School fines for being ill or late

FBaby

If a child starts school without having been exposed to all the germs at nursery, they could very, very easily be off for an average of one day per two weeks in their first year, just through normal childhood illnesses alone.

I think it comes down to how ill they have to be for the parent to decide they should stay home. The rule in our house was that you only stayed home they'd been very sick in the night (ie, more than once or even twice) and still felt sick, or had a fever over 38 degres. A lower temperature or sore throat, they would go with some calpol (which the school agreed to administer). I then always left it to the school. If they called me to say they were not well, I would go to pick them up. That's because I did once or twice stayed home with them, having to cancel meetings etc.. at work, to find out that they were magically much better after 10 am.

They are now at secondary school and DS has already been poorly with a cold and sore throat, but it didn't cross his mind not to go. As for those who say that that's how viruses get transmitted, well no-one else in the house got it, nor any of his friends, so I don't think it is so much the case and the school does encourage children to go with colds/sore throats.

SeduLOUs

FBaby wrote: »

They are now at secondary school and DS has already been poorly with a cold and sore throat, but it didn't cross his mind not to go. As for those who say that that's how viruses get transmitted, well no-one else in the house got it, nor any of his friends, so I don't think it is so much the case and the school does encourage children to go with colds/sore throats.

Thank you for this. I know I was called out earlier for mentioning the workplace, but childhood is when habits and routines are formed, and if children learn that it's normal to stay at home with a bit of a cold then they are going to be in for quite a shock when they join the world of work.

There's a world of difference between feeling a bit under the weather and being too sick to go to school/work. If a child/worker is off for 10% of required attendances it would suggest to me that there is either something quite serious going on with their health (in which case a note from a doctor could explain), or that a number of the sicknesses were actually quite minor and the parent/worker may have been a bit overzealous in choosing to stay at home.

Vikipollard

I was brought up in a house where you couldn't just say you'd been sick, you had to prove it - and Mum was a nurse!

I didn't have time off unless I was genuinely too ill to go to school (like the one time I caught flu (not a cold, the real shebang) and was too weak and in too much pain to go for a week. I also was not allowed out to play or to have friends round if I was ill, so I rapidly learned not to try to fake it either!! Except when she wanted me to catch chicken pox to get it over with in childhood....then EVERYONE came round.

My kids were brought up similarly; to go even when they felt cr*p and 99.9% of the time they coped when they got there. A far BIGGER problem was the school ringing to say little Pollard is feeling poorly, will you come and fetch him. Why? Encourage him to stay for another hour and he will almost certainly forget about it. Yes, it is tough love but they grew up stronger and with a proper work ethic.

As for your original post OP - there is no excuse for being late. As others have said, either be more organised the night before or get up half an hour earlier.

carmina_piranha

My son's primary encourages them to sit for a while and see if they feel better. It's astonishing how many of them feel better once they hear children in the playground

They only actually call me if there are bodily fluids to clean up.

FBaby

A far BIGGER problem was the school ringing to say little Pollard is feeling poorly, will you come and fetch him.

DS changed primary school in year 4 and I was very surprise how different they attitude to sickness was. The first called you as soon as the kid said they didn't feel well and expected you to pick them up immediately, making you feel guilty if you said you couldn't be there for an hour.

The second school though was almost the other extreme! They told me that they were very happy to keep some calpol and to administer it to him, which as we know, a lot of the time is enough to change a miserable child into one jumping around happily. His old school would never have agreed to this.

I do believe that many parents keep their kids at home or pick them up at the slightest complain and I really do think they are doing them no favours doing so. Learning to get through the day when you don't feel great is as important as learning your multiplication tables.

pollypenny

Are today's kids fragile or something?

I have been reading the thread without comment, but if just recalled that I have only ever had two call from school to pick up my two, once each.

DD was accidentally scratched in the eye during a net ball game and DS had a bad sprain, which seemed like a break initially.

ibizafan_2

I remember when I was a child, occasionally telling my mother that I felt sick first thing in the morning, hoping that she would let me stay at home. Not a bit of it. Her response was always that I should go to school, and if I still felt ill by lunchtime, I could come home. Needless to say, that never happened, as by some miracle I always recovered pretty swiftly! I think I adopted the same attitude with my sons, as I can't remember them having much time off, if any.

Kathy535

My poor daughter had terrible problems with periods, when they started each month she'd be white, sweaty and vomit. Tablets (prescribed by the GP) sorted it out in 30mins and she'd be fine and she always had the tablets with her. However, every month I would get a call from the high school asking me to pick her up as she'd been sick. I would explain that they just needed to let her take her tablets and she'd be fine. But, no, I had to leave work and collect her - it would take me 30mins to get to the school and inevitably she'd be better by then but they would insist I took her home. Fortunately, they never insisted that she have 48hrs off after being sick otherwise her attendance would have been awful.

carmina_piranha

My son's primary told me to make my own judgement about the 48 hours thing because he has reflux and can vomit just because the classroom is hot or he doesn't like using a protractor. They even keep him in school most of the time, and only send him home if the vomit smells.

They can't win though, as while the school office staff and the class teachers are happy to keep him in school because they know about his reflux, he gets grief off lunchtime staff for not staying off for 48 hours and now he feels that he has to. If it came down to an argument I think the office staff would have to follow the 48 hour rule, even though they didn't think it was necessary in his case.

High school was completely different - they called about my eldest all the time for little sniffles, just because he always looked pale and worried. Perhaps high schools are less concerned about sending high school kids home because many of them can get themselves home and have a key?

Loz01

I don't know if its just my nephews old primary school or if they are all particularly weak but they used to phone a LOT about illness - one time he said he had a tummy ache, instead of sitting him down with a drink of water they phoned my SIL immediately to come and get him. She rolled up to school at 11:45, discovered the tummy ache was hunger and he stayed and just went and had his packed lunch!! No need at ALL to send him home.