To think SOMEONE should be contactable in the school office over summer?

Contact the admissions team at your local council, they will be able to confirm everything for you, and try the school office a few days before term starts there will be staff in them - appreciate that its short notice though.

Regarding uniform, but the basics, trousers/polos/shoes etc. and then get the last bits once you have spoken to school next week. Reception year tends to be quite relaxed, there are a lot of people who don't know what they're doing and are still gathering information in the first week or so, so don't worry about it.

Hope all goes ok for you OP, I imagine it's quite stressful 💐

There is a difference between teaching and admin contracts, as well.

Admin contracts (and TA contracts) are genuinely ‘school term only’ - and adverts for them are usually given as the annual salary as if for 52 weeks and then the pro rata, or quoted as an hourly rate.

Teaching contracts are given as an annual salary, paid monthly, for a directed hours budget of 1295 hours which is usually ‘spent’ during school terms plus Inset plus eg staff meetings, training, parents’ evenings etc. While many teachers work well above their directed hours, the fact is tat they cannot be directed to work eg in the holidays unless they are genuinely under their hours allocation.

Heads, to my understanding, usually have a normal annual contract and are required to work the hours needed to fulfil their role, much more like a ‘normal’ professional contract.

@Lmnop22

I'm really sorry your EX turned out to be such a wanker, what kind of scum has an affair when his partner is pregnant & leaves her and their 4yo & 5 DAY old baby, they hide their true selves well sometimes don't they🥲. Bastard.

I'm sorry your entire life has been turned upside down.

I'm also sorry you've had some bitchy replies. They don't realise their own 'perfect little lives' could just as easily be turned upside down in a nano second.

you have done amazingly to cope as well
as you have!! Don't let anyone make you feel otherwise!!

School administration has to be one of the most frustrating things in life! They like to try to treat the parents like mushrooms - keep them in the dark... private & state.

i think you've done the right thing to delay the start of your contract, hopefully it hasn't caused you too much of a problem.

try to take a few deep breaths, as frustrating as the lack of communication is, it'll all work out!!

I hope you all settle well in the new house, new school etc. it'll be lovely being near family & friends again.

& I hope karma takes a huge bite out of your Ex's arse!!!

& you have your 2 beautiful children❤️

@Butwhybecause yeah, that's really not how it works. The pay is stretched over 12 months so teachers don't signon jn the summer like they used to but the pay is only for the 1260ish contracted hours (+ what ever it takes to get the job done).

Most support staff will be on term time +1 which covers the inset days, again stretched across the 12 months so they have paydays. Business managers and PAs might have another few weeks added on. IT and caretaking staff work in the holidays and have to take their time off once schools are back but they won't have access to emails directed to the office

Some staff do go jn in the holidays to get their classrooms ready or to prep other things but that's a freebie and to make their life easier on them

I’m only paid to work for 39 weeks per year. I do occasionally check my emails but I don’t have access to the rest of the school systems.

I will be back in the office on the first Monday in September - a few days before the children.

Myself and my office colleague used to be paid for extra weeks to cover this sort of thing in the holidays but the school can’t afford it and our weeks and hours were cut. This is happening in schools everywhere.

Don’t panic OP, the school will be in touch when the office reopens.

Bless you. That sounds horribly stressful. I think you’ve done everything you can and it sounds like your child has a pace at the school. Just get the uniform and plan as much as you can until you get a reply to your communications.

The salary is supposed to cover the 12 months as with any other job.

I know my DIL will be going in to school to sort everything out for the new school year during the last couple of weeks of the holidays

The reality is that most school staff are not paid for the 12 weeks that schools are closed, so that is why there is no requirement for them to be in... However, at my school, the business manager has been in 5 times over the summer already so I'm sure she'd respond to emails received on such matters - but that is above and beyond her actual contract.

My experience is of secondary schools. There might be some staff around but they might not be the right staff anyway. I can’t imagine many HTs would deal with this stuff anyway!

Primary heads are much more hands-on, except perhaps in very large schools. In my last couple of c 400 pupil primaries, the only ‘admin’ staff were finance person, and one full & 1 part time receptionist/ admin. As everyone else was classroom based and working with children (including the deputy head) the head necessarily got involved in all sorts of things that in secondaries would be covered by other teams.

Oh dear, sorry I missed your update. Be strong!

Can your parents help out? I do hope so, but presumably you're not working anyway at the moment so breakfast and after-school clubs aren't an immediate concern.

As for uniform, often there will be a rack of hardly worn second-hand school jumpers, the rest should be easy to source from a supermarket, chain store.

In our case I posted on the local facebook group and said we had been given a place but no chance to even look round it. I asked for parents experiences and descriptions. The lovely caretaker pm'd me and offered to show me and my children around in the middle of the holidays. You could try something similar xx

The school will have two TED days before school opens for the pupils. Staff will be back in so you can call to double check.
They would have to pay someone to man the phones/ monitor emails over the holidays which wouldn’t make sense.

I'm sorry people have been such dicks to you on this thread.

Your ex is a piece of shit and I hope this is the fresh start for you and your babies.

Taking the first few weeks off is a good idea anyway because your kid will be shattered in those early weeks.

From one FT working single mum to another- you've got this.

Yes, someone will be in or at least working from home shortly.

If you've been offered a place then yes, you have it in writing. Do you buy the uniform through school or is it a generic one?

Presumably you'll take him on the first day anyway so can ask about breakfast clubs etc then. Can you arrange your working day so he doesn't have to go to both breakfast and after school clubs at first? It's just that, in my experience, they get very tired in the first couple of terms at school.

go to their website, look for facebook pages and soo on possibly use a local fb group to ask if there is a parent out there that can help with info. DO not expect them in full time in first few weeks its unusual, uniform will be bloody obvious, just buy basic trousers/skirt/pinafore in right colour and a set of t shirts. Everything else can be sorted later e.g. badged cardi etc or again ask local groups if anyone has second hand stuff that could work till you know for sure etc.

Usually tops and bags and sometimes coats can be ordered from school

i dont know why you didnt contact school before hand for info if you were applying then you would know. (If there were 2 or 3 schools wouldn't have hurt to ask them all)

Yes you have a place just not yet acknowledged by school - it is up to County to place you.

School dates will be on County website too

My experience is of secondary schools. There might be some staff around but they might not be the right staff anyway. I can’t imagine many HTs would deal with this stuff anyway!

Ive been in school in the holidays and no one rings. It’s not worth having staff in really. I’ve only been in to do the summer payroll or for building works.
If you have your place then you have it.

This is absolutely what to do. It happens every year in my primary school.

Wander up to reception on the first inset day and talk to the office staff. They often have on site uniform you can buy for situations such as this.

Until then, look on the website for the uniform policy and you can get most things from supermarkets. White polo t shirts, grey shorts/skirt.

Please don't worry. Many children are allocated spaces at a school over the summer.

Thanks and apologies for stating something as a universal fact. Worth trying ‘head@‘ or scanning eg school letters and newsletters on the website to see if a specific e-mail is listed.

I definitely understand the worry OP but tbh with you (I'm a secondary teacher) we would have students showing up every year with zero notice, no uniform or prior communication from parents or the local authority. We'd just put them in classes until we could sort uniform and a proper timetable.

That definitely doesn't sound like your son's situation - I just add it to reassure you that even in the unlikely event that the school wasn't expecting him, they would know how to make him welcome!

As PP have said, have you seen start of term dates on the school website? Staff will definitely be back in before the children, usually 2-4 working days in advance. If you're able to, I'd try and just source a school jumper and assume the place is sorted as you've done everything you were asked to and the council's advice seems reassuring.

There will someone in the office before school begins usually 2-3 days beforehand. Reception children have staggered starts, which usually begins after everyone has gone back, various schools have different entry patterns, so you will need to speak to local parents to see what your child's school does.

I kept mine in nursery for a few extra weeks as I was working full-time and could not make the half days work.

In regards to the Breakfast and after school clubs you are applying very late and there may be no space. These maybe run by the school but usually there is a link to the company that runs these. Again local knowledge will help you. However Reception children are rarely accepted into these clubs. Mine would not accept them in until they were at least 4 1/2 and the earliest entry was after the October holiday.

You should start looking into plan b e.g. Childminder, consider going part time, request flexible working hours/term time contract.

Are there any INSET days at the beginning of September? If yes, phone school at around 8.30am on the first INSET day and try to find out as much as possible. This then gives you time to buy uniform if you do have a place and he can start as normal with all the other children.

I work in a school and it is true

Their e-mail will be head@ followed by the usual rest of the e-mail address.

My HT doesn’t have that email address.

I think you have had some good advice on here, OP. Hopefully you’ll get some responses on the Facebook post soon. Good luck :)

If the council have confirmed your place don't panic.

The school website or even google will tell you the official uniform supplier and you can look there to see what it is. If like mine at primary, you need blazer and tie, they tend to have plenty extra in stock so when the office is back they can tell you. If he can wear a jumper and polo shirt all the better. Book bags you can get from the office when he starts.

Breakfast club and after school club can be sorted with the office once they're back. I assume you won't be dropping him at breakfast club on his first day anyway.

If this is your first child in school on top of not yet speaking to the school, you're bound to be worried. It'll all sort itself out, just try not to let it stress you out.

Def plan for not getting any breakfast and after school club provision from school, at least for the first few weeks / months. Our school is massively oversubscribed in this, places get allocated back in June for the whole next academic year and there is a lengthy waiting list with little movement.

im sure it feels stressful but in the grand scheme of your sons school ‘career’ and your career, a few weeks is a drop in the ocean but you have the chance to plan for it with childminders etc.

no I don’t think school offices should stay open in summer For this. Many of the staff are mums themselves (in ours at least it’s 100% of the office staff are mums) you can’t expect them to work and have to juggle just because of some people’s house moving didn’t align with government set dates.