Anger Over 100% Attendance Reward
July 3, 2009 by Karlynn Johnston
Filed under Featured
I loathe attendance awards. There, I said it. Even before I became and adult and formed my own opinions about schooling and the importance of attendance within my mindset about it, I hated them as a child. Part of the reason was that I never received a single one, I had a nasty bout of strep throat or tonsillitis every year, sometimes more than once. My parents would not send me to school sick, and to be honest I was usually so ill that these awards were the furthest from my mind. But come the end of the year, I was always jealous of those children who were able to walk to the front of the assembly and take their reward. I also am very biased because I grew up with a girl whose mother pushed her so hard for these awards, that she attended school sick. These days, to be brutally frank, it seems like just another reason to get away with sending your sick child to school, sometimes.
So I am completely on the side of the parents who are upset. But this is coming from the mother who pulled her son out of kindergarten for two and a half weeks and took him on vacation. And I know that he learned more exploring San Francisco and all the museums and exhibits then he ever could have learned in school in those two weeks. And I have every intention of pulling my kids out the same time every year if my husband attends the same conference, attendance awards be damned. Its far more important that my children get to explore the world around them when they have these opportunities, than to receive a goofy award at the end of the year, just for attending. I’ll give them my own award at the end of the school year, the not-everything-is-learned-in-a-classroom award. And it will be a photo album of our adventures.
From the BBC
Parents at a school which is giving children with a 100% attendance record a trip to a theme park have spoken of how unfair they think it is.
Kingstone High School in Herefordshire introduced the scheme in September.
Parent Wendy Watkins said some children could not help being sick and asked how it was fair to reward someone for not being ill.
The school said only four parents had complained about the scheme, which had improved attendance.
Mrs Watkins, who has three children at the school in Kingstone, Hereford, said all her children were going on the trip to Alton Towers as they had insisted on going into school when unwell.
‘Just not fair’
One daughter refused to leave school when she was ill as she did not want to miss out while another insisted on going to school with a broken leg.
She said:”Some children are not as healthy as others. It is just not fair.”
How can you be rewarded for not being ill?
Sarah Jones, parentAnother parent, Sarah Jones, said her children had asthma and she was not prepared to send them to school if they were having problems breathing.
She said: “If the school was rewarding good behaviour there wouldn’t be this problem.
“But how can you be rewarded for not being ill?”
The school has introduced a scheme whereby students with 100% records can invite a friend with a less than 100% record.
Acting headteacher Chris King said additional places had been made available on the trip to make sure students with long-term illnesses were not disadvantaged.
‘Significant improvements’
He said nearly a third of the school’s 650 pupils would be going on the trip later this month and the scheme had led to significant improvements in attendance.
“The impact of the school’s work with attendance this year has been excellent, with significant improvements on levels of achievement,” he said.
But Paul Prince, who has two sons at the school, criticised the system.
His son Tom, 16, has a 99% attendance record and is not allowed on the trip – even though Mr Prince has offered to provide sick notes and to pay for him.
Tom’s brother Adam, 15, has a 94% record and is going on the trip as a friend with a 100% attendance record has invited him.
“Are we meant to send children to school if they are ill?” Mr Prince said.
“This is causing a lot of arguments.”
Herefordshire County Council said it was a matter for the school.
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