Times have changed, it used to just be an excuse to get out of PE.
Lopsided_Rush3935 on
How do you even prove that? I’m sure doctors everywhere will be wanting their hours filled with writing notes for people on their period…
As an aside to this article: I’ve discovered that many women believe that men have lower pain thresholds and tolerances to women?
When I asked someone why, they said that it was because women endure periods every month and men don’t…
But this ignores the fact that men spend a lot of time getting physically hurt as children because boys are socialised to wrestle each other and do stupid things like punch each other until one of them gives up. It also makes no sense evolutionarily and isn’t corroborated by any science. Research studies find that men, unsurprisingly, have higher pain detection thresholds and better capacity for tolerating pain.
There are also some studies that find that having a higher estrogen serum level in the body slows the spread/multiplication of influenza leading to women to usually have less severe symptoms (so, the ‘man flu’ might actually exist).
IXMCMXCII on
> Graham Horn, the principal of Neal-Wade Academy, said the school prioritised student wellbeing, but added that regular attendance was “crucial for academic success”.
>
> A recent email from Neal-Wade Academy to parents, seen by the BBC, said: “From immediate effect we will not be accepting terms such as ‘unwell, poorly, ill’ or similar as explanations relating to student absence.
>
> “Communications made using these and similar terms will be recorded as unauthorised.”
>
> The school published a list of reasons given by parents that it would record an “unauthorised absence”, including:
>
> • Ill
>
> • Unwell
>
> • Poorly
>
> • Period pains (unless we have medical information relating)
>
> • Has a cold
>
> • And similar
Sounds like this school wants all their students to fall sick. How do you get a doctor’s note for a cold? And Wdym “And Similar”? This story is wild.
tealattegirl13 on
Tell me this rule was thought up by a man, without telling me this was thought up by a man.
Even if you don’t have any medical issues relating to your uterus (and it’s so difficult to get diagnosed for anything relating to your uterus, believe me I know), some months can be more painful than others. That’s the ‘fun’ of having a period!
And ‘unauthorised absence’ if you have a cold? Did they learn nothing from covid? So they want students to go in and spread colds to everyone?
ZakalweTheChairmaker on
I get this shit all the time from schools as a GP. I find it utterly vexing that one extremely stretched, under-resourced part of the public sector deems it a worthwhile exercise to waste the time of another extremely stretched, under resourced part of the public sector.
If a person tells me they’re in pain, they’re in pain. I believe them. And in any case, even if I didn’t, it’s almost always unfalsifiable anyway. So getting a note from me doesn’t do anything except stop me doing something more worthwhile without giving the school any more useful information than they already had by speaking to the child’s parents.
My stock response is to write to the Head and explain that I’m happy to provide medical evidence if they pay my invoice. Fortunately this costs me almost no time as I have names, emails and stock letters saved to my desktop in abundance. And a TTFO to the school makes me feel much better.
emmmmmmaja on
Well, if this requirement leads to more girls and women who have endometriosis actually getting diagnosed earlier on, then I’m all for it.
Unfortunately, with the way the healthcare system already tends to ignore this kind of pain, I think it will have the opposite effect and will just lead to period pain being taken even less seriously.
Anony_mouse202 on
I can see why this rule exists tbh.
If you just let kids take sick days off without proof, then schools would be empty.
pikantnasuka on
You can’t prove pain.
Period pain is usually worse when you’re younger. I remember period pain in my teens that would make me cry. I didn’t feel anything like it until I was in labour decades later. I remember a male teacher telling me it was all in my head. It really wasn’t but how do you prove how much something hurts?
I hate this sort of approach to schooling. Stupid policies with a stupid underlying ethos.
saint_maria on
I’ve got diagnosed endometriosis and adenomyosis and as a grown ass woman it was hard enough to get my GP to take that pain seriously so good luck to anyone who needs to jump through this hoop.
chronicnerv on
Shaming people into obedience no longer works due to the internet removing educational gatekeeping. The school education system does not quite understand that yet.
Several_Jello2893 on
I understand that no school wants a student off for a few days every month, when they have their period.
However, including ‘period pains’ in other vague terms such as ‘poorly’ and ‘unwell’ highlights how medical gaslighting of females does occur.
A woman under 18 is highly unlikely to already have an established diagnosis of endometriosis or PCOS, both which can cause excruciatingly painful periods. It’s well researched that women fight many years for such diagnoses, often not getting diagnosed until mid thirties.
Medical gaslighting in women is very real, often conditions such as menopause, post natal depression, PMDD, PTSD from birth trauma to name a few.
How can you prove pain? What do they want, a bloody tampon enclosed in an envelope?
I would hope that if a female student reports extreme pain when on their periods, they can be trusted (along with their parents) to be taken seriously and not invalidated and told to come to school anyway.
AdAffectionate2418 on
I feel like I am probably an outlier here but, should being in pain necessitate an exclusion from school? It’s not the same as being sick. Sure it can make you feel shitty and make it difficult to concentrate but there were people at my school who suffered pretty crippling migraines (for example) who still came in and then asked for some time for themselves when things got really bad.
I confess I don’t know how bad it can get, so maybe there needs to be a compromise and I definitely think schools could show more compassion to students in general. Maybe you stay off school but with the expectation that you complete work so you don’t fall behind?
If this is a recurring issue for people, you are talking about missing 5% (at least) of your school year – this is going to have a significant impact on people’s education as well as stretching any teaching resource trying to “catch you up”.
*Edit*
– I’m keeping this up as there was a good reply underneath it which explained where I’m wrong here – though, weirdly, that reply now seems to have vanished. I’m not afraid to admit when I am wrong.
– but could I please ask those of you DMing me and threatening to repeatedly kick me in the nuts to stop? It’s okay to disagree, and it’s even okay for someone (like me) to offer an uniformed opinion and be told why they are wrong – at the end of the day, that’s how we change our views and better ourselves as people.
But I don’t think it’s okay to dog-pile on someone for expressing an incorrect opinion, especially one that admits that it might be wrong.
I hope I don’t have to delete this post, as hopefully it adds to the discussion, but I think I might need to if I keep getting hateful messages.
Thanks
Creepy-Bell-4527 on
If I’m lucky enough to have a daughter, and the school demands proof of period pain, they’re getting a used sanitary pad in the post.
toastedcheesesando on
They’re just going to get a lot of children sick with “violent diarrhoea”
Why is it always academies coming up with these batshit crazy policies? Maybe because academies are virtually un accountable to anyone, unless you have the money to take them to court?
PM-ME-YOUR-DIGIMON on
I’m getting really fucking sick of the way schools treat kids. It’s like they expect more from the children than they do adults.
MDK1980 on
Wait, so self-certification doesn’t apply to schools?
17 Comments
Times have changed, it used to just be an excuse to get out of PE.
How do you even prove that? I’m sure doctors everywhere will be wanting their hours filled with writing notes for people on their period…
As an aside to this article: I’ve discovered that many women believe that men have lower pain thresholds and tolerances to women?
When I asked someone why, they said that it was because women endure periods every month and men don’t…
But this ignores the fact that men spend a lot of time getting physically hurt as children because boys are socialised to wrestle each other and do stupid things like punch each other until one of them gives up. It also makes no sense evolutionarily and isn’t corroborated by any science. Research studies find that men, unsurprisingly, have higher pain detection thresholds and better capacity for tolerating pain.
There are also some studies that find that having a higher estrogen serum level in the body slows the spread/multiplication of influenza leading to women to usually have less severe symptoms (so, the ‘man flu’ might actually exist).
> Graham Horn, the principal of Neal-Wade Academy, said the school prioritised student wellbeing, but added that regular attendance was “crucial for academic success”.
>
> A recent email from Neal-Wade Academy to parents, seen by the BBC, said: “From immediate effect we will not be accepting terms such as ‘unwell, poorly, ill’ or similar as explanations relating to student absence.
>
> “Communications made using these and similar terms will be recorded as unauthorised.”
>
> The school published a list of reasons given by parents that it would record an “unauthorised absence”, including:
>
> • Ill
>
> • Unwell
>
> • Poorly
>
> • Period pains (unless we have medical information relating)
>
> • Has a cold
>
> • And similar
Sounds like this school wants all their students to fall sick. How do you get a doctor’s note for a cold? And Wdym “And Similar”? This story is wild.
Tell me this rule was thought up by a man, without telling me this was thought up by a man.
Even if you don’t have any medical issues relating to your uterus (and it’s so difficult to get diagnosed for anything relating to your uterus, believe me I know), some months can be more painful than others. That’s the ‘fun’ of having a period!
And ‘unauthorised absence’ if you have a cold? Did they learn nothing from covid? So they want students to go in and spread colds to everyone?
I get this shit all the time from schools as a GP. I find it utterly vexing that one extremely stretched, under-resourced part of the public sector deems it a worthwhile exercise to waste the time of another extremely stretched, under resourced part of the public sector.
If a person tells me they’re in pain, they’re in pain. I believe them. And in any case, even if I didn’t, it’s almost always unfalsifiable anyway. So getting a note from me doesn’t do anything except stop me doing something more worthwhile without giving the school any more useful information than they already had by speaking to the child’s parents.
My stock response is to write to the Head and explain that I’m happy to provide medical evidence if they pay my invoice. Fortunately this costs me almost no time as I have names, emails and stock letters saved to my desktop in abundance. And a TTFO to the school makes me feel much better.
Well, if this requirement leads to more girls and women who have endometriosis actually getting diagnosed earlier on, then I’m all for it.
Unfortunately, with the way the healthcare system already tends to ignore this kind of pain, I think it will have the opposite effect and will just lead to period pain being taken even less seriously.
I can see why this rule exists tbh.
If you just let kids take sick days off without proof, then schools would be empty.
You can’t prove pain.
Period pain is usually worse when you’re younger. I remember period pain in my teens that would make me cry. I didn’t feel anything like it until I was in labour decades later. I remember a male teacher telling me it was all in my head. It really wasn’t but how do you prove how much something hurts?
I hate this sort of approach to schooling. Stupid policies with a stupid underlying ethos.
I’ve got diagnosed endometriosis and adenomyosis and as a grown ass woman it was hard enough to get my GP to take that pain seriously so good luck to anyone who needs to jump through this hoop.
Shaming people into obedience no longer works due to the internet removing educational gatekeeping. The school education system does not quite understand that yet.
I understand that no school wants a student off for a few days every month, when they have their period.
However, including ‘period pains’ in other vague terms such as ‘poorly’ and ‘unwell’ highlights how medical gaslighting of females does occur.
A woman under 18 is highly unlikely to already have an established diagnosis of endometriosis or PCOS, both which can cause excruciatingly painful periods. It’s well researched that women fight many years for such diagnoses, often not getting diagnosed until mid thirties.
Medical gaslighting in women is very real, often conditions such as menopause, post natal depression, PMDD, PTSD from birth trauma to name a few.
How can you prove pain? What do they want, a bloody tampon enclosed in an envelope?
I would hope that if a female student reports extreme pain when on their periods, they can be trusted (along with their parents) to be taken seriously and not invalidated and told to come to school anyway.
I feel like I am probably an outlier here but, should being in pain necessitate an exclusion from school? It’s not the same as being sick. Sure it can make you feel shitty and make it difficult to concentrate but there were people at my school who suffered pretty crippling migraines (for example) who still came in and then asked for some time for themselves when things got really bad.
I confess I don’t know how bad it can get, so maybe there needs to be a compromise and I definitely think schools could show more compassion to students in general. Maybe you stay off school but with the expectation that you complete work so you don’t fall behind?
If this is a recurring issue for people, you are talking about missing 5% (at least) of your school year – this is going to have a significant impact on people’s education as well as stretching any teaching resource trying to “catch you up”.
*Edit*
– I’m keeping this up as there was a good reply underneath it which explained where I’m wrong here – though, weirdly, that reply now seems to have vanished. I’m not afraid to admit when I am wrong.
– but could I please ask those of you DMing me and threatening to repeatedly kick me in the nuts to stop? It’s okay to disagree, and it’s even okay for someone (like me) to offer an uniformed opinion and be told why they are wrong – at the end of the day, that’s how we change our views and better ourselves as people.
But I don’t think it’s okay to dog-pile on someone for expressing an incorrect opinion, especially one that admits that it might be wrong.
I hope I don’t have to delete this post, as hopefully it adds to the discussion, but I think I might need to if I keep getting hateful messages.
Thanks
If I’m lucky enough to have a daughter, and the school demands proof of period pain, they’re getting a used sanitary pad in the post.
They’re just going to get a lot of children sick with “violent diarrhoea”
This is after another Academy tried to force an unenforceable “contract” whereby parents would have committed to sending their children even when they felt unwell. Luckily, the academy backtracked https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/24625438.united-learning-schools-apologise-new-attendance-contract/
There is the an academy which bans bicycles and will give you detention if you are caught riding to school
https://www.reddit.com/r/london/s/oDQ0VsmlgD
Why is it always academies coming up with these batshit crazy policies? Maybe because academies are virtually un accountable to anyone, unless you have the money to take them to court?
I’m getting really fucking sick of the way schools treat kids. It’s like they expect more from the children than they do adults.
Wait, so self-certification doesn’t apply to schools?