I’ve never really been a fan of attendance awards at school. My teenager, Star, has a chronic illness and has spent many days in hospital and lost a lot of her attendance. She never received a single attendance award at school, so as well as being a sick child she was also punished for her sickness. In comparison my other two children had good attendance at primary school but I never believed in sending a sick child to school. Last week my Little Man came home in tears. All the children with 100% attendance last term were treated to a trip to a pantomime. He missed out because he was poorly one Friday morning with a tummy bug and he didn’t go to school. He was really upset because he wanted to go, but he was too poorly. He was back in school on the following Monday . He lost one day in four months at school and ended up being punished for it. He wasn’t the only child who missed out, but it seemed so unfair.
I put this tweet out and it received so many responses.
I truly hate rewarding kids for 100% attendance it’s so unfair. My boy lost 1 day last term and today he was one of few left behind while the others had a trip to panto. I should have sent him to school last week with Covid so he’d have more kids to be punished with next time
— Raisie Bay (@RaisieBay) January 27, 2022
Punishing Sick Kids
I get that attendance at school is vital for a child’s education and that missing time means more work catching up. But children really do get sick, that’s a fact. And some children are more sickly than others. It just doesn’t seem right to punish sick children when it can’t be helped. Children from poorer families get sick more often, as do children with special needs. These are the children that need the treats more, they need to be encouraged and helped, not punished. Right from the beginning of their lives, our children are being subjected to rewarding the fittest and punishing those in need. Is this really what we should be teaching them? Is this teaching them equality for all?
Why Reward at All?
Children love being rewarded and attendance should encouraged. I can honestly say I like the idea of rewards, but not when it punishes the children who have not succeeded in 100% attendance. Even giving out attendance awards for less than 100% is a better option. Like a Silver for 0ver 95% and Bronze for over 90%. Give the kids a chance at least.
When my children were in Primary school they would be treated to a certificate in an end of term assembly, but not just for attendance, they had loads to hand out and plenty of chances for all children to gain a certificate. The children enjoyed their rewards and the parents felt proud. But the other children were not left out by being excluded from special treats like a visit to the panto.
When I complained on Twitter about my sad Little Man I had lots of replies. One person told me that their friend’s son had lost his place on the school football team because of his absence due to Covid. How ridiculous is that! Someone else told me that the 100%ers were allowed to jump the lunch queue, leaving the less healthier children with fewer options to eat. It’s also the poorer children who have the worst health and their school lunch is their main meal of the day. Another person told me about their child missing out because they had a broken shoulder bone. Flipping crazy!
A lot of schools stopped the 100% attendance awards while we were in the Covid pandemic so not to encourage sick children to school and spread the illness even more. This is more responsible, but I still think they should be scrapped altogether.
Currently there is the risk of a measles pandemic, will children miss out on their awards because of that? There is always something that should not be spread around and reasons for children to really not attend school.
Or Maybe they can reward them a little more discreetly, like with a certificate or voucher in the post. The children will still feel the rewards of their achievement, without the shaming of the children who have been unable to succeed.
Attendance
Once enrolled in education then attendance is compulsory unless the child is sick or you have permission from the school not to attend for an appointment. If your child does not go to school then the school can take action against you. You may have to attend a parenting course, agree to an education supervision order, be given a school attendance order, or face a fine which, if you don’t pay, could end up being prosecuted and even face a prison sentence. The schools are under close supervision and are constantly encouraged to improve their attendance overall. The rules are made higher up and schools that don’t achieve their goals can be penalised.
As parents, we get it, attendance is important. I encourage my children to go to school no matter what, but sometimes it doesn’t go to plan and illness occurs or other things happen, and attending school becomes a problem. These are things I have dealt with for many years, but having a child break down in tears because his friends have been out for a special treat which he missed because of a dicky tummy is just not right. Especially a child that gets up every day and really wants to go to school. He’s actually the only one of my children who has been like that, but if he get’s punished again for not attending when it was completely out of his control, then I can see his attitude changing.
I do not believe in punishing children for not attending school. Attendance Awards should be scrapped in all schools.
Yes to all of this!!!
It is so unfair that children are punished for being ill or having medical conditions. My girls have never had a full year at school becuase they needed checks on their hearts, a condition they were born with. They missed out on so much at primary school and knew it wasn’t fair.
My youngest girls school doesn’t reward attendance which I am so pleased about they prefer to reward kids who work hard and put the effort in. x
Absolutely appalling! I have never come across attendance awards but they are a terrible idea! There are so many valid reasons that a child has to occasionally miss school.
The awards in my boys’ school were always awarded the same circle of kids anyway :/
I completely agree with you Anne. Attendance awards are a terrible idea, and especially so during a pandemic. It is completely wrong for a child to end up missing out on a big treat due to being ill – something that is completely beyond their control. I know the pressure on attendance comes from higher up and that good attendance is important, but there must be better ways to encourage it and some allowance for sick-days. The girls’ infant school seemed to have a good approach – I never felt any pressure over Jessica’s attendance and I never even knew that attendance certificates were awarded until Sophie came home one day with one in her bag. They obviously never made a big deal of it which I was thankful for. I’m so sorry that Little Man missed out on a big treat and was upset by it and I hope that school will take some of your thoughts on board.
That is really shocking to hear. I know schools want to push attendance but it’s unfair that those that are ill are penalised.
Our school has scrapped it since COVID but before the primary school kids were treated to a pizza hut meal, although my secondary child just got a badge. I know attendance is bad in some and it is a way of encouraging them to come into school, but I do agree with you. The other thing that annoys me is the school treating the “naughty” kids, leaving the ones who follow the rules with nothing
I remember thinking many of these same things when I was in school myself. I had one girl I graduated high school with and she bragged that she and her sisters had perfect attendance all 12 years… many of those days they came in sick, stayed in home room until attendance was taken and then went to the nurse and went home. Thanks for exposing all the rest of us to germs! Luckily the only thing the perfect attendance kids got was an award and my mom was more apt to “reward” us with a skip day from school at the end of the year where we went to the beach or the zoo or some other fun activity if we had only missed a few days for illness. We had great grades so why not?! It’s a philosophy we’ve continued with our own (when they’re in school– mostly I have homeschooled them so we can school whenever we want). As far as I know all our schools dropped perfect attendance with covid in an effort to encourage all kids to stay home. In the US the kids must stay home even if someone else in their house is sick for a good 10-14 days regardless of their own testing results. I’m hopeful that schools will not bother instituting it again and instead continue to focus on encouraging those who are sick (with flu, with stomach bugs, etc) to stay home and keep their germs away.