'My son said he could only be ill on the weekend - that really worried me'

A former teacher and dad-of-two has blasted schools for awarding kids for perfect attendance.

Nathan Burns, now an education consultant, said giving certificates to children who do not miss a day of school causes other youngsters stress and does not actually tackle the issue of absenteeism. The 27-year-old shared his views on social media after his son, aged six, said he could not take a day off school, even if he was sick, because he needed to win the attendance award in assembly at the end of term.

Nathan said it did not make sense to offer rewards to primary school kids for going to school every day because they were not in control of their attendance.

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Nathan, from Nottingham, said: "I was really shocked to hear him say he couldn't even take a sick day, his attendance is high. He said he could only be ill on the weekends, that really worried me.

"I know attendance in school is crucial, and awards can be an effective way of achieving results, but this really is a step too far. My son is really driven by awards, he works really hard to achieve them and sticks to the rules to get stickers

"He's at risk of making himself ill by not taking a day to recover if he's feeling under the weather. I think if he was ill tomorrow and I said he couldn't go he'd be really worried and stressed. I feel really sad about that, it's not healthy.

"At this age parents are responsible for getting children to school so it makes no sense to reward the kids for things they have no control over."

Nathan and his son, who is in year two, were walking home from school last week when the boy said he wanted to get the award and couldn't miss any school. Shocked Nathan tried to reassure his son that it was good to rest when you are ill but said the lad told him the teacher had spoken about the importance of attending every day.

Nathan took to X to share his thoughts and more than 22,000 others chimed in.

Attendance awards have become a hot topic since schools starting using them in bid to tackle increases in absences, particularly persistent absences, since the pandemic.

Nathan said: "It's not healthy or necessary to stress out children who have high attendance already, rewarding 100% attendance is a really bad policy.

"A child can miss six or so days a year and that's perfectly healthy and still 96 to 97% attendance. Then you have children who have other things going on, maybe anxiety, or other medical conditions, or responsibilities at home which mean they can't attend every day. This is an award they can't hope to achieve.

"If a parent can't get a child to school then offering the child an award for turning up just isn't going to help. In these situations schools need to engage with families to get to the root of the problem and find ways of helping.

"Leadership teams need to be brave and focus on the kids who really need help. Kid's in primary school don't have a choice about how often and when they turn up to school, so these awards are unattainable for them.

"It's a phenomenal school and I'm really happy with it, I don't think schools are doing this on purpose, but I felt sad and frustrated that this worry had been pushed on to my son.

"These awards are basically awards of luck. if you happen to have everything in your favour and you don't get ill for a term then maybe you'll get a certificate."