Hellish drop-offs for year one

[RumbleMum]

DS is 5 and a May baby. Last year in reception he was largely pretty good (with a few big blips) about going to school but at the end of term he was ill, missed a few days of school and his behaviour went to pot. Drop-off at school was terrible - sobbing, tantrums and lying on the floor and me having to thrust him through the door and make a quick exit. This term is shaping up in much the same way.

He's very happy at school, comes bouncing out at the end of each day and tells me he loves it. My gut feeling is that he's playing up rather than genuinely distressed - nothing's changed at school, he's pretty confident and not clingy or anxious with me normally. He can be a bit of a handful on the behaviour front but we have firm boundaries and consequences for bad behaviour.

I've tried incentives (star chart, rewards etc), I've tried removal of privileges. I've tried being firm, being gentle and reassuring, being cross. I've tried giving him kisses to put in his pockets, and having a mouthful of something to munch on his way in (he can sometimes be distracted with food). Nothing works.

None of the other year ones seem to be behaving like this, so I guess I have two questions - has this happened to anyone else? And any ideas or tips?

[NickNacks]

I had this with ds2 (though he is quite anxious and clingy to me in particular). The only solution that worked was someone else doing the drop off for a week. It broke the habit and he's never done it since. This was actually in year 3 and he's now just started year 5.

Good luck.

[RumbleMum]

Thanks NickNacks. DS is definitely not quite so bad when DH takes him so might be worth a try ... maybe I could get DM or MIL to come and stay for a week!