manage that, especially as you're supporting the school by keeping her off, even though she's entitled to attend school.

What's the consequence of her being marked absent? Is there one? Why does it matter? (genuine Qs btw, I'm not trying to be controversial).

If she loves the live sessions but needs help logging-on...again, why is that a problem? Doesn't it just take a minute or so to get logged-on?

....sorry, if she also needs support with the online lesson (not just logging on) isn't the teacher able to give her a bit of extra support by keeping her back after other students have left the meeting, to go over the task in more detail?