Kids should go to school even if they have the sniffles, the government is urging parents amid a push to tackle absenteeism.
Under the strapline ‘moments matter, attendance counts’, the campaign includes NHS tips on when children should be kept at home.
For example, the health service says ‘it’s fine’ to send youngsters to school with a minor cough or cold. ‘But if they have a fever, keep them off school until the fever goes,’ it adds.
Sore throats and conjunctivitis are also among illnesses that don’t justify absences unless the child has a temperature and is unable to do schoolwork.
The Department for Education guidance aims to tackle the Covid-era practice of keeping children off with a runny nose.
Under the strapline ‘ moments matter, attendance counts’, the campaign includes NHS tips on when children should be kept at home. For example, the health service says ‘it’s fine’ to send youngsters to school with a minor cough or cold. ‘But if they have a fever, keep them off school until the fever goes,’ it adds. Sore throats and conjunctivitis are also among illnesses that don’t justify absences unless the child has a temperature and is unable to do schoolwork
Parents often feared they were contributing to the pandemic if they sent their ill child to school.
Figures show the number of secondary school pupils who’re persistently absent in England has doubled in the last decade, with almost 900,000 having at least 19 days off in 2021.
Under the same government advice, officials recognised that some kids will be off because of anxiety.
Dozens of studies have highlighted how lockdowns have hindered children’s development, with kids appearing more worried and scared, losing confidence more easily, and more prone to tantrums after pandemic restrictions eased.
But the advice says: ‘Being in school can often help alleviate the underlying issues.
A prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending in the future, rather than reduce it.’
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: ‘The benefits of our success in raising education standards can only be when all children are in school.
‘Tackling attendance is my number one priority.
‘We want all our children to have the best start in life because we know attending school is vital to a child’s wellbeing, development, and attainment as well as impact future career success.’
The campaign pointed to advice issued by England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty.
It said: ‘We are aware that the Covid pandemic may have caused some parents to feel less confident with assessing whether their child is well enough to be in school so we have laid out some information which we hope you will find helpful.
‘There is wide agreement among health professionals and educational professionals that school attendance is vital to the life chances of children and young people.
‘Being in school improves health, wellbeing and socialisation throughout the life course. The greatest benefits come from children and young people attending school regularly.’
It added: ‘It is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses.
‘This would include general cold symptoms: a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. However, children should not be sent to school if they have a temperature of 38C or above.’
It comes as levels of winter illnesses including flu, Covid and norovirus continue to rise.
Analysis has long warned of an increase in persistent absence from schools across the country following the pandemic.
In the spring term of last year, one in five children (21.2 per cent) were persistently absent, missing a day or more a fortnight.
In the 2018/2019 academic year, this figure stood at 10.9 per cent.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (pictured) said: ‘The benefits of our success in raising education standards can only be when all children are in school. Tackling attendance is my number one priority. We want all our children to have the best start in life because we know attending school is vital to a child’s wellbeing, development, and attainment as well as impact future career success’
NHS guidance titled ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ states kids with mild symptoms, such as a runny nose, sore throat or slight cough, can go to school.
However, a high temperature and a fever are among valid reasons for children to be out of the classroom.
Vomiting, diarrhoea, chickenpox, impetigo and scarlet fever are also acceptable causes of absence.
But conjunctivitis is not — merely consult a pharmacist and encourage your child ‘not to rub their eyes’ and to ‘wash their hands regularly’.
Similarly pupils should attend with cold sores on the basis they try not to ‘touch the blister or kiss anyone’, as well as avoiding sharing cups and towels.
Teachers should be informed about anything that might be contagious.
Both the government and the Labour Party are this week outlining their differing approaches to how to bring down absenteeism as school.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday said children ‘only get one chance at school’.
She told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘I think those parents that choose to take their children out of school for holidays or for trips or where it’s not necessary should reflect seriously.
‘Because that damages children’s life chances, they only get one chance at school, they only get one childhood.
‘For those parents who are facing additional challenges, and for children that are facing additional challenges, an incoming Labour government will make sure that we put in place the support that’s needed to tackle that.’
Among the government’s other measures to tackle absenteeism include doubling the number of ‘attendance hubs’ who give best-practice advice to other schools and expanding a mentor scheme championed by the charity Barnardo’s.
Intensive one-to-one support is offered to pupils who are persistently absent, alongside work with their families to find out why the child is skipping school.
