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Original poster

Bloody bloody half days for reception kids

400 replies

Icylightning · 28/07/2019 11:08

Why?!! WHY?!!

Don’t the school realise what a nightmare this is for working parents, I’m a single working parent so it’s even worse. TWO weeks of half days. To ease the children into full days apparently. DD has been doing 5 full days at nursery for 18 mths. Longer hours than she will be doing in school.

I’m using most of my annual leave in the holidays but now need to ask for two weeks of leaving at lunch time ffs. I thought they couldn’t do this anymore?!

Her nursery won’t take her back for those two weeks and is nowhere near her school either. Bloody nightmare

OP posts:
Ilikesweetpeas · 28/07/2019 16:48

I feel for you OP. I used to teach reception in a school which took 3 weeks to start them all full time. I changed the system there , had the youngest 1/3 starting on a Monday (as they were younger I thought it best to start them whilst it was quiet), then the middle third on the Wednesday, then the older third on the Thursday. Worked so well that 15 years on the school still operate that system!

Yabbers · 28/07/2019 16:54

What I said was that she doesn’t know what’s best for her child in this respect because the child has never been in Reception before. It’s impossible for the OP to know whether it would be better or worse to do half days.

What a load of rot. There are lots of things DD does for the first time that I’m more than capable of knowing what is best for her.

SaxxedtotheMax · 28/07/2019 16:59

Thank goodness our school didn't do this.

Can she stay at Nursery until she is 5? Confused

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Childcare & nursery Families General education Primary education
user1494670108 · 28/07/2019 17:00

Many children end up staying at our infants school, the head does believe its best they ease in but as you have pointed out, it's simply not feasible for many working parents and so they are allowed to stay if needs be.

FamilyOfAliens · 28/07/2019 17:06

What a load of rot. There are lots of things DD does for the first time that I’m more than capable of knowing what is best for her.

I think you might be able to take a good guess. But you won’t know until she’s done it for the first time.

Loving your Jacob Rees-Mogg style turn of phrase there, though Grin

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/07/2019 17:09

Icylightning
about how it’s best for the children

Which is what makes this thread ironic, because you come across as what is best for you and not the children.

CallmeAngelina · 28/07/2019 17:14

It was gingerbreadsprinkle Sun 28-Jul-19 13:04:50 who mentioned money, not the OP.
"I feel like some people are being unfair to OP. It seems like parents are always attacked for what is really down to budget cuts. If they want smaller class sizes, surely if there were no financial constraints there would be more staff. Honestly all these fines for parents who dare to have a holiday during term time (which they could still take schoolwork with them btw) and then pulling stunts like this makes me feel highly skeptical that it's about "best for the children" and not just "money"."

CallmeAngelina · 28/07/2019 17:19

Still amused at pointythings up-thread, believing that her child's behaviour problems were the school's fault for operating a staggered start.

Ginger1982 · 28/07/2019 17:23

Is your DD's dad not on the scene at all to help out?

FamilyOfAliens · 28/07/2019 17:24

It was gingerbreadsprinkle Sun 28-Jul-19 13:04:50 who mentioned money, not the OP.

As I said in my post on this page, the OP posted this:

*Realistically I’m going to have to go into work early for a lot of the summer holidays and accrue enough time owing to leave work early for two weeks. Which means more childcare to pay for and sort out for the summer holidays.

Of course money is part of the picture. But the OP did bring it up herself.

HappyLoneParentDay · 28/07/2019 17:37

@IceRebel Not all nurseries are open during summer holidays!!!!!! My DD's isn't as it's attached to her school

gingerbreadsprinkle · 28/07/2019 17:38

This is all ridiculous.

Of course money is a factor and why shouldn't it be? Women already have enough issue at work when they're sacked before they go on suspected maternity leave, just keep adding more "extenuating" circumstances and see how that plays out in the real world! Some employers are reasonable and some are not, it's a fact of life. People need to stop acting like society doesn't need to give a damn, because it does or it needs to expect more single mothers without jobs which we will ALL pay for.

Isleepinahedgefund · 28/07/2019 17:41

Did you not check the half day policy when you looked round schools/applied? Or when you received your school place notification? You could easily have anticipated this and planned well in advance.

Minesril · 28/07/2019 17:44

I always wonder if the people who always say 'school isn't childcare' are the same ones who insist that SAHMs should find work as soon as their kids start school.

FamilyOfAliens · 28/07/2019 17:53

Nobody is saying money isn’t a factor, gingerbreadsprinkle.

It came up because the OP got cross that I mentioned she would save money by sending her child to school full-time from day one, and she said she’d never mentioned money, but she had. Which is fine.

peridito · 28/07/2019 17:59

I've only read the first 3 pages of this thread so hopefully this will have been mentioned in a post ....

I thought this

gotmychocolateimgood Sun 28-Jul-19 11:49:27
It's not for the staff. The children will have been used to a 1:4 adult to child ratio and now have a 1:15 ratio, assuming they have a teaching assistant. This means they need to learn to listen, wait their turn for help and be more independent than they were in nursery, even though the classroom may still look like a pre school setting. It also helps the teacher get to know the children if they are splitting the class for mornings and afternoons.

was quite a helpful explanation on how half days might help the children .

But an hour later OP you were still complaining that no one had offered anything other than vague " it's good for the children " .

Longdistance · 28/07/2019 18:02

My dds school did this. Dd2 was in full time nursery and they wanted to do half days. We talked to the school and they put dd2 with dd1(one year older) and she used ASC.

It’s naff. Most of these kids have had the free 15 hours as well so they’re used to being away from the parents.

It wouldn’t be too bad if it was the first week for settling in, but dd2 was a June child and they wanted nearly 4 weeks of half days 🙄

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/07/2019 18:02

Minesril

I suspect that a lot of people that say it are teachers/TAs whose job isn't childcare but education.

pointythings · 28/07/2019 18:09

Well, Angelina, for some reason they stopped after she went full time. She also very clearly articulated how sad and angry she was at not being allowed to stay all day when she desperately wanted to - because guess what, four-year-olds can talk!

And her problems weren't severe, but she was definitely angry and sad. Once she was full time, she went back to her usual self.

gingerbreadsprinkle · 28/07/2019 18:12

BoneyBackJefferson

It's a very narrow perspective. Education isn't childcare but schools should still have a duty of care towards their pupils and offer some sort of paid after-school care in order to provide consistency for all families' circumstances. OP said that she couldn't get a childminder in her village and this is where it's going to get awkward by asking for more favours from work.

I remember one of the last IT companies I worked for, 90% of the employees were male developers and despite being in cosmopolitan London, they were not open minded when it came to things like this. It really puts women at a disadvantage.

firstimemamma · 28/07/2019 18:20

"The head have some saccharine speech about how it’s best for the children."

Former reception teacher here. I'm sorry that it's tough for you but it is best for the children even those who did full time at nursery.

I hope you accept things or find a way around them that works out Thanks

WoWsers16 · 28/07/2019 18:20

I'm a teacher and teaching isn't childcare- However I'm also a parent - and realistically it is hard for a working family to cope with having this type of schooling for the first couple of weeks.
In my opinion it's parents who worry more about their child and we've had parents choosing to do half days when their children actually don't need it. Children, In my opinion, can handle full days straight from the start - I don't see the point in blending them in slowly.

MoltoAgitato · 28/07/2019 18:23

peridito if you could have been arsed to red the rest of the thread you would have read that ratios for 3 to 5 year olds are not 1:4, but 1:8 and may be greater if one of the adults is a qualified teacher.

So actually, no one has out forward anything like a decent argument as to why staggered starts are good. And again, if the benefits are so clear, how come many (most) schools and children cope just fine with full time from day 1?

Many schools do staggered starts because they've always done them.

Original poster
Icylightning · 28/07/2019 18:32

Many schools do staggered starts because they've always done them

Precisely. Just because it’s always been done that way and nobody complains so it carries on.

I get it if it’s your PFB, I was probably an nightmare parent with mine. Honestly once you get to your 4th you just want them to go to bloody school! (I’m half joking)

OP posts:
pointythings · 28/07/2019 18:34

firstimemamma you say it is best for children - but where is the evidence of that? The most frustrating thing is that none of us have seen any. At all. Just schools doing what they've always done.