Charging parents for pupils arriving late at school

[llol39]

Thanks Amber and Yamin151, he's on the mend now, thank goodness. With a rather large scar that he likes to show anyone who'll look

[talea51]

Lovely to hear other parents not keen on sending in kids w calpol and despising the 100% diploma.

Just had a "bad" discussion w my 5year old's school.
I just reported him ill with 39.6 in temp. and I said "hope this is not frowned upon keeping him home" . They told ne "it's up to you and that if I wanted I could give him calpol and send him in and come back lunch time and give him more".... I got furious.

To top things up, he was in tears because he wouldn't get his diploma. I told the school. I mean, come on, they are a school not a gp centre praising good immune system/a mum being very efficient w calpol.

But to my astonishment, our gp supports this. Apparently "community bugs" are unstoppable and children can come to school w 39.6 and a spoon full of calpol.

calpol disguises symptoms and as a parent you may not realise how ill your child is. There are nasty bacteria around that if not treated can cause sepsis and something very bad could happen if the child gets to late to a and e. I sadly know one case - child with no previous conditions.

This 100% attendance certificate thing really annoys me!

I have been told the same thing by school but as I work, I can't send a child in to school and then pop in at lunch time and give them more Calpol and school (hypocrites that they are) won't administer Calpol (or anything) unless it's been prescribed by a doctor. So, I either keep them at home so I can administer the calpol myself or they go to school and sit around feeling miserable all afternoon. I venture a guess that a child with a temp of 39.6 isn't going to learn a great deal.

Are the school willing to take responsibility if a child takes a turn for the worse and becomes extremely ill? I would hazard a guess at "no".

I don't believe in staying home with the sniffles, I don't take time off work unless I am unable to get out of bed and I do the same with my children. If they are running a fever, they mostly aren't keen to get out of bed and they often spend a good part of the day asleep so to my mind, it is perfectly justifiable to keep a child at home under those circumstances.

There is also the argument that children react to viruses differently and a virus that isn't a huge problem for one child can make another child extremely ill. I can tell you now that if I turned up to work with a temp of 39.6 very clearly unwell, my colleagues would not be delighted with me just as I am not delighted with other parents who send their children to school and give my child a virus that ends up with her being on a nebuliser for half the night. Yes, I know that "community bugs are unstoppable" but that doesn't mean I want my child unnecessarily exposed to them.


llol39 - I am sorry to hear of your ds's illness but glad to hear he's on the mend now.