school attendance clinic ... upset and annoyed

kunekune

I would imagine that a lot of people had the same problem. Our road is steep and ungritted. No cars got out of our road that day at all, and very few pedestrians. Our neighbour fell and broke her shoulder. The roads around school were also ungritted. I am not putting my children at risk of serious falls. It is also relevant that my other child is disabled and finds walking on ice extra difficult and that my husband (who takes them to school) has Parkinsons and is also at greater than normal risk of falling. We live further away than most and rely on either the car or buses, it is not walking distance.

Running_Horse

You had time to draft this letter and share it with strangers online, but not send in a sicknote?

I would drop some of the moral outrage and just explain the situation.

kunekune

I never said that I didn't have time to do sick notes. I did not know it was expected given that we spoke to the school on each occasion.

And the letter was polite, friendly and apologetic. Comments from people here helped fine tune it. As you put it, it did explain the situation.

I came on here with the story because I was upset and needed to vent. It was clear from replies that I am not the only person who has had this experience and been upset by it. I found that helpful and reassuring. If you want to get outraged with me, fine, but it might be easier just not to read this kind of thread. We all open threads from time to time and think, "what an idiot". But we don't have to say that to the OP.

kezlou

I understand entirely how annoyed you would be by the school sending you a letter about your children's attendance. I had this one year (term 2008-2009) when my youngest son was off school for four weeks in a row. First he caught flu, then a chest infection, went back to school came back vomiting, caught gastroillitis.Went back for two days found spots on him one morning went to the doctors at 8:30am and found out he caught impetigo and had to be off for another 14 days :mad:.
Throughout all this i had a truancy officer turning up every other day banging on my door waking DS2 up.I called the school absolutely shouted at them and phoned the local LEA office. I explained the situation and the school got the blame entirely. For NOT following infection control procedures as set by the LEA. The school knew he ill and i did ask if they wanted a note bring, they response no its fine a phone call will do.

I mean DS2 has a low immune system and can catch anything under the sun, my eldest son hardly ever ill. His attendance is 99 - 100%, but when he is ill its really bad.
Other times the school has contacted me about attendance asking me where my children, em at school where i left them at 8:50 am :mad: the amount of times their have lost them is unreal. I have lost employment because of all the problems i have had with the school.
We had a letter in Friday about attendance officers, where they visit you once a week if your child is late or is ill. Its truly ridiculous.I'd love to see their face when i march them back round the school saying DS1 is in this classroom and DS2 is in that room. Complain now about attendance.(this has actually happened a number of times).

Sorry i'm just annoyed, its NOT the teachers fault most of the time they haven't got a clue anything happens and i shocked when i turn up with the TO (trunacy officer) and saying my children are in there. Its an admin problem mostly, too much work and not enough staff, blooming government making it more stressful for everyone..

bestpud

I've never had this happen as my children have never had a significant amount of time off school, but I know it would not bother me in the slightest and I can't see why it does anyone else...

The school have better things to do than personally chase up things like this. It is up to us as parents to ensure we know the rules and follow them, surely?

And I personally would request a second policy book if I hadn't receive the first and wasn't sure of the policies in place.

I just can't see there is anything to be so annoyed about...?

RadoJo

I think it's easy to feel aggrieved by this kind of thing when you know you are a good parent trying your best, but the school can't rely on the assumption that every parent is the same. You might think they could have dealt with it more informally, but with the increasing pressure on schools and social services to prove that they have followed up every single query, they probably want a record made that you were contacted and the matter discussed. Had they discovered a problem further down the line, a class teacher saying 'I did ask for absence notes' won't be any use at all, whereas an invitation to attend this clinic (which BTW I don't think is implying any problem - it's just a trendy word for this kind of problem solving excercise) will be documented as will your response.

I certainly wouldn't take it personally or be too defensive - they will probably see several people who have taken their children out of school for inappropriate reasons, so knowing that you understand their concerns and confirming that you have genuine reasons for this high level of absence is probably all they are after at this stage.

kunekune

Update!

We received an apology from the school today. Supposedly, they were meant to manually check the students whose attendance was flagged, and take out anyone where they knew there was a good and proper explanation. And, supposedly, my daughter slipped through.

I'm not sure it's true, but we're going to treasure the personal apology!