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Angry parents have taken to Facebook to vent their frustration and heartbreak after their kids missed out on a special afternoon tea party.

Packmoor Ormiston Academy in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK hosted the event in the school playground but it was only for select students who had 100 per cent attendance.

Parents told the school it was unfair to those young kids who had been sick and not attended school for reasons out of their control.

“Not happy, why should children be penalised when they are genuinely ill,” one mum wrote below the post.

“My son was left out of it along with only a couple of others in his class, whilst all the time can see through the window while the rest were ‘treated’. Great way to single children out.”

Another mum posted: “I think it’s brilliant that the children that have 100% get treated but not in a way that the other children that don’t have 100% attendance are made to feel belittled.

“My son had to have his tonsils removed which means 2 weeks off school so this has been naked down and he has missed out on the lovely afternoon tea.

“All children should be treated fairly and this to me isn’t fare. Illness isn’t fare and not the child’s fault.”

“Yes it’s all good and well to reward children who are able to attend nothing wrong with giving rewards! But these single out children as young as 3/4 who are unable to account for their illness sometimes serious illness or medical conditions beyond their control!! Why should children be singled out like this.”

“Not only that but one my son’s were able to see and watch the other children having fun and being ‘treated’ through the yr 3 classroom window.. what a way to rub it in his face,” one mum wrote.

“Shame on Ormiston Academy. It will encourage parents to send children to school with viruses and spread them about. Fine for those who are strong, fit and healthy; shaming for those who are not.”

Do you think it is fair to reward students in this manner?

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  • Look its a pat on the back for those that had 100% attendance….end of story. No ifs and buts….100% attendance is 100%….you cant start saying “Oh well John had 12 days off this year but he was sick so we will let him” ….”Sally had 10 days off sick, 4 days when her gran died, 2 days because they went on a family holiday and 6 days because they were moving house. None of those were her fault so she can attend also”…. Sorry people…..its for 100% attendance.

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  • They shouldn’t count kids who have been sick, that’s just ridiculous. I see schools doing the same, rewarding classes with the best attendance. If they made students go who are sick, would they enjoy having it spread and vomit and diarrhea everywhere? I think not.

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  • Not really. Maybe if they could differentiate between genuine absences and those that were just wagging…..that might be a bit fairer

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  • Not very Smart or wise. As someone mentioned above, sometimes students are genuinely sick.

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  • This is a UK school’s response. Does anyone else recall how many tv ads, computer ads, school newsletter blurbs that push for the ‘Every Day Counts’ campaign? It is a dilemma every school faces. Yes there are genuine reasons for absences but there is also complacency. If the school communicated their reward goal early and it was less visable for those left in class, I can see this as a good motivator, as long as those with 0 unexplained absences above a certain percent were also achnowledged somehow.

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  • Perhaps the school should have started a conversation about this event at the beginning of school that way parents were informed moving into the term.

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  • A certificate at the end of the year would have been better. Then again when I went to school this was just written on my report. Children can’t help getting sick. All of the children who missed out should have a special morning tea to celebrate getting through the school year. I think this is a form of bullying. Shame on Ormiston Academy for promoting a form of bullying. I’d never send my boys there in a million years

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  • I agree to give the kids who attended school 100% a award just like the kids who can run the fastest or the kid who read the most books in the book challenge. (Don’t like the idea that the child is going to school sick… just so they get that award.) Some kids never get a award ever! Tea Party was not a good idea. Bad choice all kids would have enjoyed a tea party.

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  • Hmmm… really? Our school used to hand out certificates at assembly at the end of term for 100% attendance. That was enough.

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  • That’s awful. They’ll end up encouraging kids to come to school whether they’re sick or not. Sometimes it’s also parents who decide so out of kid’s control. It’s nice to reward but give the students a commendation and have a rewards system for other things too.

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  • Sounds like discrimination, some (if not all) of the children without 100% attendance must have had very good grounds for not being at school surely.

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  • Whatever happened to giving children verbal praise for their 100% attendance ? Thst is enough, afymter all that is what they are supposed to do……attend school!

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  • You can reward kids without rubbing it in to the other who have missed out

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  • Wow that’s disgusting and probably those parents of those kids who had 100% attendance sent their kids to school sick and passed it on to others who had a sick day

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  • No way is this a fair way to reward students. I have had the same sort of thing happen to one of my children, I paid for him to attend some show that came to the school. The teacher forgot and he was left in the class with others who had not paid, he could hear it going on through the class window. . I had to ring the school the next day to ask why, all I got was a sorry and had to wait for them to be able to refund the money.

    Reply

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