Reception start

Perfectly doable with a private nursery. The only issue is not getting 30 hours funding for nursery anymore.

I have never heard of a child being in nursery and reception at the same time, @Timeforachange26 , as they will be registered to a particular year group.

Your experience is not the norm.

My son stayed at nursery full time till the Sept and part time till Oct half term ( also half days at reception) . Why is it a strange thing to say

No they wouldn’t. The nursery children would be in nursery, not reception children who would leave after 2 weeks. And not all schools have nurseries anyway.

What a weird thing to say.

But it's silly when they are in until lunch then the lunch break is driving them to nursery for the rest of the afternoon.

Especially if they were doing 8-5 previously

6 weeks of that nonsense when my DS started school. Was half days for the whole term for those born after January

And don't get me started on kids that can't use the school transport due to that

But they'd be in nursery instead.

@Blueysmum2026 ranting about CHILDCARE!

Which can be:

Family
Friends
Babysitters... (the norm)

Before thinking about Nursery or After School Clubs...

It's not about whats best for parents its about what's best for the children...

All the people bleating about a child being entitled to full time schooling from day one are not thinking about the actual child!

Children start school so early in this country already and now they have to attend wraparound care too - at 5 years old.

What a long and tiring day at such a young age.

I get it's not the parents' fault though, gone are the days when families could afford for one parent to be part time while their children are small.

Poor kids are the ones who lose out here because of the crazy costs of housing, energy, food etc etc.

Ours alternates morning and afternoon for two weeks. In the first week they’re not there tor lunch regardless. In the second week, the morning session includes lunch.

Theres no holiday club or after school provision until
the third week.

It’s not the most working friendly pattern! When he’s in on afternoons, he’s literally gone for 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Yes definitely do start the term being “that” parent who can’t possibly do what everyone else is having to do for ONE week!!

Make it really difficult for the school and teachers. Throw some threats about the DfE around.

I’m sure that will bode well for your relationship with the school for the next 7 years….

(oh and don’t forget to call them lazy to their faces!)

I can’t believe that people on this thread can see a post like this and still think the teachers are lazy. School staff work so hard for your children!!

OP doesn’t have childcare because they didn’t arrange or book any! They’re looking at everyone else for a solution rather than themselves. At the end of the day it might be inconvenient but the only person responsible for looking after your child is you!

Parents who think teachers are there for childcare above everything make my blood boil. We are not glorified babysitters.

The teachers do not go home when the child leaves for the day, they continue with further planning, preparation, professional development that benefits the student. In the case of our school, the teacher spends each afternoon of the first 2-weeks of half days doing home visits to each child to get to know them.

Teachers are not lazy and have limited input on the school calendar, which is actually a decision made by leadership teams and approved by the Governers, education board etc.

The issue is the school is not meeting DfE guidance. If it were the child would be at school full time.

This has the added bonus of the family not requiring child care.

OP, if it were me, I would ask that my child starts full time, providing the school, trust leaders and trustees (governors in a maintained school) with the three guidance documents listed. This may also influence decisions on transition for next year and onwards.

There are other ways to make sure that transition is smooth, without breaking DfE guidance.

It's normal. My dc school did 4 weeks part time and then full time if they were ready. My ds2 and 2 others in his class were part time until Easter.

I think OP was pretty clear there is no childcare, and you're just refusing to listen (because of course you know better).

We've been trying to get childcare for the beginning of each term because our kids nursery closes for a few days every time, it's impossible. Childminders have their term time only children so are generally full and not interested in taking in new kids just for a few days.

Nurseries of course don't take children ad hoc.
Clubs are not running.

Baby sitters are ok for a few hours but if you WFH then it's an issue because they're in the house with you most of the day. It only works for us because we can afford to pay for them to go to a farm or something and the weather has been ok. We also have babysitters we know very well, it's not easy at all to send your kids out for an entire day with someone they don't know!

That’s literally not the issue of this thread though. OP has said the words childcare about 50 times.

No the issue is children not getting the education they are entitled to.

With a staggered start, even those children with non working parents are not getting the full time education they are entitled to.

It's for the benefit of the teachers and that's it. It is lazy. The kids keep asking why they can't go to school every day, my son actually ends up being jealous of his 3yo sister who get to go back to nursery full time.
It's not a step up from nursery, it's the exact same hours and same daily schedule. Plenty of schools in the UK and rest of Europe manage to get kids full time from day 1.

I get that the teachers get less TAs than at nursery, but stop saying it's about the children.

There is!

Read back. Loads of DfE guidance and admission codes say otherwise.

In this instance the issue is childcare and calling teachers lazy because they haven’t made plans to look after their own child for the first week of term.

I think the issue isn't schools but work places that lack flexibility. School holidays have been the same for decades.

Our primary school didn't allow Reception kids into the wraparound care until after Christmas if their 5th birthday happened in the first half of the school year or until after Easter if they were summer born. This was a sensible decision and having seen later what it was like, with enormous year5 and year6 kids taking up a lot of space and being very dominant, it's no place for a 4 year old who has only just started school.