school attendance clinic ... upset and annoyed

kunekune

Thank you all. After looking at the school policy documents (not sent to us, of course) I think that the issue is that we didn 't send a "note" each time she was sick. That's because we had told someone, but obviously that wasn't good enough.

If they always do these things on Fridays, I'll never be able to go, or at least not until July. That's the nature of my job. As someone else said, the other child has often been there when this one isn't.

I will write a letter explaining that I didn't realise they needed the additional information, we're not free that day, and hope that's the end of it. Though I suspect, as someone else said, it won't be.

Janepig

kunekune wrote: »

Thank you all. After looking at the school policy documents (not sent to us, of course) I think that the issue is that we didn 't send a "note" each time she was sick. That's because we had told someone, but obviously that wasn't good enough.

In fairness we get letters from the headmaster telling us we must follow absences up with a note, but DH rings the school if the kids are off (very rare occurrence, touch wood ) and then when they go back I ask the teacher if I need to send a note in and they always tell me no.

Jxx

sandy71

You should also check that they have matched the abseces to the right child. My dd was refused a half day off recently because she only had an 85% attendance record. I knew it was 100%, when I queried it they realised they had mixed her up with another child with the same first name:rolleyes:

Try not to worry, I'm sure once you have explained things it will be fine.

squashy

It could well be that your self-declared "snow days" are what has triggered the authorities as they will be unauthorised absences. To be really honest, 85% is quite low and school will want to be sure that this does improve over the course of the year. This might mean just making you aware of not missing any time unless it's life or death, for example getting an afternoon mark when she might have had a morning appointment, or sending her in with antibiotics for the office to administer when she is otherwise well. Not to mention any odd days that many parents take for shoe fittings, haircuts and the like. Schools understand that everyone can have a blip, and that if her attendance is excellent for the rest of the year then her percentage attendance rate will even out to hopefully somewhere in the nineties.

Schools do have to do this unfortunately, attendance is such a big thing, a lot is to do with safeguarding and the handful of children who could be at risk by the fact of nobody knowing there whereabouts for weeks at a time. Attendance can have other impacts though, what might only seem like a week here or there can be enough for the child to slip behind their classmates, in some cases flagged as "special educational need" as they struggle to catch up.

I'm not saying any of the above apply to you, just giving an example of why schools do spend a lot of time on the matter!

My advice is to go to the meeting, listen to what they say and don't get on the defensive. Their main interest here is your daughter not to persecute you.

tandraig

when my youngest son was at school, we were on first name terms with the 'school bobby' or attendance officer or welfare officer. His non-attendance was apparently a school record at 85% absense. My son had severe asthma and I was scrupulous about informing the school by letter every time he was too ill to go. His older siblings had excellent attendance btw.
the school bobby used to come in, have a cuppa, tell us not to worry, then say cheerily, see you next month!
Sounds like thats all changed!! you have to attend a clinic? hmmm how does that work then? do they think you need medical attention or maybe parenting classes or hypnotherapy or what? and if like me its because your child spends more time in hospital than out of it - how are you supposed to fit clinic appointments in?
Weird!

mikey72

squashy wrote: »

It could well be that your self-declared "snow days" are what has triggered the authorities as they will be unauthorised absences. To be really honest, 85% is quite low and school will want to be sure that this does improve over the course of the year. This might mean just making you aware of not missing any time unless it's life or death, for example getting an afternoon mark when she might have had a morning appointment, or sending her in with antibiotics for the office to administer when she is otherwise well. Not to mention any odd days that many parents take for shoe fittings, haircuts and the like. Schools understand that everyone can have a blip, and that if her attendance is excellent for the rest of the year then her percentage attendance rate will even out to hopefully somewhere in the nineties.

Schools do have to do this unfortunately, attendance is such a big thing, a lot is to do with safeguarding and the handful of children who could be at risk by the fact of nobody knowing there whereabouts for weeks at a time. Attendance can have other impacts though, what might only seem like a week here or there can be enough for the child to slip behind their classmates, in some cases flagged as "special educational need" as they struggle to catch up.

I'm not saying any of the above apply to you, just giving an example of why schools do spend a lot of time on the matter!

My advice is to go to the meeting, listen to what they say and don't get on the defensive. Their main interest here is your daughter not to persecute you.

Snow days should be authorised absences, providing the parent has phoned up to tell them the kids won't be in.
Having said that, schools have always checked if attendance is lower than the prescibed figure, for every reason from making sure you know where your child is, to checking on the childs welfare, and to ensure they can offer help catching up.
Does "clinic" mean clinic by the way? Our MP has a monthly clinic.

kunekune

Well, indeed: I can't fit in any more time off. After all, each time one of the kids is absent, so is one of us!

I don't know whether I've pitched it right, but this is the draft letter. More info than some of you would recommend, but bearing in mind it is absolutely impossible to get to a meeting on a friday morning - well, not until June - I'm trying to deal with it once and for all.

Dear Mrs ...

I was surprised and somewhat upset to receive a letter today about Jenny’s school attendance.
I realise that she has missed a number of days at school this last term, however there were good reasons for them.
In September, she had an infection in a tooth filling, and I recall she was off school for nearly a week. During that week, she had various dental and medical appointments. In the end, after being sent home unwell, the tooth was extracted, but she was required to take antibiotics for a while. She is still rather young to manage her own medication, and we did not send her straight back.
The second longish absence would have been in October/early November. She had flu, and a rather high temperature. Jenny was the lucky one – I was off work myself for nearly three weeks with the same virus. Jenny returned to school and then developed impetigo. She actually had to attend the weekend hospital clinic with the impetigo, which of course is seriously infectious (her brother then developed the same infection and was off as well).
There will also have been the occasional day when she was not quite so ill but simply not well enough for school.
Having looked at the school’s attendance policy, something I realise we should have done before, I see that we were supposed to have sent a note about her illness on each occasion. We believed that the information was reaching you. As we had no earlier message that there was a problem, we didn’t change our approach.
I suspect that there will also have been some days when Jenny – and Owen – were late. That was because our car was out of action, either because of snow/ice or on one occasion, mechanical failure. We all had to use the bus. Obviously, both children travel together. Because Owen is not as steady on his feet as other 10 year olds, we did not leave the house until it was light, and this led to some late arrivals.
I appreciate that you have attendance targets and that the percentage attendance in Jennifer’s case will have raised alarm bells. However, it is all very explainable, and I hope this letter will suffice. Quite frankly, absences are very inconvenient for us too, as we both work, and we do not keep children home unless they are seriously unwell.
Finally, it is not possible to attend the ‘clinic’ on Friday. I will be teaching at the university from 10-11 and 1-2 on Friday and it is not something I can delegate. On future Fridays I have teaching from 10-12 and 1-2, so it is even more difficult to attend a meeting. Jenny’s father has already lost rather a lot of days through bad weather, and another day would have to be unpaid. Given that there is no real problem underlying her attendance, we are somewhat reluctant to do that.
I therefore hope that this explanation has resolved the problem. We will make sure that any future absences are explained in a letter, and we will not rely on word of mouth.
Yours faithfully,

pingua

Sounds a good letter to me.

Our neighbour had a visit - unannounced- about the her kids attendance. She just turned up - knocking on the door. They were all in bed with piggy flu and it look her about 5 mins to get out of bed and to the door - middle of afternoon in p.js looking as rough as anything. The kids were all in bed coughing their little guts up - the woman apoligised and practically ran away - neighbour has never heard anything else about it.

ali-t

85% attendance equates to nearly a full day off every week. That is quite significant when looked at in that context. You have said that you didn't send in letters so there is probably no audit trail to account for your explanations of absenses. Don't worry you are not at the prosecution stage yet!

melancholly

kunekune wrote: »

Thank you all. After looking at the school policy documents (not sent to us, of course) I think that the issue is that we didn 't send a "note" each time she was sick. That's because we had told someone, but obviously that wasn't good enough.

it may be worth following this up - say that you did convey information to the school but didn't realise that you needed to put it in writing (although i would have thought a note would be the more reliable option)