Sick notes at school: find the rule before you count the days

Most guides on this subject open with a number of days. That is the last thing worth looking up, because a number only exists inside a rule, and it is the rule that differs. Three questions settle the matter in almost any school system: who is allowed to decide that an absence counts as excused, what a school may ask for beyond a note from the parents, and which document those powers come from – a national statute, a regional regulation, or the school's own attendance policy issued under one of them. The answers diverge sharply. In Germany, Bavarian school regulations let a school ask for a medical certificate once an illness runs past three school days; in England, statutory guidance tells schools not to request medical evidence routinely at all. Neither of those is the default anywhere else. This page gives the question first and the examples afterwards.

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What parents should work out before looking for a number

Find the rule before the number

A day threshold means nothing without the document it sits in. Look up your school's attendance policy first, then the statute or regional regulation that policy is issued under. If a number exists, it is in one of the two.

Who decides that an absence is excused

Parents notify, the school decides. In England, for example, an absence may only be authorised by the head teacher or by a person the head teacher designates, under the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

What may be asked beyond a parental note

A medical certificate is the escalation step, and school systems disagree about when it is allowed at all. The useful question is on what basis your school would ask for one, not how many days it takes.

Two systems, two different answers

In Germany, § 20 BaySchO lets a Bavarian school require a certificate after more than three school days. In England, Department for Education guidance says schools should not request medical evidence routinely. Both are correct where they apply.

How it works

Reporting a child sick, in four steps

With a sick child at home there are usually only four things to sort out: report it, find the rule that binds your school, hand in whatever proof is asked for, and plan the return. Only the second step differs from country to country.

1 2 3 4
  1. 1

    Report on the first day

    Almost every school expects the report on the same morning, usually before lessons start – by phone, in writing or digitally. The form is set by the school and written in its attendance policy, not by a general law.

  2. 2

    Find the rule that binds your school

    Two documents answer nearly everything: the attendance policy of the school, and the statute or regional regulation that policy is issued under. If the policy names a threshold in days, it is worth checking that the higher norm actually permits one.

  3. 3

    Hand in whatever proof is asked for

    For a short illness a note from the parents is enough almost everywhere. Where a medical certificate is required, ask on what basis and by when – a policy that sets a threshold usually sets a deadline for the certificate as well.

  4. 4

    Coming back and catching up

    Once the child is well again, what matters is what was missed: tests, homework and lesson content. Parents who ask the office or the class teacher early usually get replacement dates without any discussion.

In comparison

Reporting sick: digital vs. the classic paper note

Digital with SchuleVernetzt
Counting days of absenceThe app counts the days of absence automatically
Certificate reminderA reminder before the deadline your school has set
Submitting proofUpload the certificate as a photo right in the app
Overview for the schoolAll sick notes and certificates in one place
Classic phone call and paper note
Counting days of absenceParents and the office count by hand
Certificate reminderParents have to remember the deadline themselves
Submitting proofSend a note along or drop it at the office
Overview for the schoolNotes and calls scattered across many places
In detail

Sick notes and medical certificates in detail

Three documents that keep getting mixed up

The sick report is the short message in the morning saying a child will be absent today. The parental note is the written statement from the family explaining why the absence was justified; for a short illness it is the normal route in most school systems. The medical certificate is proof from a doctor and belongs to a different level altogether, because it puts a third party between the family and the school. The distinction that matters is not which word your school uses but who holds which power: the family reports, and the school decides whether the absence is recorded as excused. In England that decision rests with the head teacher or a person the head teacher designates. Wherever you are, the person who signs off an absence is worth knowing by name before you need them.

When a school may ask for more – two named examples

In Germany, § 20 BaySchO allows a Bavarian school to demand a medical certificate in four situations: when an illness lasts more than three school days, on the day of an announced assessment, when illness-related absences accumulate, or when there is doubt about the illness. The certificate has to reach the school within ten days of being requested, otherwise the absence counts as unexcused. In England the position is close to the opposite: the Department for Education's statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance tells schools not to request medical evidence routinely, and to ask only where they have genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness. Both rules are correct inside their own system and neither travels. If you are in a third country, the transferable step is the same one either way: ask the school which document its threshold comes from, and read that document.

What the school does with the certificate

A certificate normally states only the period, not the diagnosis, and a school has no reason to ask for more. For schools in the EU and the UK the legal handle is Article 9 GDPR, which puts health data into a special category with stricter requirements; only the people who need the document for the absence record should see it, usually the class teacher and the school office. Readers outside the EU and the UK are under a different regime entirely – national education and privacy law, in the United States the federal FERPA rules on education records – so the principle carries but the citation does not. Retention is local everywhere: the period comes from the education law that applies to your school. This is where a digital procedure helps. A certificate held as a photo in a closed system rather than in a messaging chat or an open in-tray leaves access logged, tied to roles and deletable in an orderly way once the period ends.

Deadlines under control, whichever rule applies

With SchuleVernetzt, parents report their child sick in seconds, the app counts the days of absence and reminds them in time about a certificate that is due. Health data is processed in a GDPR-compliant and encrypted way, on servers inside the EU. The thresholds themselves are configured by the school, because the app cannot know which rule binds you – it only helps you keep the one that does.

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions about sick notes at school

There is no answer that travels. The threshold, where one exists at all, comes from your school's attendance policy and from the statute or regional regulation behind it – so those two documents, not a guide, give the binding answer. Two examples show how far apart the answers sit. In Germany, § 20 BaySchO allows a Bavarian school to require a medical certificate once an illness lasts more than three school days. In England, the Department for Education tells schools not to request medical evidence routinely and to ask only where they have genuine and reasonable doubt about the illness.

No, and it is not even a rule everywhere it is quoted. Within Germany it is a Bavarian provision that other states do not share; several German states allow a certificate to be demanded only where there is justified doubt in the individual case. Outside Germany the concept may not exist at all. Treat any fixed number you read as a claim about one jurisdiction until you have seen the document it comes from.

For a short illness a note from the parents is the normal route in most school systems. A medical certificate becomes relevant when an illness runs long, when absences accumulate, when the absence falls on an assessment, or where the school has specific doubt. Which of those triggers your school may actually use is the part that differs, and it is written in the attendance policy.

That depends on the rule your school works under, and in many systems there is no fixed number at all. Where a threshold exists it comes from a regional regulation or from the school's attendance policy, and it can be as short as a few days or absent entirely. In Germany, for example, only some states name a day limit; in England the guidance discourages routine medical evidence regardless of the length of the absence. A look at the attendance policy, or a short question at the school office, answers it bindingly for you.

In several systems yes, but only for named reasons rather than at will. The occasions that recur across school systems are assessment and exam days, the days directly before or after a holiday period, and conspicuously frequent single days of absence. In Germany, § 20 BaySchO also lets a school require certificates for an individual pupil where absences accumulate. Whether your school has that power, and whether it has to justify using it, is set by the norm behind its attendance policy.

As a rule no. A certificate confirms the illness and the period; the diagnosis is a separate matter, and a school rarely has any basis for asking. In the EU and the UK, health data is specially protected under Article 9 GDPR, which makes an unnecessary diagnosis a problem rather than a courtesy. Outside that area the same practical point holds under different law: the school only needs to know that the absence was due to illness and therefore counts as excused.
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