A snap poll has shown a slight slant against a decision by a Bedfont school to reward pupils with high attendance.

GetwestLondon revealed yesterday (Thursday) how Fairholme Primary School, in Peacock Avenue, was letting children have 20 minutes play time on a bouncy castle provided they had a 95% attendance rating or higher.

Opinion amongst parents was already divided, mainly thanks to a Facebook group Protest Against Fairholme School, and the results of our poll show this continues to be the case.

A total of 131 people felt it was right to have such a scheme in place, while 172 said ‘no’ to the question ‘Is the school right to reward children for attendance with a bouncy castle?’

There were also comments on our own Facebook page with readers such as Katie Wilson saying: “Wrong wrong wrong there could be lots of reasons the child's attendance is lower than others. I see a post of a child who was made to miss out at school because her attendance was low for a (specific) reason she buried her mum!”

Others like Glynis McNamara felt differently and said: “Fair....the kids are allowed the treat with 95% attendance or above. That’s allowing 10 days off before they are ‘discriminated’ against. Why would a child be off school for longer than that? Its detrimental to their learning if nothing else.”

One person who backed the decision was Patryk Malinski, who lives off Bedfont Lane, and was an unsuccessful Conservative candidate for Feltham West in the recent Hounslow Council elections.

Expanding on his one word comment of ‘fair’ Mr Malinski, who is a father of two, said: “I agree all kids should be treated equally, but also I do feel in this case that pupils who do the right thing should be given some sort of reward.

“I work at a secondary school in Hayes, and we have a reward scheme, although I should point out it is for more than just attendance, we also consider behaviour, progress and meeting targets.

“Pupils score points through the year which go towards treats like trips to Thorpe Park.

“There is are also money off vouchers but these only go to pupils with a 100% attendance rate, which if managed is a pretty remarkable achievement.

“I can see why parents think it’s harsh in the case of primary school children who probably do have a very good reason for missing school - at their young age it’s unlikely to be that they were playing truant.

“My kids are only two and three years old but already we reward them when they do well and discipline them when they do wrong. There’s nothing wrong with making sure children get the message at an early age about what is right and wrong.”