School fines for being ill or late

SeduLOUs

I'll agree with the post above that these letters might be a little bit on the hasty side when the law of averages hasn't had time to settle in yet.

I still think that an 88% attendance rate over a year is worryingly low if the absence is just made up of odd days of coughs and colds and lateness.

seven-day-weekend

foolofbeans wrote: »

I received a letter from primary school stating a penalty notice will now be issued if my child's attendance falls below 95%.
The letter said that as my child only managed 88% attendance last year we are being closely monitored :eek:
I was a bit miffed and spoke to the school secretary as my child wasn't 5 until the end of the year and legally didn't have to attend much of last year anyway. Additionally child was ill quite a lot and I didn't think it right to send them and pass the bugs around. Child has already been ill this term and missed a day so we're on the slippery slope.
Secretary pointed out that lateness counts as an absence and I must admit I am guilty of this but have only missed registration 3 times so that wouldn't equate to much of the 12% absence.
I've now got loads of questions such as when does a day off for illness get authorised? Or will it always remain unauthorised? How much of the time off was when being educated wasn't mandatory?
I'd like to ask the school for further information on how they got to 88% attendance and how many times was child marked as absent due to lateness but I don't want to create unnecessary work for the secretary and I don't want to be seen as a nuisance when I'm probably classed as one of the bad parents due to habitual lateness.
Should I just pull my socks up, make sure child gets to school on time and hope they never get ill? Or should I ask the questions?

Well you can certainly get there on time. It's easy enough.

DevilsAdvocate1

I must admit I'm a bit shocked to hear that if your child is late they are classed as absent.

My son is often late at the moment because he's having physio and I always try to get the 9am appointment (1st of the day) as its less disruptive than taking him out later. The last appointment is 3pm as I think they do the more serious cases later on.

He usually gets in around 10am - usually a bit before. So he still has over 2 hours of the morning left, so its not absent. Lunch is at 12:15 at his school.

embob74

SeduLOUs wrote: »

88% attendance rate does seem pretty low. You'd certainly be on a disciplinary path with a sickness/lateness level like that in pretty much any workplace...

workplace?! my child was four years old :rotfl:

I don't expect an adult to be falling sick as much as a young child does due to the huge differences in the build up of immunity.

SeduLOUs

embob74 wrote: »

workplace?! my child was four years old :rotfl:

I don't expect an adult to be falling sick as much as a young child does due to the huge differences in the build up of immunity.

It's the only comparison I can draw as I don't have children. One day off in every two weeks seems very excessive though.

The only other experience I have is my own attendance record which was 100% throughout primary and high school apart from a week long bout of gastroenteritis type illness when I was ~6.

Mrshaworth2b

SeduLOUs wrote: »

It's the only comparison I can draw as I don't have children. One day off in every two weeks seems very excessive though.

The only other experience I have is my own attendance record which was 100% throughout primary and high school apart from a week long bout of gastroenteritis type illness when I was ~6.

So not 100% then.....

SeduLOUs

Mrshaworth2b wrote: »

So not 100% then.....

It would have taken me too long to calculate it as an actual percentage. It's perfectly acceptable to state "all X excluding Y" by the way (example, "we're open every day of the year apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day").

But to be clear, you are correct, my attendance wasn't 100%. It was 99.something% but I don't have precise data as I can't remember off the top of my head how many days of my life I spent in school.

Sincere apologies.

SingleSue

Think youngest's attendance percentage would be shocking for primary school, he didn't go full time until half way through year 6!

At high school he averaged low 80s, this was because of frequent hospital stays (usually in intensive care, so a bit more than sniffles) and the school going into a panic everytime he got the sniffles and sending him home.

Guest101

SeduLOUs wrote: »

It's the only comparison I can draw as I don't have children. One day off in every two weeks seems very excessive though.

The only other experience I have is my own attendance record which was 100% throughout primary and high school apart from a week long bout of gastroenteritis type illness when I was ~6.

I know this isn't quite what you mean, but to put it into perspective - Average Annual Leave allowance is 25 -28 days (+ bank holidays) - So really you could be off every 2nd Monday for the whole year very easily.

Guest101

I will say this:


I hate the excuse given that letters are 'automated' and nothing can be done. So whilst it's all very well saying everyone gets these letters. If the parent had informed the school in advance, for example a serious surgery etc. If one of these letters got sent, I would insist on a printed retraction letter.


That's literally "Computer says no". Worst excuse ever and the most common given by customer services.