kids off school sick medical proof?

[Tetrarch]

This is outrageous. You're the parent.

In your position I would be tempted to go on the attack. From here:

gov.uk/government/upload...attendance.pdf

"Code I: Illness (not medical or dental appointments)
Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness. Schools should authorise absences due to illness unless they have genuine cause for concern about the veracity of an illness. If the authenticity of illness is in doubt, schools can request parents to provide medical evidence to support illness. Schools can record the absence as unauthorised if not satisfied of the authenticity of the illness but should advise parents of their intention. Schools are advised not to request medical evidence unnecessarily. Medical evidence can take the form of prescriptions, appointment cards, etc. rather than doctors’ notes."

Therefore the schools request is more than intimating that you're a liar. According to the guidelines, they should be informing you that they think you are lying.

If you notified the school on day 1 then you are in a massively strong position.

If it were me I would be very tempted to turn the tables and demand an apology for calling you a liar.

Regards

Gary

[kirstya1973]

Absolute crackers. Good luck with getting a written sick note. My son albeit 21, was hospitalised in January with Flu A and the hospital said self certificate for anything up to 7 days and if he needed longer off work (once discharged) go to the GP. He had 3 days off in total, including 2 days in hospital but he had fluids, antibiotics pumped into him for 2 days and came home with Tamiflu for 5 days and a further 3 days of antibiotics.

[Guest]

I’m sure I heard somewhere that a receipt for medicine from chemist may suffice don’t know how true that is or you’ll have to drag your poor child to the gp. Ridiculous

[mandco]

thanks for all the replies
I spoke to someone at the doctors and they confirmed what I already knew they won't make him an appointment - he doesn't need to be seen and they don't want to put other patients at risk plus they will not issue sick notes for under a weeks illness anyway
I have phoned them each day he's been off and his attendance is usually good though he was off with norovirus at xmas.
I did wonder if they think that he's not really ill and we are on holiday as it was half term last week.

[floridasgirl]

I would tell them to go ahead and notify the welfare team! An unauthorused absence looks worse for them than you!
I suspect with it being just before the holidays they think you gave gone away on hols.
You know you are in the right, let them prove you wrong!

[Megandllsmum]

This is a real bugbear of mine, my daughter just before half term had nearly two weeks off with a bad cold virus and suspected tonsilitis, I had to ring school every day before 9am or the school dragon was ringing to see where lilly was... Now my daughter has autism and they know as part of her need for routine and what school provides her with for this she wouldn't not be at school without good reason. She has regular appointments for certain clinics too and I always try to arrange them around the school day but when you have to wait such a length of time it's not always possible, it annoys me they go down as unauthorised despite proof of appointments being sent in. I will no doubt have a snotty letter coming from school inclusion team soon about her attendance being below the school target, I know it's a computer generated letter but still bugs me, especially when illnesses often cannot be helped. Funnily enough as I was posting this I was on phone making my daughter a hospital appointment and it reminded me to get them to send it in writing so I can show the school office, this one is during the school day so she will miss half a day again.

[mandco]

Originally Posted by Megandllsmum

This is a real bugbear of mine, my daughter just before half term had nearly two weeks off with a bad cold virus and suspected tonsilitis, I had to ring school every day before 9am or the school dragon was ringing to see where lilly was... Now my daughter has autism and they know as part of her need for routine and what school provides her with for this she wouldn't not be at school without good reason. She has regular appointments for certain clinics too and I always try to arrange them around the school day but when you have to wait such a length of time it's not always possible, it annoys me they go down as unauthorised despite proof of appointments being sent in. I will no doubt have a snotty letter coming from school inclusion team soon about her attendance being below the school target, I know it's a computer generated letter but still bugs me, especially when illnesses often cannot be helped. Funnily enough as I was posting this I was on phone making my daughter a hospital appointment and it reminded me to get them to send it in writing so I can show the school office, this one is during the school day so she will miss half a day again.

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It does seem like they are more concerned about school sats than kids health My youngest has had way more time off this year he seems to pick up everything going and I have had the snotty letter about his attendance % but not once have they queried him being off or asked for any proof. Medical appointments are so hard to schedule outside school hours esp if you have to attend set clinics but the school still get shirty about it.

[Dendycat]

Does your child have a record of absence or illness. They shouldn’t really be requesting evidence unless they have cause for concern. I followJon platt on Facebook. On his page he talks about different types of absences and has a few articles about schools requesting sick notes. There is a letter on his page from the BMA saying it is not policy for GPS to provide sick notes for school children. No cant imagine the NHS would be happy at having to provide sick notes for thousands of school children every year!

[batleyboy26]

I am an attendance officer in a primary school and I would only be asking for proof of illness if there was a high percentage of absence or if there was a particular pattern (e.g a couple of days regularly before and after school holidays is usually a give away). Our EWO has said if we have reason not to believe the parents explanatoin fo sbasence then we mark unauthorised as the onus is on the parent to prove the child was ill.

In our case In a primary school, just ask the child. They love telling where they’ve been and what they’ve done!

Just before Christmas I had a mother ring in and leave an answerphone message to say the child was ill and would not be back for the rest of the week due to a tummy bug but there was something I wanted to check with her. At that point, I had no reason to believe anything other than the child was sick but rang the mum back and got an abroad ringtone. I rang for 3 consecutive days (mum did not answer) therefore 3 days of unathorised absence were then marked on the register!

[DisneyDaffodil]

My daughter is in college studying A levels, and she has had 3 days off sick since September, due to illness. 2 days was because of a cold, and she really should have had longer but struggled in, and the other one was a severe headache. Neither of these illnesses needed a doctor visit, and the college was notified by 8.30 am when she was absent.

However, all of these are unauthorised as the college will only accept absences when a doctor has been seen. My daughter has never had an unauthorised absence in all her previous years in school, and is really annoyed by this. She feels that she is being treated the same as many of the students who just have an odd day off now and then because they feel like it (as this does happen quite often apparently)