Parent slams school for only giving prizes to pupils with 100% attendance

The parent was shocked to learn their son’s school planned to reward pupils with 100 per cent attendance in light of the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic

Attendance prizes have long been a controversial topic, with many parents taking differing views on whether it is right to reward children for not missing school.

On the one hand, attendance is important to encourage, but on the other, it can feel unfair to penalise children when they’ve had to miss school due to illness.

Well, one parent has reignited the debate after taking to the internet to complain about a primary school for doing just that. And several people were quick to side with the parent, who reasoned the school’s approach is inappropriate in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Posting to Reddit’s Ask UK forum, the parent wrote: “My sons school just sent out an email saying kids with 100% attendance this term will be in for winning a prize, they also send out weekly certificates for attendance through the parent app.

“Surely Covid has shown us to stay home when you’re sick, I don’t have 100% attendance at work but am considered a valuable employee, why are we still pushing this attendance above all things idea?”

The post prompted hundreds of passionate responses, with many people agreeing it is wrong to offer rewards for 100% attendance.

One reply read: “Yes. I get the idea but I don’t really think kids should be rewarded for something they can’t control. You can’t help being ill and some kids naturally have a better immune system than others.”

Another person thought: “It also encourages people who are sick to go anyways, resulting in other people getting sick.” And someone else wrote: “The whole thing makes me sick.”

But a different commenter reasoned: “You just teach your kid that it’s not an important award, then get on with your life.” A second suggested: “Teach them the importance of setting achievable realistic targets for yourself and others.”

Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below