A fiery debate has broken out after a parent was told her daughters would receive an ‘unauthorised absence’ if she pulled them out of school 10 minutes before the end of the day so they could make their optician appointment
A school has divided opinions over its ‘pathetic’ absence policy – which has riled one parent.
Remember when you had an appointment and had to leave school early? You’d wait for the knock on the classroom door before being escorted to the gates like royalty – every kid green with envy at your early departure. If you were lucky and your appointment was towards the end of the day – you wouldn’t even have to return to school.
However, when one mum nipped to the school office to warn staff she’d need to pick her two children up at 3.05 pm rather than 3.15 pm – so they could attend an optician appointment – she claims she was met with a rather ‘petty’ response.
Taking to Mumsnet, the anonymous woman claims the receptionist asked for proof of the appointment, which she didn’t have. She then says the school would mark the appointment as an ‘unauthorised absence’ for the whole afternoon – even though they’d only be missing the last 10 minutes of the school day.
The parent alleges that she never received any proof of the appointment from the optician, adding that a confirmation email would have to come from ‘customer service’ and not directly in-branch. “Am I being unreasonable to think that this is an extreme level of pettiness from my children’s school over them missing 10 minutes at the end of the school day?” the post adds.
“It’s the end of term and I would bet good money that there won’t be a full day of teaching and that they will be watching films and playing games etc. This response from the school is bizarre to me, it’s 10 minutes at the end of the day!”
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Hundreds of disgruntled parents flocked to the comments section and slammed the school, with one user branding it a ‘joke’. “Sounds like some jobs worth is on a power trip,” they added.
Another agreed, commenting: “It shouldn’t be marked as an absence at all. The children will be there when the register is taken for the afternoon and are simply leaving a few minutes early. So, on the face of it, the school is being petty and probably incorrect to say it will be marked as absence.” A third dubbed the situation as ‘extremely petty’ and argued the children won’t miss any learning. “After working in primary schools for 10 years I can tell you all that happens in the last 10 mins of the day is packing up, getting bags packed and belongings picked up and maybe listening to the class book for a few minutes if there’s a few minutes to kill,” they added.
However, others slammed the parent for booking an appointment during the school day. “Depending on the age of your child, leaving early could be disruptive for the whole class,” they raged. “There might not be anyone spare to take your child out of their lesson and escort them out.”
Do you think the school is in the wrong? Let us know in the comments section below
