A school’s creation of a “prom passport” awarded to students based on their attendance status and excluding those with a poor score, has been slammed by parents as “cruel”.
The new system introduced at Abbey Park School in Swindon means year 11 students with anything less than 96% attendance are not welcome at the end of year celebrations.
The 59 pupils - 30% of the school's 200 year 11 children - who did not make the cut, were made aware they were not invited to the prom just days before their GSCEs began
Having an attendance score worse than 96% would mean a child had missed more than seven days of school in their final year, Wiltshire Live reports.
Parents say the system is "cruel", especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response school principal Jon Young said prom organisers had not taken Covid-related absences into account when deciding which children would be invited.
One parent, Sandy Jonsson, said: "There are many reasons in the last two years why any child might not have achieved that attendance score.
"Things like, shielding for parents, if they have tested positive for Covid-19, students were off with anxiety because of the pandemic or due to the pressures of home-schooling.
"Students with autism may have not been able to cope with the change of having to work on their own at home.
"There are so many different combinations of children that didn't qualify."
Sandy however said the system is "cruel," especially given the historic nature of the pandemic and how it has affected this cohort of children.
She added it is especially mean and unkind to those who are the "most affected of any school year so far."
Anger has also stirred over the timing of the news, as parents received letters barring their children from prom, a mere couple of days before they were to sit their GCSE exams on May 16.
The concerned parent, who works with many other parents across the area, to help hold schools to account, also claims that Abbey Park school has a "punitive" structure, in that staff won't authorise sick days, based on parent's opinion but works "on merit".
She said: "They've got the choice to accept the parents viewpoint or not - and in many cases, they don't."
Furthermore, there was a feeling of injustice in the strict criteria, which is believed to have been inconsiderate of factors, such as mental health issues sparked by the pandemic and absences-related to parents working as key workers, such as NHS staff.
Familiar with the crisis many families were in, with distressed teenagers, Sandy reached out for feedback on social media.
In a post to Swindon Community Notice Board , she wrote: "Has your child not been invited to the 2022 Prom at Abbey Park School or if they have been invited, are they someone who has friends who have not been invited?
"Are you sitting at home worrying about the situation? Would you be interested in giving some feedback about this?
"A group of concerned parents is considering organising another event to help celebrate your child's achievement of reaching Year 11 successfully?"
Sandy's post was inundated with comments from concerned parents.
One wrote that although her son was invited based on his "good behaviour points", he has chosen not to attend.
"It should be for all of Year 11, as a reward/final goodbye for the past five years, not just this year," she said.
She added: "Speaking to other parents, there aren't that many children actually wanting to go or even allowed to go to Prom this year."
Another commentator added: "That's disgusting - everyone or no-one."
Many have even reminisced on how their were robbed of their own Prom experience, and remain affected by it to this day.
One explained how she had arrived late in the year, too late to earn enough stamps to be invited to Prom - "I'm still bitter about it, they stole my only chance at Prom."
Others agreed that students are being penalised, not for "naughty behaviour" but because they can't meet the "unreasonably high criteria."
Responding to the concerns raised by parents regarding the 2022 prom, the Abbey Park School principal, Jon Young said: "A Prom Passport, or similar, is an initiative we and many other schools use with our year 11 pupils.
"Prom Passports, with their targets, were given to all year 11 pupils in September 2021, along with a letter of explanation, on their return to school at the start of this very important year for them.”
He said the targets set for pupils were “challenging” but “achievable” and that teachers had been mindful of the impact of Covid-19 on absences as well as individual circumstances “where appropriate”.
Sandy is inviting other concerned parents to get in touch if they would like to join her in escalating a formal complaint - you can get in touch with Sandy here.
