Should I refuse reception settling in days if I can?

I hope you advised parents of their legal rights to send their children full time from day. Telling them six months in advance of your plans for a staggered start is misleading and misinformation.

We do 3 half days for all our reception children, many of who have not done full days with 60 new kids

It must be incredibly unusual to have a cohort where the majority haven't done full days. Most 3-4 year olds will be doing longer hours than 9 - 3.30, even if it's not 5 days a week.

Has anyone ever challenged it?

Honestly how can some think 3 weeks of different routines is in a child's best interests?

The need for transition.

Not all children need it particularly those who have been in nursery FT.

There as some children who have been in care, adopted and/or have disabilities need a longer transition.

The OP actually needs the links on parental leave including emergency leave, as she shouldn't take sick leave if her child is sick.

Some schools have been criticised by publishing on the school website details of a staggered start as fact rather than what is covered in legislation. The consequence is many parents aren’t aware of their entitlement to send their children full time from day one .

My dd school have 3 weeks of settling in sessions,
Week one is group one children 9 to 12, group 2 children 12 to 3
Week two they swap over
Week three all children in 9 to 1pm
Week four full time
More than half are already at the local nursery doing 8 until at least 4 every day

Settling in isn't a thing at my children's school, or for any primary within the Trust.

They recognise most children have been in nursery and just start full time a few days prior to the rest of the school.

You can only ask and see what the response is but I don't agree with others comments about it being "essential" to have a phased settling period.

We do 3 half days for all our reception children, many of who have not done full days with 60 new kids and 4 new adults with different routines before. After that they are full time. We see less burnout and reluctance to come in later in the term. You only start school once and we don't want to rush them in and overwhelm them. Our intention is to make things easier for the children,not ourselves as some people are suggesting, and not to deliberately piss off working parents. We tell parents six months in advance as well, so they have time to sort childcare or let us know they can't.

Settling in days would have been more disruptive to the routine they were already use to.

I work in a school and agree with this. Settling in sessions and staggered starts are disruptive and often confusing for children. Trying a softly softly approach is confusing and many children are often collected by a hodgepodge of relatives and family friends, as parents / carers try to work around the random hours and half days their child has been given.

If some children need a more gentle start then the school should offer this, but the rest of the children should be alowed to attend full time from the start.

😂

Which point, the need for transition or the ability to take unpaid parental leave?

You are being perfectly reasonable.
The school is paid for and staffed to have them there full time.
Some children need a settling period , some don’t. Neither of mine did , it was optional.
It makes it easier for the teachers if they have few kids the first week. Do what you need to do.

Not all the children were 4. They had other reasons they required that flexibility. If you look at general school admissions policies some of the children fell in those groups.

We have settling in days in the summer term, then straight in full time in September.

I asked to go full time asap. I already knew the rules that they basically couldn't refuse me. 2 x 1/2 days, then full time.

Yes you can send them full-time from day 1. The school isn't allowed to refuse.

The school has a lot of experience of settling children into school, it is not the same as nursery. Some schools do go over the top with half days for weeks but you mentioned a day? How long is your child supposed to be settling in for?

Tbh, I think starting school is a big enough event in a child’s life that it’s worth taking the time off work for.

Get someone to watch your child at home OP. I don't understand why you need to make things difficult for the nursery from day 1. Is it a private Nursery?

What are school suggesting as the transition?
If it’s only the first week is there really no way you can accommodate this? Family, friends?
The move to school is a big deal. You are potentially going to have a situation where your 4 year old is going to be spending half his first week, on his own being shuttled around to random other classes.
In my school there is only 1 reception class. The time in the first week that they are not in school is spent on home visits. The eyfs staff are not in the building.
If it’s just a few days I’d strongly advise you try and make it work.

When children start school under compulsory school age, it's the parents choice to send them part time - the individual teacher or school doesn't have to agree.

It's not for the teacher though, is it? It's not like teachers have the privilege of building up to taking on a whole new group of kids with other year groups. It's for the kids!

Fine if you want to not do it and the school legs you, but it's not for the teachers.

I bet the head isn't allowing any of the teachers or TAs at his school to have September off the settle their children in thought! They'll be the ones whose children have to go full time from 1st September.

I asked the same question at the school open day. The head basically looked at me like I was nuts and maybe a cold hearted parent to even consider it.
He empathised the settling in process. I said it doesn't suit working parents like me. I also asked could it be optional and he laughed. Then I asked could be be spread over a week instead of two and he said no and walked away.
I suspect it's more a settling in process for the teacher, allow them to set up the room in peace, gather resources to suit the class and arrange assistants. And probably mentally build up the hours so they also cope with the new group of children.

My DDs school wanted her to do 3 part days to settle in.

She was in PT childcare since she was 10 months and then FT from when she was 3.

To cut along story short the class teachers (she has 2 as they do different days) agreed that she could stay full-time if she was happy. She was so did.

On the other hand we know children whose parents wanted them to go PT for the first term to two terms for various reasons. The children were FT from the beginning at their schools Again it took the individual reception teachers to agree that was best for those individual children.

Kind of is the school's problem if they are requesting the parent keeps their child home?
The school is funded for a full time place.