Here in good old blighty, and in partyicular the borough I live in (Greenwich - more about this later) there is a strange view point going around concerning school children.

My daughter has had quite a few days off school this year, in fact it has been so bad that she has barely made a month without being off for a few days. I particularly don't like my daughter off because when she is ill she is very very very demanding with it. And more some.

Since September she has had varying degrees of colds, flu etc etc, which culminated to chicken pox over christmas, she has finished with her last spot now.

Here is where the problem lies, usually after a day or two at home at the onset of illness, my children recover well, but this year the dreaded lurgie has been going round and round and round. Because my daughter has had so much time off, it is now required of me to get a doctors certificate to prove if she is ill next time she is. My doctors charge for these things, and without one she has unauthorised absence, which officially counts as truancy. Greenwich borough is in the top 3 highest truancy counts for the country. Yet the system stinks. I do not particularly want to drag my daughter to the doctors when she has a 104 temperature, throwing up and feeling extremely poorly. Apparently all the children at school had to go their doctors to prove they have chicken pox, even if they were sent home from school. This is not the schools fault but the rules the schools must abide by from the education authority.

I cannot afford the charge of £10+ a go, everytime my daughter or son is ill, on top of having to miss a course I am studying for, to take her or my son to the doctors. I don't think the doctors are too pleased about it either, having chicken pox children in the surgery at the same time as pregnancy checks going on.

The doctors have cottoned onto this new council ruling, hence the charge prices.

Thus, due to everyone having to send their children into school, until they can get an appointment with the doctor, is causing diseases to spread like wild fire. On the plus side, there is now no child in the school who has not had chicken pox, but measles seems to be the next issue.

Next time my daughter or son is projectile vomitting, I will have no choice but to send them in then get them sent home, to have the next 48 hours off school premises. I can't see the logic, but the letters have been sent to all the parents concerning this insane thinking.

On the plus side, it is a perfect example of a positive feedback system, which I can then describe to my son for science.