school attendance clinic ... upset and annoyed

kunekune

My daughter has had a letter saying we have to attend a school attendance clinic because her attendance was only 85%.

Well, first up, we can't. I have teaching at that time and can't cancel or rearrange. OH has lost a lot of time through snow and children's illnesses (yes, it is related) and can't just take another morning off.

And secondly, what the f*ck? The poor girl has had a number of illnesses, all unrelated. She had a filling that ended up abcessed and she was ill for nearly a week, in severe pain. There were at least two, I think three, visits to the doctor and dentist. She is only just 8, and asking her to handle antibiotics by herself is asking rather a lot. She also had a bout of flu, I was off three weeks, she was back after one. Not bad, really. There have been a few one-day absences, at least one of them was because - despite school being open - it was not safe for the children to walk down the road.

Quite frankly, I found the letter intimidating. Social worker? Nurse? We want our daughter at school as much as possible. We don't keep her at home lightly. There is absolutely no need for us to be condescended to by social workers and nurses. Any child can have a bad term with more than one illness.

I am quite capable of writing a rather legalistic response to them, but wondered what experiences others have had. And if so, whether this was, as it was with us, the first sign that the school thought there was an attendance problem.

Indie_Kid

Are they aware at all that she has been ill?

Mojisola

Unfortunately, because the schools have to publish their attendance rates, this kind of thing now happens.

Take a few deep breaths - they're not personally getting at you, it will be a format that's laid down and has to be followed when attendance falls to a certain level.

I would write a calm letter stating why you are unable to attend a meeting at the moment. List the reasons why your daughter was away from school and tell them that you expect her attendance to be much better from now on.

ManOnTheMoon

The sad thing about this, is that had you sent her in unwell, they'd have either sent her back home or complained that you had allowed your daughter to attend and risk others.

Minxy_Bella

Don't panic - it's a computer generated letter that all schools have to send out once a child's attendance dips below 85%.

We had one earlier this year when my daughter had 8 days off in the first month of the term because of a really nasty virus and I was furious as I'd informed the school of why she was absent.

I did attend the meeting - the head of year and Educational Welfare Officer were there and they couldn't have been nicer, maybe as they were seeing lots of parents on this issue - and explained what had happened. The office worker who had taken the messages only had enough space to write a couple of words on her form, so the severity of the illness had not been communicated to the HOY and EWO.

I then happily signed a parental agreement to say that I would ensure that she went to school as much as possible. That was it.

It's a sad indication that the government continue to put such pressure on schools that they've raised the target attendance rate to 95%, refusing to take into account that sometimes kids get poorly :rolleyes: and individual circumstances aren't always taken into account before offence is taken by the parent.

I'm sure it'll be fine once you explain and 'promise to do better' in future

Indie_Kid

Minxy_Bella wrote: »

It's a sad indication that the government continue to put such pressure on schools that they've raised the target attendance rate to 95%, refusing to take into account that sometimes kids get poorly :rolleyes: and individual circumstances aren't always taken into account before offence is taken by the parent.

I agree. I missed a university seminar on a Monday evening twice (both due to illness) and got an email, being told I had to see the attedance officer.

Oh, and I was ill for about 6 weeks; but was well enough to come in those other times.

It was either stay at home or infect everyone with my germs.

Minxy_Bella

sh1305 wrote: »

I agree. I missed a university seminar on a Monday evening twice (both due to illness) and got an email, being told I had to see the attedance officer.

Oh, and I was ill for about 6 weeks; but was well enough to come in those other times.

It was either stay at home or infect everyone with my germs.

It's the 'Tick Box' society we live in these days. Drives me absolutely bonkers at times - and it's one of the reasons that I gave up teaching as I hated having to send out nagging letters to parentsm especially when I knew the score at home, but needed to cover my own backside and have the attendance letter on file :mad:

Molly41

How different authorities differ. My DS3 had 50% attendance last year due to a serious hip injury. No=one contacted me although I did keep people informed. I would have welcomed input as my sons school were useless with providing work for him and really couldn't care that he was not there. I had to do all the organising to get him back and in the end had to get his OT involved in order to progress things. If I had not been proactive he would have fallen off their radar. Its good to see schools monitoring attendance and picking up on it.

jillymit

I agree with the above try not to take it personally. 85% is not horrendous.
The school has a duty to try and 'investigate' and come up with practical solutions to try and avoid children missing school.
Unfortunately although you know she's fine and there's no underlying problem at home, they don't.
I would, as suggested, write a brief note telling them that you appreciate their concern for your daughters welfare and reassure them that all days off were due to illness and you understand how important her attendance is blah blah blah....but the appointment they have offered is inconvenient. I would offer a couple of alternative dates just to show willing.

I don't think there is any need to list the particular nature of her illnesses in the letter as that is private but you may want to make a quick note of dates and reasons for yourself as a reminder.
You will probably have to go in sooner or later but I would try and get there sooner if possible as if you delay it may inadvertently raise more 'flags'.

I'd be upset if I received a letter such as this as well but try and look at it as reassuring that there are measures in place to help out should help be needed IYKWIM
Chin up, they have a wonderful way of making you feel crap even though you're doing the best job you can. :A

gingin_2

That would annoy and frustrate me immensely. It also seems that in the last few years the number of colds and bugs my children get are increasing, there have been a few bugs go round that seem to wipe out the whole clas over a few weeks. I don't remember that when I was younger..

My daughter's attendance was similar last year. It feels like you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. She was sent home 4 times last year and twice already this year and none of those times was she ill enough in my eyes to need to be at home. Children are also expected to remain at home for a further 2 days following any sickness, for which I was chastised for sending her back in after 24 hours (didn't realise the rules had changed). And yet, towards the end of summer term I was getting phone calls to "check up" on her whenever she was ill despite me filling in an absence form every day. As soon as DD get a temperature she throws up, I can't do a thing about it.

Her brother's attendance was fine and we were still having to drop him off and pick him up every day so it wasn't like we were on a jolly!

Janepig

It's not particularly a new thing - when I was in school (long time ago ) one of the most feared things to happen would be a visit to your house by the "Whipperin" (what we call EWO's locally). One of them visited my mother back in the mid 80's because the school had informed them that I had several absences - my mother went ballistic and pointed out that the dates in question were either dental appointments, school swimming lessons (which we went to directly in the morning, therefore missing registration) and the rest were due to the school strikes that were on at the time. The Whipperin was most apologetic .

Unfortunately one of my friends had a mother whose motto was "good hiding first, ask questions later" so my friend had a good hiding for the fact the Whipperin had been to the house, after which her mother then bothered to look in to it and found that my friend wasn't in the wrong, the school were :rolleyes:.

Difference is I suppose that these days anything to do with the government is all about targets. I would just say to the OP that if you supply them with a letter noting down all the dates of absence and the reason then I would have thought that would be sufficient.

There'd be enough complaint if the schools didn't follow up absences and children did "slip through the net", so what are they to do?

Jxx