Primary school pupils and teachers were left in tears after students who didn't achieve 100% attendance were banned from an end-of-year bouncy castle treat.
Schoolchildren at Lanesend Primary School in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, were only allowed to use the inflatable if they had attended school every day.
Children who had even one day off sick were not invited to take part, leaving many children distraught and crying.
Stacey Dale-Lamb, whose daughter was unable to enjoy the treat as she had one day off sick – giving her an attendance of 99.1%, said there was "uproar" from the parents.
"There were children crying everywhere," she said. "My daughter cried all the way home."
She told LBC a lot of parents didn't take their children into school that day, instead choosing to take their children elsewhere for a fun activity.
She said the school has a number of children with special needs, which has an impact on their attendance.
"It was supposed to be an incentive for next year, that all kids would try their hardest to get to that 100%, but it's never going to be doable," Ms Dale-Lamb told LBC.
"If you're ill, you're ill, you can't go in," she said. "You don't want to send your child in and make everyone else ill and send everyone else home."
She said the other children who were not allowed to join their classmates at the celebration mostly had days off for special needs, medical needs or being really unwell.
Ms Dale-Lamb said the teachers were left in tears after being shouted at by angry parents.
She said: "It's not the teachers' fault. The teachers that work there, they were standing on the doors crying. They didn't know what to say or do. They had some very unhappy parents shouting at them, and it wasn't their decision."
"A lot of people are looking for new schools for their children now because they don't want to take them back," she added.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, described the school as “overzealous” and said: “As a parent myself, it is important that schools encourage attendance and reward kids and parents who ensure that, but obviously, a degree of pragmatism has to be employed.
“A serious issue has developed post-Covid, where the level of attendance that we used to enjoy has fallen significantly, and in particular, in some parts of the country.
“It is right that schools focus on this and try to understand the causes of it, and push pupils and particularly parents to take this seriously. But you do have to give a bit of leeway here and there.
He added: "It sounds like the headteacher has realised this was a bit overzealous.”
Alex Augustus, the executive principal of the school, has since told parents that the school did not mean to “punish or discriminate against” children who missed school.
“We are aware [of] a lot of communication regarding the attendance reward, please know that this was only done with the best intentions, as we wanted to reward children for something that we thought was an exceptional accomplishment,” he said.
“It was never designed to punish or discriminate against other children.”
