A five-year-old has been banned from seeing her school’s magic show because she’s had too much time off SICK.
Rochelle Pratley missed a week of school because she had tonsillitis, an ear infection and a high temperature.
But then her mum, Tina Keyte, 49, received a letter saying that because of her daughter’s poor attendance she wouldn’t be able to go to a magic show.
The letter said only children with an attendance record of 95.4 per cent or above could enjoy the performance at Rowanfield Infant and Junior School, Cheltenham., Glos.
Rochelle, who has an attendance record of 91.7 per cent, was one of the 31 per cent of children who would have to attend lessons while their classmates watched the show.
This is part of the school’s plan to reward pupils who rarely miss school after an Ofsted report cited attendance as an issue.
Ms Keyte said Rochelle was “gutted” when she found out she couldn’t go to the show.
She said: “It’s unfair. She has to go in on Friday and watch her friends go into the show, and she’ll wonder why she is being punished.
“It’s just a shame that these children are ill and they’re being punished for being poorly.
“They should let the kids go to the magic show. I can’t understand why anyone could treat someone like that. At end of the day, she’s just a little girl and they can’t skive at that age.”
Ms Keyte added that her daughter is “good as gold” at school.
“She gets her head down, she’s never been late, she always does her homework and her reading.”
Headteacher Claire Savory said the policy is used as an incentive for pupils to improve their attendance records.
She said: “We received a ‘good’ grade in our May 2016 Ofsted inspection but our attendance records were highlighted as an issue. In response we adopted a reward scheme to provide pupils with an extra incentive to attend school.
“We work closely with parents and pupils with lower attendance and recognise that often absence is a result of genuine circumstances.
“We have spoken with the child’s parent and agreed to review our strategies for incentivising good attendance.”
