Two children at two different schools

[Whydoilikebroccoli]

How do you manage the school run? Both too young to take themselves to and from school.

[Adambarlow]

Why are they are different schools?

[hazeyjane]

Dds were put on the bus to school from year 2/3 so I could take ds in to his school, and work let me start 15 minutes late, so I could get him in.

But we were lucky enough to have an arrangement with school and bus service!

Otherwise it would have been breakfast club for one, whilst taking other.

How old are kids?

[TimeToDash]

Sounds complicated! I would probably book breakfast club for them on alternate days.

[SunnyintheSun]

They walk themselves to school. But we live overseas where primary school children are encouraged to do this.

[RedSkyAtNight]

Share drop off/pick ups with another parent in the same position?

It would help to know
-how old the DC are?

• how far are the schools?
  
• why they are in different schools (mostly in terms of "is this a long term arrangement or do you hope to get them into the same school)?

[Whydoilikebroccoli]

5&7, both schools 15 minute walk but in different directions. Infant school is lovely, junior school isn't so considering a different junior school so that's why they'd be going to different schools. Seems a pain to be honest but also feels wrong to send to an under performing school jut for convenience. Also an option is to try and transfer both to a primary school if I can find one with two spaces in the correct year groups.

[Fettuccinecarbonara]

Do they both start and finish at the same time?

I do two school runs after a nasty incident in my dc2’s reception class made me withdraw them.

Dc1 stayed at the first school with their friends; dc2 was moved to a new school.

There are 15 (hectic filled) minutes at either end of the day to wheel spin my car from one school to the next.

[Whydoilikebroccoli]

So it's all theoretical at the moment

[Whydoilikebroccoli]

Same start times I think.

[Phillipa12]

In sept i will be dropping at two different schools and one nursery. My nursery child will be dropped first at my sisters at 8.15am who will whizz him round for 9am, (its the otherside of town) my eldest will then be dropped at his school 7 miles away for 8.30 am (thats when his school starts) and then a quick drive 7 miles home again to get middle child to school for 9am. At least the starting times for the schools dont clash, and nursery are flexible!
I would transfer eldest to the school thats closest but his was the only school with space when we moved and he took so long to settle. In sept 19 i will have 2 at the closest school and then sept 20, eldest is off to secondary which is walking distance.

[sallythesheep73]

We drive DS1 a round trip 30 mins in one direction and then walk DS2 a 10 min walk in the opposite direction. Reverse program in the evening.

[brilliotic]

If you are considering this, you need to check when exactly the schools start/end and what are their precise breakfast club/after school club arrangements. 'I think' is not really good enough if you are serious about this! You also then need to try out the timings during school run traffic.

We're coming to the end of two years of DD at nursery school and DS at school.

For dropping off, we generally share - DP takes one child, I take the other. When DP is away, elder child's school friends or neighbours help out. If that fails, I can take both, but one of them will be a little late - not much of an issue for nursery school child, especially as it is rare.

Friends use breakfast club which at our school is flexible, you can arrange one day/week or ad hoc or five days/week, whatever suits you.

For pick-up, three days/week my kids finish at exactly the same time so there is no chance of me being both places. Older child goes to after school clubs on those days - school extracurricular/sports clubs, not 'after school childcare' club. These generally last for an hour, giving me plenty of time to pick up DD and make my way to DS's school. This works really well, as DS would want to do clubs anyway, it is barely noticeable.
The downsides are

• that he doesn't get to pick the clubs he wants but has to take those on offer on the days we need. However this has also proved a positive, as he has discovered enjoyment of things he wouldn't have tried otherwise (dance, sewing).
  
• These clubs are not particularly reliable and can be cancelled on short notice. When that happens we improvise - friends take him home, playdate, pick DD up early so can arrive at DS's school in time, sometimes DP is around and can help.
  
• Same for beginning/end of term - these clubs usually start in week 2 or so, and finish well before the end of term, so there are a few weeks of scrambling around!
  

So you really need to know for both schools what the after-school childcare arrangements are, is there an AFC that your child can attend regularly e.g. on Tuesdays and/or ad hoc if school sports club is cancelled, how much does it cost, how long can children stay there.

Potentially you can find a mixture, so for example your younger child does football on Wednesday, your older child does dance on Tuesday, running club on Thursday and homework club on Friday, leaving you with Monday where older child goes to after-school childcare... something like that?! And then get socialising with other parents so you have connections in place, when clubs are cancelled, to share pick-ups.

[brilliotic]

AFC should read ASC (after school club)

[Lougle]

You'll manage. I have three school runs. DD1 has special school transport at 7.40, then DD3 can go to breakfast club at 7.45, and DD2 can go to breakfast club at 8.00 or DD3 can wait until after DD2 has gone to breakfast club at 8.00 or 8.30 and start school at 8.45.

Then in the afternoon, DD3 finishes school at 3.15pm, I dash over to DD2's school, 2 miles away, and pick her up 5-10 minutes before her official school ending time (by arrangement with her Head Teacher), then drive home so that I'm in time for DD1's special school transport to arrive.

Unless it's a work day for me, in which case, I usually scrape into being on time for DD3, don't quite make it at DD2's school, so arrange for DD1 to be dropped off at Granddad's house because there's no way we'll be home in time for her, too

[Xenia]

We had four at one point in a sense as their father taught in a 4th and different school again! Luckily one could get the school coach from age 5. My father used to drop my sister and I off at school at 7.50am - we were usually the first in and then my brother at his different school and then go to work. He did that for at least 8 years until we were 18.

[Enko]

We did this for 1 1/2 years however school start times were not the same so we biked to dd2 and ds at school then biked to dd1s school (before finally biking to dd3s nursery) in the pm i collected dd2 and ds dd1 was walked home by a friend

[BingTheButterflySlayer]

Was possibly facing this this year if we hadn't got very very lucky with spaces when I moved my kids schools (it worked out - but it went into the summer holidays before we knew for sure). I'd worked out I could do it with one in breakfast club - walk to the other school, and just sprint like mad on an evening as the session times matched up enough to pull that combo off.

[GreenTulips]

I've done 3 kids plus work in another school

Every morning for a year

Only difficulty if it's raining and they don't let the kids in early
Also sports days and assemblies often clashed

Good luck

[bookmum08]

What exactly are the problems with the Junior School? Is it 'linked' to the Infant Sch (so essentially same bunch of kids and parents). Is it issues that can be changed with parental support? Sounds like a bunch of faff to change schools when maybe you could help change the Juniors instead. Do other parents of the Infants not like the Juniors? If you all agree there are issues then you can get together and start a parents group for change. If everyone else seems fine with the Juniors then think really hard what you don't like about it.

[henrietta1199]

My DD's mum has 2 DDs in different schools. She hires a sitter.

[Whydoilikebroccoli]

Academically it's performed less well than the other schools locally and nationally. I've heard a few parents moaning or discusssing issues such as not enough support in school. A few have left the infant school to move to a primary so as not to go to the junior school. But I've also heard lots of positive stuff from parents too. It's mostly academic concerns really. Hopefully their data results from June will be much improved as that will make me feel happier. Obviously it's not all about sats results. So I'm trying to be sensible and consider all aspects. My eldest has some great friends who would go to juniors together so that would seem a shame to take that away.

[drspouse]

It totally depends on the exact timing and the policies. For example my DS will be allowed to play in the playground from 8.30 in Sept as he'll be in Y2 not that I'd trust him but Reception drop off is 8.50 at the earliest.
We also have an ad hoc after school club for about 45 mins. Siblings of children in the school activity clubs are given priority but this is in addition to the full ASC till 6.

[BackforGood]

You could use breakfast club / after school club, or a childminder or Nursery that do out of school care,
or
If there are several parents that don't like the idea of the Junior school, you could find another parent that is thinking of doing the same, and share the walking - one takes both juniors and the other takes both infants.