AIBU to continue turning in the school gate?

I don't think it's even relevant what's up the A road, is it @TattyBluebell?

Going back to the OP @NortonBuns:

Q: "..where am I supposed to turn around?"
A: You're not - that's explicitly what the school is stating on the very clear new banner.

OP: "If I carry on I reach the front gate which is busier and has the busses."
A: Yes. It is busier. So it will be slower. You have stated you do all you can to avoid this route at all times as a route to continue into town because it is busy and slow. It does however involve continuing straight along a road wide enough for buses, in a forwards direction, without turning across rush hour traffic. This is clearly the school's preferred and suggested solution (other than parents not going anywhere near it in a car at all). The OP just doesn't fancy it because it's slow & not convenient for them. (I would say her, but the sustained level of belligerence on the thread has me wondering whether it's a Dad writing?)

OP: "If I turn before I reach the back entrance I am doing a three point turn in busy school run traffic with lots of children walking and cycling."
A: Agreed. You have clearly risked-assessed this as being a poor and unsafe option. Well done. Do not start doing this.

Q: "So AIBU to say I am safest turning in the large double gate and ignoring the new sign?"
A: Yes, YABVU. Do not ignore the new sign! You have now been asked by the school not to turn in this gateway AT ALL. You are safest continuing past the main gate in slow traffic. If this is too inconvenient to bear, other suggestions have been made which still don't involve turning anywhere along the school's road - including in the large double gateway the school has specifically put up a banner to ask you not to turn in.

HTH.

Just read some of this thread and seen the diagram. Probably a divvy question but what is up the A road? Maybe it's already been answered but I was scrolling quickly.
I don't want to give my opinion just yet.

There are many, many solutions besides being 'that' parent but she clearly is invested in being 'that' parent so isn't particularly interested in problem solving. She didn't even ask for a solution - just asked if it was reasonable to carry on doing something that school thinks is so awful they actually invested time and resources in to PRINTING A BANNER to stop it. Everyone else either deals with the faff or finds a way around it but she just doesn't feel like it.

Am totally bewildered at why a high school student needs to be dropped off right at the gate of their school - baring some sort of disability of course but that would have been mentioned by now. Am 100% sure if you drew a 2 mile radius around the school there would be many, many options to avoid this silliness.

Yup, this...

Come on OP, dig around in the drawers for the big girl pants for both you and your daughter and you WILL find solutions which are SAFER for other pupils arriving on foot using this gate you turn in (which the school has gone to some time & effort to procure & affix not just a sign, but a BANNER - as you described it - asking parents, ALL parents, not to do this). Your diagram didn't include the pedestrian walkway & zebra crossing you mentioned (or the position of the enormous banner asking you not to turn there), so all we have to go on is that the school is quite certain they do not want parents turning cars in the gateway, but you & ~10% of other parents STILL feel special enough to ignore this.

These solutions which are SAFER may take you more time, they may require hybrid means of transport, they may involve experiencing weather, they may involve walking further than a couple of hundred metres. But they won't involve ignoring the school's safety requests not to turn in their gateway or neighbouring business' car parks.

DD is either eligible to access help for transport to school from your local authority (living 6 miles away) OR

1. she's at a private school and you don't live on one of their bus routes
2. she was eligible for a nearer state school but you opted to send her to this one because it was in some way more beneficial to you
3. you've been offered a council transport option but don't find it convenient so drive her in yourself

which of these is it @NortonBuns ?

If eligible, get the application in & find out where your nearest bus stop is to drop her, so she can get to school the same way as the other 90% of pupils & arrive at the main gate. https://www.gov.uk/free-school-transport#:~:text=Children%20of%20compulsory%20school%20age,child%20is%208%20or%20over

Otherwise, the A road you approach from is only 2 miles from the gate, and high school pupils are expected to walk up to 3 miles each way before qualifying for free transport (per link above). So I suspect you are probably not casting the net wide enough for places which are safe for you to stop & return home, and still within what is considered a reasonable distance to walk to school at her age.

It feels like you are deciding it's unreasonable for her to walk 50 minutes in in the morning, when it's a national policy that it's perfectly reasonable. By extension, if you still dropped her to the gate but didn't turn, I'm sure it wouldn't take you fully 50 minutes to get out if continued via the main gate to return home.

It's just INCONVENIENT.

The school has been quite clear they don't want your convenience trumping pupil safety in the morning. Even if it adds time to you or DDs daily trip in. Unblock your tin ears & find a solution!

I've never really seen a thread where it's unanimous to stop doing this. I wonder whether the OP is still ignoring the signs?

Yes, OP. You are very special and should continue to do this even though the school say not to.

Other parents should, of course, cease forthwith.

Are you insane or a troll?

Sorry I was not asking the quoted but OP.

lol.

Probably because OP thinks they and their child are too good for public transport. It’s far easier to ignore school requests to make the school safe than go slightly out of their way.

@NortonBuns you've still not explained why you're driving your DD to school rather than driving her to a bus stop.

And I still don't believe there is any road in the UK. with schools, shops, businesses etc that has a two mile stretch with no side roads.

Or you can go by bus.

OP the sign is there for a reason and applies to you. You aren’t special or entitled to ignore it.

The solution which you don’t seem to want to do is continue town to the main gate where all the traffic is. You are turning around and trying to justify it to avoid the traffic because it inconveniences you. Continue down the road. Clearly the school know parents drive and they also know they are turning around there so keep going down the road.

Just park further away from the school and find somewhere else to turn back. Not rocket science.

There’s a lot of posts here so maybe @NortonBuns didn’t see the repeated queries about being offered school transportation.

Wow another entitled knob

Exactly this.

park and walk

17 pages in and OP still doesn’t seem to understand this!

OP - It doesn’t matter whether other posters’ suggestions are feasible or not, a solution needs to be found (by you) that doesn’t involve ignoring the sign specifically telling you to stop doing the thing you want to do.

I sometime assist with primary drop off at my school and the number of parents who do u-turns in the middle of traffic across a solid white line, on a corner makes my jaw drop. If they continued on down the road, a right hand turn at the end of the road is tricky, but safer than an illegal u-turn in traffic with buses, cars etc. Other parents stop a little down the road and use residents’ driveways to perform a 3 point turn, which drives the locals nuts. The parents could park on a side street and walk their children a very short distance to the school, but that’s far too difficult. OP if there’s a sign prohibiting the manoeuvre then you need to find another way, it can’t be one rule for you and another for everyone else.

In the county where I live, and the one where I work, living more than 3 miles from school entitled a child to school transport at high school. Is this an option for you?

Why not walk your child to school instead?

The sign is aimed at YOU.

Really? You ever seen a child get knocked over!? I have right outside of a school gate due to a twat like you who thinks the rules don't apply to them! 🔔🔚

Continuing to turn where you've been told not to is selfish. And instead of suggesting that you won't stop because other parents won't is selfish too. You're approaching the issue with the attitude that you're going to come up with an excuse for every solution. You have several options:

• continue past the school and go a different route home
• drive her to a bus stop that goes to the school
• look at a map and choose somewhere within walking distance to drop off. If its a residential area with businesses nearby I don't believe there aren't any side streets within walking distance
• look at a sensible cycle route to school
• drive her to a friends house and their parent takes them who may not need to turn around