damned if you do, damned if you don't

by nelly136 4 Replies latest social family

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  nelly136

  with good ol' labour here policing the 'truancy' levels, unauthorised school absences can get you a big fine.

  my daughters school is a bit of a stickler, so as we are no longer allowed to decide whether our kids are sick or not i've adopted a "go to school and let them decide if they want to send you home because you're sick" policy.

  while chatting to the nurse who rang me from school today (to go pick up sickly littlun), i was a little more than taken back to find out that....

  if the school nurse sends home a child they are then classed as an unauthorised absence, most of the times i've brought littlun home from school is because they have requested this.

  On the other hand if she had been 'isolated' or sent home from school by a teacher for being a little shit in class that would not class as an unauthorised absence as the teacher has sent her home.

  I wonder how many other schools here are adopting that policy, my daughters school definately doesn't advertise it.
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  FlyingHighNow

  So what are they going to do then when they have epidemics because people send their children with things like the flu? Or worse, how about bacterial menegitis?
• 

  nelly136

  a dose of one of the recent nasty stomach bugs did the rounds up there good and proper.

  the nurse said theres been a lot of kids going sick today as the weathers boiling and the heatings still on full blast. (she was trying to sort that out when i called)

  i asked the nurse if they would be building a hospital wing for sick kids, because once parents realise they can be penalised for bringing sick kids home they might start refusing to come get them.
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  momzcrazy

  At my daughters' school, it is very similar. After 5 sick absences, you need a doctor's note for it to be excused. If you pick them up after a certain time during the day it isn't an absence. I had to pick up my oldest because she had a migraine. I got her at 11:00. I think it was an absence.

  I don't know why they are cracking down so hard. I guess for the parents that let their kids stay home for nothing, or don't know the kids are not there.

  momz
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  nelly136

  i can understand the need to crack down on truancy, thats fair enough, but if they phone you and ask you to pick up your child then i don't understand how it can be an unauthorised absence.....they know the childs ill.