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

Of course teachers get paid during the holidays!! They get paid 12 times a year.

Not all schools will have several Inset days at the start of September, though they will generally have one.

I’d find the school Facebook page and put a

‘Hi-I’ve got a last minute space for my child at x school and haven’t had a reply yet from the office as they are closed over the summer. Can anyone tell me what the settling in/home visit/stay and play dates are and also if anyone has any information about wraparound care, that would be really useful. Does the after- school club take EYFS children til 6pm?’

You’ll get some replies (maybe even from school staff who will be avoiding checking emails but would see a post on social media) and will know asap what the situation is with wraparound. The one at my children’s school didn’t take reception children and closed at 5.30, so if that’s the case, best to know now. You can also ask if anyone has any recommendations for a nearby childminder or private wraparound company.

Reception classes don't usually start until at least a week after the rest of the school opens - they have to do all the home visits before children can enter the classroom - so there's lots of time. Try not to worry. If you have the place they will be expecting you.

Our primary school wouldn’t even take reception kids in the breakfast or after school clubs until after Xmas. Be warned- regardless of how used to nursery being 8-6pm. I set up a childminder who would cover both ends of the day and she was amazing gave my DDs both dinner too on my long days. Ask around the other parents if you can what they do as you will probably find yourself in the minority looking for full wrap care well I was a couple of years ago. I hope it goes well for you and you children.

Just keep thinking I’ll drop my DS off on the first day and they won’t have his name down and it’ll make him feel left out.

Well you won't drop him off will you. You will be going in with him?

@Lmnop22 your husband is an utter cunt.

Sorry didn't see your post about him until after I posted.

Hope you get it all sorted, but yes definitely postpone your back to work date if you can. Give yourself a bit of breathing space.

The clue is in the word school "holidays".

My reply was to this:

I am happy to buy the uniform - really need to sort out breakfast club and after school club though so was hoping to speak to someone.

It’ll be difficult to sort with work at very short notice

Email may be worth a shot - depending on the size of the school, I know the primary my kids attended the Head checked the school office mailbox during holidays periodically as he replied to one I'd sent for the admin staff (and got a reply from me about "why are you working on the holidays" - but I know the Head very well!)

Otherwise, the school calendar will be on the website - or if they use the local authority dates, that'll be on the council site and the first 1-2 days back will be INSET/admin days where the staff will be on site then to answer phonecalls etc.

Worth asking on local FB groups about logistics such as wrap around care in case it's an external provider (in which case you can contact them separately).

I know it's hard - we did a school move for my kids and one child's place wasn't confirmed by the LEA until after the schools had closed for the summer, so we had this limbo thing going on as well - as I recall, because she'd not had transition days, we popped down during the INSET day and the Head showed her around and then she went in early the first morning to find her feet in the classroom before her peers got in.

They never do breakfast or afterschool club for the first week anyway

The staff usually come back first (there will be a few inset days) so I'd assume you can contact the office then.

Reception is generally a staggered start but this looks different for every school. My school have kids who were in the preschool in first, then a few days later another 5 kids and a few days after that another 5 kids etc. They don't do the horrible am / pm staggering and by mid September all kids are in full time. But yep you need to have this info.

After school club and breakfast club are bookable through an online system at my school and this info isn't released until school is back in session.

I'd definitely, definitely look to extend your ML. There is no way you'll be able to settle one child into nursery and another child into Reception and have a smooth transition to being back at work. It's too much.

and the council offered me the place a couple of weeks later. I accepted.

It's OK then, no?

I had this dilemma when I moved quickly in August, DD was in year 2 and no schools were open.
I chose one that was the closest and seemed the best (no car) and popped a letter through the door explaining my situation.
The lovely headmistress called me up when she was back in(a week or 2 before term starts) and invited me for a chat and look round and that made the decision.
Although it was 15 years ago the letter worked as it was seen rather than lost in a sea of emails.
I'm sure you have a place but won't hurt to contact the school when they are back in for reassurance.

Sorry your DC's dad turned out to be such a spectacular cunt. Speak to the pastoral team for extra support when DS starts.

Yes I agree! I need to sort out some stuff with the office and I got a bounce back email saying I won't be looking at my emails until 2nd September. By that point it's too late for me.
Really frustrating. And I work in a school too. We do rotas during the holidays

Do you know if there are before and after school club places? Ours are heavily over-subscribed, my son's going into Y1 and is still some way down the queue for places. It was a huge shock at the time, we use a childminder but got her booked the spring before he started.

Fingers crossed they do have places, but you should probably plan for them not to. Also what's your plan for holidays? Our holiday club doesn't run much - only two weeks over summer and a few days of the other holidays.

Also yes, I know lots of children who started school last year in our city, and everyone had at least a week of staggered starts. Really tricky with work but we'd saved lots of holiday to cover it.

Door shut, horse bolted etc. but you really should (and could) have done you due diligence before during the last term when the school was open, find out about ASC etc. However:

Don't panic, it will all get sorted! It's not uncommon for school staff to come back and find there are new kids on roll like yours, places shift around usually into the start of the term. they are used to it and will sort it out. They want the best for your DS and will make sure he has the same great start as all the others coming in to reception.

The LA have confirmed the place so I wouldn't worry about that. I also wouldn't worry about what someone else has said about waiting lists, LA making a mistake etc - you can go straight to the top of a waiting list if you're nearest geographically in catchment and they allocate by distance to school, it's not as simple as who is at the top gets the place and you're at the bottom as you were last.

Uniform you can sort during the term, they won't be fussed about that.

Best to make arrangements to be available for the first 2 weeks of term rather than relying on being able to sort out After school club etc. ie speak to your employer about extending your absence eg by using a/l accrued during mat leave.

Staff will be back in from next week I bet. Do not use the contacts for safeguarding, that's a ridiculous suggestion and you will start off on the wrong foot with them for sure.

Oh behave! I'm sure the OP didn't plan to move at the end of the summer. Surely every adult knows that moving can be a saga that takes months and months (it took a year for us to move and my DC was the same age as OP's) and then everything happens all at once.

The only school staff likely to be all year round are the premises team and possibly IT services.

Staff will pop in and out during the holidays so you could always send an email but honestly most of this info will be on the website, and if you need to go in on the first day and fill in some paperwork from the Welcome pack and ask a few questions it’s really not a catastrophe although bear in mind it will be busy and a bit of patience will be appreciated by the office staff who will be run off their feet.

The only school staff likely to be all year round are the premises team and possibly IT services.

Staff will pop in and out during the holidays so you could always send an email but honestly most of this info will be on the website, and if you need to go in on the first day and fill in some paperwork from the Welcome pack and ask a few questions it’s really not a catastrophe although bear in mind it will be busy and a bit of patience will be appreciated by the office staff who will be run off their feet.

On their website there might be a link to their uniform supplier or there might be a Facebook group selling uniform off so you’ve got something in to start with.

They might not have picked up the email yet to say there is an additional student. Keep trying but you can also usually see the INSET days on school websites and if you ring, they might be able to meet with you briefly/ give you any paperwork you need to fill in.

I understand it’s stressful but it’s not the usual route parents go about. They would have to pay people to staff the office.

I would have a look locally at before and after school care, we had a private nursery do school drop offs and pick ups.

The internal school breakfast and afterschool clubs didn't start until a few weeks into term time, weren't guaranteed to run as it depended on teaching staff availability and after school was only until 4pm and neither took children until KS1.