WARNING - Wall of Text incoming!
As many of you probably already know I have a heart condition. It isn't as serious as some other heart conditions, but still pretty serious.
My school has organised to go to a swimming pool and see a movie as a reward for us kids being "good".
Good means having attendance, house points and all that stuff above a certain level. Now I behave pretty well at school compared to some other people. I'm never late, I always do well in classes and I try my best. What else could they ask for?
Well apparently for me not to have a heart condition.
I was told that I would not go on the trip unless I improved my attendance.
I went down to the office of the people who were organising the trip with another kid who had a hip problem and also wasn't going on the trip, and asked them why we weren't going? After all, we had justifiable reasons.
She said some bullstuff like "Do you ever have those days where you feel slightly rough and don't want to go into school?"
Now being Derpy McDerpish and not realising we both has Diseases of some sort, we went back to our class without saying anything.
When I got home, I told my mother and she was FURIOUS. I mean, really angry.
So here is an email she sent to my school:
Dear Mr. [REDACTED]
I was very disappointed and upset to receive your letter yesterday about the Reward Event and the suggestion that Evan might not be invited and also the suggestion that I need to be reminded to encourage Evan to go to school.
As the parent of a child with congenital heart disease I find it extraordinary that schools do not treat children as individuals and expect everyone will be able to perform in the same way. I also work in children's services, where I believe the ethos is the child is of paramount importance. From this letter it seems to me that the schools attendance record is of paramount importance.
Evan like other children with heart disease is at times more prone to infection, does get tired more easily and this year has had high blood pressure. He is also very anxious as he is approaching the age where he is potentially facing further surgery and this week this has been to the fore in his mind as he has attended a group for teenagers run by the hospital he attends in London to look at what the future holds.
I get the impression that Evan is a boy who tries hard at school, is very conscientious, kind and respectful to others and I believe that whatever his attendance he deserves a place at the Reward Event and if by any chance he does have time off (and he may have a hospital appointment in July) I still expect him to be invited and if he isn't I will take this further as I am appalled at the lack of sensitivity.
I hope to hear from you soon
I do also realise Mr [REDACTED] that you personally are not responsible for this policy and I am sure you will understand my need to respond.
Best wishes
Julie [REDACTED]
So after this email they bumped my attendance up from 84% to 96%.
But the other day, something really, really irritating happened.
In Tutor, we were given a questionnaire to fill out. At first I thought "Oh, it's just another one o those Are You Healthy forms", but when I turned the paper over, there was a strange table. How it worked was there was a table of things tht may apply to you growing up, for instance "Parents Divorce" or "Go into hospital with a serious condition". It then had points next to it. You tick all that apply to you, add up the points and then it's supposed to tell you HOW PRONE TO BECOMING I'LL YOU ARE. At first I thought "What the forget is this? Why is "Parents Dying" more Stressful than "Siblings Dying"?
I stuff you not, on closer inspection on the other side they spelt Martial Arts like "Marshall Arts". So this was made by a child.
Why the forget is a child telling my how likely I am to become ill? WHY!!!
So I filled in the piece of stuff because we had to. If you have 300+ it says you are prone to illness; After adding everything up, I got a score of 520 SOMETHING.
And because people were talking when they weren't ment to, our teacher cancelled the Laser quest trips. Brilliant.
So today I talked to him about the questionnaire, and he said he'd look into it. Well that's something I guess.
But guess what; when the teacher was giving the Laser Quest money back out, they had put it in new envelopes. And guess what they thought my name was?
"oc sar griffiths"
And that's exactly how they spelt it too. Not only did they loving think my name was Oscar, but they phenomenally managed to misspell my wrong name.
And not include capitals.
So forget school. If they don't give a stuff about me, I won't give a stuff about them.
