Times have changed, it used to just be an excuse to get out of PE.
IXMCMXCII on
> Graham Horn, the principal of Neal-Wade Academy, said the school prioritised student wellbeing, but added that regular attendance was “crucial for academic success”.
>
> A recent email from Neal-Wade Academy to parents, seen by the BBC, said: “From immediate effect we will not be accepting terms such as ‘unwell, poorly, ill’ or similar as explanations relating to student absence.
>
> “Communications made using these and similar terms will be recorded as unauthorised.”
>
> The school published a list of reasons given by parents that it would record an “unauthorised absence”, including:
>
> • Ill
>
> • Unwell
>
> • Poorly
>
> • Period pains (unless we have medical information relating)
>
> • Has a cold
>
> • And similar
Sounds like this school wants all their students to fall sick. How do you get a doctor’s note for a cold? And Wdym “And Similar”? This story is wild.
tealattegirl13 on
Tell me this rule was thought up by a man, without telling me this was thought up by a man.
Even if you don’t have any medical issues relating to your uterus (and it’s so difficult to get diagnosed for anything relating to your uterus, believe me I know), some months can be more painful than others. That’s the ‘fun’ of having a period!
And ‘unauthorised absence’ if you have a cold? Did they learn nothing from covid? So they want students to go in and spread colds to everyone?
ZakalweTheChairmaker on
I get this shit all the time from schools as a GP. I find it utterly vexing that one extremely stretched, under-resourced part of the public sector deems it a worthwhile exercise to waste the time of another extremely stretched, under resourced part of the public sector.
If a person tells me they’re in pain, they’re in pain. I believe them. And in any case, even if I didn’t, it’s almost always unfalsifiable anyway. So getting a note from me doesn’t do anything except stop me doing something more worthwhile without giving the school any more useful information than they already had by speaking to the child’s parents.
My stock response is to write to the Head and explain that I’m happy to provide medical evidence if they pay my invoice. Fortunately this costs me almost no time as I have names, emails and stock letters saved to my desktop in abundance. And a TTFO to the school makes me feel much better.
emmmmmmaja on
Well, if this requirement leads to more girls and women who have endometriosis actually getting diagnosed earlier on, then I’m all for it.
Unfortunately, with the way the healthcare system already tends to ignore this kind of pain, I think it will have the opposite effect and will just lead to period pain being taken even less seriously.
pikantnasuka on
You can’t prove pain.
Period pain is usually worse when you’re younger. I remember period pain in my teens that would make me cry. I didn’t feel anything like it until I was in labour decades later. I remember a male teacher telling me it was all in my head. It really wasn’t but how do you prove how much something hurts?
I hate this sort of approach to schooling. Stupid policies with a stupid underlying ethos.
saint_maria on
I’ve got diagnosed endometriosis and adenomyosis and as a grown ass woman it was hard enough to get my GP to take that pain seriously so good luck to anyone who needs to jump through this hoop.
chronicnerv on
Shaming people into obedience no longer works due to the internet removing educational gatekeeping. The school education system does not quite understand that yet.
Several_Jello2893 on
I understand that no school wants a student off for a few days every month, when they have their period.
However, including ‘period pains’ in other vague terms such as ‘poorly’ and ‘unwell’ highlights how medical gaslighting of females does occur.
A woman under 18 is highly unlikely to already have an established diagnosis of endometriosis or PCOS, both which can cause excruciatingly painful periods. It’s well researched that women fight many years for such diagnoses, often not getting diagnosed until mid thirties.
Medical gaslighting in women is very real, often conditions such as menopause, post natal depression, PMDD, PTSD from birth trauma to name a few.
How can you prove pain? What do they want, a bloody tampon enclosed in an envelope?
I would hope that if a female student reports extreme pain when on their periods, they can be trusted (along with their parents) to be taken seriously and not invalidated and told to come to school anyway.
Creepy-Bell-4527 on
If I’m lucky enough to have a daughter, and the school demands proof of period pain, they’re getting a used sanitary pad in the post.
toastedcheesesando on
They’re just going to get a lot of children sick with “violent diarrhoea”
Why is it always academies coming up with these batshit crazy policies? Maybe because academies are virtually un accountable to anyone, unless you have the money to take them to court?
PM-ME-YOUR-DIGIMON on
I’m getting really fucking sick of the way schools treat kids. It’s like they expect more from the children than they do adults.
MDK1980 on
Wait, so self-certification doesn’t apply to schools?
SoundsOfTheWild on
As a single guy with no relevant personal agenda, fuck this.
milkyteapls on
He’s obviously a shit Principal as the school Ofsted is ‘Requires Improvement’ in every metric. Clearly focusing on the wrong things.
How do you even prove pain?
Practical-Purchase-9 on
Attendance has become a mania for schools and they find it easier to target the well meaning students than the persistent absentees and those with difficult parents.
It all seems so inconsistent. They will use scare tactics on those taking a few sick days to try to get them to come in when actually ill and they won’t be in a fit state to do work and risk infecting others. Like with the stories of fines for parents taking the children on holiday in term time, I’ve never actually seen a fine issued to any parent, least of all those with kids missing days all over the place that accumulates into months of poorly explained absence.
I’ve seen students with appalling attendance rates or frequently late, arriving mid morning, where it’s known the parent(s) are alcoholic or just can’t be arsed, and not getting their kid off to school in the morning or the kid needs to care for them (or is acting as the parent for their younger siblings). And it just persists for years, but while they’re treated as a lost cause, other students are picked out to add a fraction of % onto the attendance stats.
hihrise on
Just assume everyone is telling the truth. There’s a 100% chance that there are people who are not telling the truth, but that then becomes their own fault and responsibility if they fall behind in school due to it. If someone is telling the truth and is in genuine pain, they’re probably the kind of person who is going to do their best to ensure they catch up on what they might have missed. It’s a similar sort of thing to going to the toilet in a lesson. Sure there are people who are doing it to miss part of the lesson, but there are also people who just need to go to the toilet.
pu55yobsessed on
I made a comment in this sub a few weeks ago about how education regarding periods should be more informative and widespread. Even as women there are things about our periods that we are told are normal and they absolutely are not.
Since I was 13, I have suffered with period pains so bad and so heavy that I genuinely cannot get out of bed because the pain is so crippling, and I risk bleeding on clothing and furniture. Many times I have thrown up from how much pain I’ve been in.
I am 26 now and was told this was normal up until 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with PCOS, a diagnosis that I had to fight tooth and nail for because surprise surprise, the GP receptionist told me what I was going through was not concerning.
There is no way to really prove how much pain you’re in, and schools shouldn’t think they should be entitled to a students private medical records. The attitude towards menstrual cycles infuriates me.
snippity_snip on
I have cysts on my ovaries which weren’t diagnosed until I was around 30. My teens were probably the worst part of my life for very heavy and painful periods. I look back and am amazed I still functioned sometimes.
This school principal needs that period pain simulator put on him, and needs to listen to someone with actual medical knowledge.
VanityDecay666 on
Bloody hell, I remember starting my period (which it hurts more the first few times and I didnt have my pcos diagnosed and I was also malnourished/anemic at the time due to my mothers neglect), so everytime I had a period it was hell, I couldn’t concentrate on the lessons when in pain anyway let alone bleeding through clothes because we wernt allowed to go to the toilets at certain times.
I remember one day I was stubborn towards a pe teacher, I was in too much pain to perform their routines, she said I was fine.. I do not want to be jumping on a trampoline with blood squirting out of me and my pad having a bloody party around! Ridiculous. I used to just skive school eventually.. I think I got detention for refusing to jump around that day too..
GlentheUdderboat on
Urgh I feel this. I’ve just had to ‘prove’ my daughter needs a toilet pass as she has a UTI. They requested a drs letter as proof. Why on earth they can’t just take my word for it I don’t know.
Alert-One-Two on
I was recently asked for proof that my child was attending fracture clinic for an injury obtained whilst at school. The kid was not going to miss either morning or afternoon registration, just a couple of hours to drive to the hospital, have the appointment and come back again. In this case they knew the details of the injury because it happened at school but it did feel quite excessive to me.
StuartHunt on
Get a self certification note and fill it in and send it to the school and explain to them, that it’s good enough for employers so it’s good enough for them and that you have no intention of harassing your GP over something so ridiculous.
zomvi on
The school should have to pay for the proof, given they’re the ones requesting it.
I remember spraining my ankle badly during the winter when the pavement was very icy, and my secondary school giving me grief regarding not coming in. Head of Year told me I’d be in serious trouble (and so would my parents) unless I got same-day evidence. I hobbled down to my GP and she wrote me a letter for free, despite it usually costing £20. She made it clear in the letter that the school would need to pay for future requests like this.
Lo and behold, once this was imparted to them, any threats related to sickness-related absences stopped being uttered.
twistinmymelonmann on
Why, in 2024, is menstrual pain and other symptoms that come with periods not taken seriously? I remember being in school and almost passing out from cramps, they were so bad I couldn’t walk and had to be picked up by my parents.
It’s already hard enough being a teenager and dealing with the changes your body is going through, without this kind of added pressure
Unable_Obligation_73 on
Tell your child to stand behind the teacher moaning softly
MGU--H on
My bruh when i took a sick day off school i never went n got a sick note in my life
HappyHippoButt on
As an admin for a home ed group, I know for a fact that ridiculous policies like this that are aimed at attendance over humanity have parents looking into home ed for their children; parents of children with conditions that need hospital treatment, parents of children who take time off every month because they might have endometriosis but are awaiting a diagnosis, parents of children who have debilitating migraines, parents of neurodiverse children who struggle in the system.
The number of enquires we’re getting to see if home ed is a possibility because parents are worried about being fined because their children have medical needs is astounding.
The home ed rates are going up in line with the implementation of policies which don’t treat children as human beings – and we know that there are problems with the school system as it is already that can exacerbate mental health issues, never mind this added pressure to always be in attendance. The Department of Education KNOWS this but they still allow schools to put in place policies like this.
I say it frequently – make schools somewhere children want to be and home ed rates will fall. Continue to play silly beggers like this, and they’ll continue to rise (which is why they’re now going with the frankly useless and money wasting “Children Not in School Register” because they can’t admit that they’re getting it wrong).
ambientfruit on
These fucking rules…I thank fuck my niece is out of school now and she doesn’t have to justify her existence like this. And it’s worse because this shit is getting more and more restrictive even since I was at school 20 years ago.
frequently_grumpy on
Schools are ran by morons.
My daughter has a very painful condition (pancreatitis). School says she needs a sick not from the doctors at the hospital if she’s ill. Doctors say keep her home and manage pain with meds unless she’s vomiting (which she normally isn’t).
So shall we send her to school? They sure think we should. As long as it’s with no pain meds, TENS machine, heat-packs or anything else that helps her manage her pain just in case another kid touches it.
So we send her to school, to suffer for six hours because other snot nosed kids might touch what’s not theirs all so your ofsted report looks better?
And then be threatened with children’s services over her attendance. 😆
31 Comments
Times have changed, it used to just be an excuse to get out of PE.
> Graham Horn, the principal of Neal-Wade Academy, said the school prioritised student wellbeing, but added that regular attendance was “crucial for academic success”.
>
> A recent email from Neal-Wade Academy to parents, seen by the BBC, said: “From immediate effect we will not be accepting terms such as ‘unwell, poorly, ill’ or similar as explanations relating to student absence.
>
> “Communications made using these and similar terms will be recorded as unauthorised.”
>
> The school published a list of reasons given by parents that it would record an “unauthorised absence”, including:
>
> • Ill
>
> • Unwell
>
> • Poorly
>
> • Period pains (unless we have medical information relating)
>
> • Has a cold
>
> • And similar
Sounds like this school wants all their students to fall sick. How do you get a doctor’s note for a cold? And Wdym “And Similar”? This story is wild.
Tell me this rule was thought up by a man, without telling me this was thought up by a man.
Even if you don’t have any medical issues relating to your uterus (and it’s so difficult to get diagnosed for anything relating to your uterus, believe me I know), some months can be more painful than others. That’s the ‘fun’ of having a period!
And ‘unauthorised absence’ if you have a cold? Did they learn nothing from covid? So they want students to go in and spread colds to everyone?
I get this shit all the time from schools as a GP. I find it utterly vexing that one extremely stretched, under-resourced part of the public sector deems it a worthwhile exercise to waste the time of another extremely stretched, under resourced part of the public sector.
If a person tells me they’re in pain, they’re in pain. I believe them. And in any case, even if I didn’t, it’s almost always unfalsifiable anyway. So getting a note from me doesn’t do anything except stop me doing something more worthwhile without giving the school any more useful information than they already had by speaking to the child’s parents.
My stock response is to write to the Head and explain that I’m happy to provide medical evidence if they pay my invoice. Fortunately this costs me almost no time as I have names, emails and stock letters saved to my desktop in abundance. And a TTFO to the school makes me feel much better.
Well, if this requirement leads to more girls and women who have endometriosis actually getting diagnosed earlier on, then I’m all for it.
Unfortunately, with the way the healthcare system already tends to ignore this kind of pain, I think it will have the opposite effect and will just lead to period pain being taken even less seriously.
You can’t prove pain.
Period pain is usually worse when you’re younger. I remember period pain in my teens that would make me cry. I didn’t feel anything like it until I was in labour decades later. I remember a male teacher telling me it was all in my head. It really wasn’t but how do you prove how much something hurts?
I hate this sort of approach to schooling. Stupid policies with a stupid underlying ethos.
I’ve got diagnosed endometriosis and adenomyosis and as a grown ass woman it was hard enough to get my GP to take that pain seriously so good luck to anyone who needs to jump through this hoop.
Shaming people into obedience no longer works due to the internet removing educational gatekeeping. The school education system does not quite understand that yet.
I understand that no school wants a student off for a few days every month, when they have their period.
However, including ‘period pains’ in other vague terms such as ‘poorly’ and ‘unwell’ highlights how medical gaslighting of females does occur.
A woman under 18 is highly unlikely to already have an established diagnosis of endometriosis or PCOS, both which can cause excruciatingly painful periods. It’s well researched that women fight many years for such diagnoses, often not getting diagnosed until mid thirties.
Medical gaslighting in women is very real, often conditions such as menopause, post natal depression, PMDD, PTSD from birth trauma to name a few.
How can you prove pain? What do they want, a bloody tampon enclosed in an envelope?
I would hope that if a female student reports extreme pain when on their periods, they can be trusted (along with their parents) to be taken seriously and not invalidated and told to come to school anyway.
If I’m lucky enough to have a daughter, and the school demands proof of period pain, they’re getting a used sanitary pad in the post.
They’re just going to get a lot of children sick with “violent diarrhoea”
This is after another Academy tried to force an unenforceable “contract” whereby parents would have committed to sending their children even when they felt unwell. Luckily, the academy backtracked https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/24625438.united-learning-schools-apologise-new-attendance-contract/
There is the an academy which bans bicycles and will give you detention if you are caught riding to school
https://www.reddit.com/r/london/s/oDQ0VsmlgD
Why is it always academies coming up with these batshit crazy policies? Maybe because academies are virtually un accountable to anyone, unless you have the money to take them to court?
I’m getting really fucking sick of the way schools treat kids. It’s like they expect more from the children than they do adults.
Wait, so self-certification doesn’t apply to schools?
As a single guy with no relevant personal agenda, fuck this.
He’s obviously a shit Principal as the school Ofsted is ‘Requires Improvement’ in every metric. Clearly focusing on the wrong things.
How do you even prove pain?
Attendance has become a mania for schools and they find it easier to target the well meaning students than the persistent absentees and those with difficult parents.
It all seems so inconsistent. They will use scare tactics on those taking a few sick days to try to get them to come in when actually ill and they won’t be in a fit state to do work and risk infecting others. Like with the stories of fines for parents taking the children on holiday in term time, I’ve never actually seen a fine issued to any parent, least of all those with kids missing days all over the place that accumulates into months of poorly explained absence.
I’ve seen students with appalling attendance rates or frequently late, arriving mid morning, where it’s known the parent(s) are alcoholic or just can’t be arsed, and not getting their kid off to school in the morning or the kid needs to care for them (or is acting as the parent for their younger siblings). And it just persists for years, but while they’re treated as a lost cause, other students are picked out to add a fraction of % onto the attendance stats.
Just assume everyone is telling the truth. There’s a 100% chance that there are people who are not telling the truth, but that then becomes their own fault and responsibility if they fall behind in school due to it. If someone is telling the truth and is in genuine pain, they’re probably the kind of person who is going to do their best to ensure they catch up on what they might have missed. It’s a similar sort of thing to going to the toilet in a lesson. Sure there are people who are doing it to miss part of the lesson, but there are also people who just need to go to the toilet.
I made a comment in this sub a few weeks ago about how education regarding periods should be more informative and widespread. Even as women there are things about our periods that we are told are normal and they absolutely are not.
Since I was 13, I have suffered with period pains so bad and so heavy that I genuinely cannot get out of bed because the pain is so crippling, and I risk bleeding on clothing and furniture. Many times I have thrown up from how much pain I’ve been in.
I am 26 now and was told this was normal up until 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with PCOS, a diagnosis that I had to fight tooth and nail for because surprise surprise, the GP receptionist told me what I was going through was not concerning.
There is no way to really prove how much pain you’re in, and schools shouldn’t think they should be entitled to a students private medical records. The attitude towards menstrual cycles infuriates me.
I have cysts on my ovaries which weren’t diagnosed until I was around 30. My teens were probably the worst part of my life for very heavy and painful periods. I look back and am amazed I still functioned sometimes.
This school principal needs that period pain simulator put on him, and needs to listen to someone with actual medical knowledge.
Bloody hell, I remember starting my period (which it hurts more the first few times and I didnt have my pcos diagnosed and I was also malnourished/anemic at the time due to my mothers neglect), so everytime I had a period it was hell, I couldn’t concentrate on the lessons when in pain anyway let alone bleeding through clothes because we wernt allowed to go to the toilets at certain times.
I remember one day I was stubborn towards a pe teacher, I was in too much pain to perform their routines, she said I was fine.. I do not want to be jumping on a trampoline with blood squirting out of me and my pad having a bloody party around! Ridiculous. I used to just skive school eventually.. I think I got detention for refusing to jump around that day too..
Urgh I feel this. I’ve just had to ‘prove’ my daughter needs a toilet pass as she has a UTI. They requested a drs letter as proof. Why on earth they can’t just take my word for it I don’t know.
I was recently asked for proof that my child was attending fracture clinic for an injury obtained whilst at school. The kid was not going to miss either morning or afternoon registration, just a couple of hours to drive to the hospital, have the appointment and come back again. In this case they knew the details of the injury because it happened at school but it did feel quite excessive to me.
Get a self certification note and fill it in and send it to the school and explain to them, that it’s good enough for employers so it’s good enough for them and that you have no intention of harassing your GP over something so ridiculous.
The school should have to pay for the proof, given they’re the ones requesting it.
I remember spraining my ankle badly during the winter when the pavement was very icy, and my secondary school giving me grief regarding not coming in. Head of Year told me I’d be in serious trouble (and so would my parents) unless I got same-day evidence. I hobbled down to my GP and she wrote me a letter for free, despite it usually costing £20. She made it clear in the letter that the school would need to pay for future requests like this.
Lo and behold, once this was imparted to them, any threats related to sickness-related absences stopped being uttered.
Why, in 2024, is menstrual pain and other symptoms that come with periods not taken seriously? I remember being in school and almost passing out from cramps, they were so bad I couldn’t walk and had to be picked up by my parents.
It’s already hard enough being a teenager and dealing with the changes your body is going through, without this kind of added pressure
Tell your child to stand behind the teacher moaning softly
My bruh when i took a sick day off school i never went n got a sick note in my life
As an admin for a home ed group, I know for a fact that ridiculous policies like this that are aimed at attendance over humanity have parents looking into home ed for their children; parents of children with conditions that need hospital treatment, parents of children who take time off every month because they might have endometriosis but are awaiting a diagnosis, parents of children who have debilitating migraines, parents of neurodiverse children who struggle in the system.
The number of enquires we’re getting to see if home ed is a possibility because parents are worried about being fined because their children have medical needs is astounding.
The home ed rates are going up in line with the implementation of policies which don’t treat children as human beings – and we know that there are problems with the school system as it is already that can exacerbate mental health issues, never mind this added pressure to always be in attendance. The Department of Education KNOWS this but they still allow schools to put in place policies like this.
I say it frequently – make schools somewhere children want to be and home ed rates will fall. Continue to play silly beggers like this, and they’ll continue to rise (which is why they’re now going with the frankly useless and money wasting “Children Not in School Register” because they can’t admit that they’re getting it wrong).
These fucking rules…I thank fuck my niece is out of school now and she doesn’t have to justify her existence like this. And it’s worse because this shit is getting more and more restrictive even since I was at school 20 years ago.
Schools are ran by morons.
My daughter has a very painful condition (pancreatitis). School says she needs a sick not from the doctors at the hospital if she’s ill. Doctors say keep her home and manage pain with meds unless she’s vomiting (which she normally isn’t).
So shall we send her to school? They sure think we should. As long as it’s with no pain meds, TENS machine, heat-packs or anything else that helps her manage her pain just in case another kid touches it.
So we send her to school, to suffer for six hours because other snot nosed kids might touch what’s not theirs all so your ofsted report looks better?
And then be threatened with children’s services over her attendance. 😆