A primary school in Dartford which planned to have a non-uniform day exclusively for students with 100 per cent attendance records has u-turned the decision.
The wear your own clothes day at Fleetdown Primary School was set for Friday (April 5) before some parents described it as cruel, particularly for special needs children who require regular check-ups.
...that lesson being 'This is why you can't have nice things':
...the head teacher, Caroline Sadler, listened to the concerns before cancelling the event.
She told News Shopper: "Regular school attendance is vital in ensuring that every pupil gains the most from their educational opportunities.
"At Fleetdown Primary, we try to encourage good attendance and intended to introduce the own-clothes day as an incentive.
"However, following the negative reaction from some parents who felt it was unfair on children who had been sick and missed schooling through no fault of their own, we have decided not to go ahead with this particular incentive."
I don't suppose it occurred to this woman to simply say 'OK, we'll exempt registered special needs children who have proof of booked appointments', or even just 'These are the rules, take them or leave them', at any time?
I work in a school. Such appointments are given a mark that is either skipped over when calculating attendance or counts as a ‘present’.
ReplyDeleteThe marking system is not binary, it’s very granular. There are other marks, about 25 in all, that can mean present, authorised absence, unauthorised absence, etc.
So, there's always wiggle room? Thought so...
ReplyDelete