Bloody bloody half days for reception kids

[Icylightning]

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

sorry havent RTFT, just wanted to say one way we found to help reduce people using up leave for days like this (there will be more later in the year - half days for end of term etc, inset days etc) was to band together with a few of the class parents and each take a few days where you lifted maybe 2-3 of the kids and everyone took a turn

It's true ice, definitely like that especially with the youngest. Mine were close in age and it's such hard work

I get it if it’s your PFB

I had no worries about my first child going to school, he was always really confident and coped with changes well. I was more concerned about my second child who has always been a bit more anxious about new situations so for me it had nothing to do with PFB.

You seem to only see this from your perspective. Your children are used to long days at nursery therefore the school should do full days. Its inconvenient for you so therefore the school should do things differently.

Posted too soon

I bet there are some parents that are relived their child is starting on half days as their children are anxious about starting school. As I said before, schools will never please everyone.

My DC started reception in 2 different schools.

DC1 is a May baby and they staggered on birth date. So we were offered half days until something mad like September 31st. Some August-born kids had full days after half term!

This was ridiculous because DC1 had fine to nursery in the attached classroom next door 5 mornings a week for over a year. So we did 1 half day ending before lunch (when DC1 cried about having to come home, 2 pick-ups after lunch in the Hall, and then I said I was sending them full time from Monday as clearly fine and settled and they didn’t object.

There was absolutely no way for us to juggle half days for a full month. Not many people could who work.

DC2’s different school had a much more sensible arrangement: staggered start of half the class either morning or afternoon for 2 days, another 2 half days for the full class staying till lunch and pick up at 1pm, Friday parents invited to come in at 1pm after lunch to stay and play and understand class routines. Then the rest of term pick up 15 mins earlier than the rest of school in case you wanted to speak with the teacher and a calmer exit for the little ones.

I don’t actually doubt that a gentle start to school routines is beneficial to most children, but half days stretching into weeks is madness for most children and parents.

And in both schools anyone who actively wanted half days could request them. But mot many people did!

*relieved not relived

I think the part time starts may benefit some children but it may be detrimental to others. I suspect a large proportion are fine with either option, so why have a system that does complicate things for those that need childcare? Especially when the local area has very little wraparound care available?

And by detrimental, I'm thinking about a Times article I read on the Broadwater Farm Estate in London, which included the stuff the Head of the primary school was doing as families were struggling so much. (Opening early with a free bagel for the whole family, after school activities until 6pm,).

My youngest used to do the cry until asleep thing at nursery. He's the only one of my 4 to do this, he's always been clingy. I don't think part time will actually make it any better for him tbh.

Our school does this and it drives me crazy. The particularly great part was that they changed pick up time to 30 minutes earlier than the pre-published time with no warning and no communication other than a sign on the door. Caused chaos for those of us who had fiddled hours around to make it work.

There are also countless parent drop in sessions in the working week - it really does feel like they have no understanding of what a working parent’s week might look like. And an expectation that mothers don’t work at all. Hooray to the 1950s!

Apparently I (c1985) was utterly inconsolable every day in my first term because I had to go home at lunchtime and the autumn norms got to stay. Hysterical lying on the floor and being carried away because I wanted to be there so much.

DM was much relieved that my younger sister is September born.

Not a new phenomenon and wouldn’t it be nice if schools accepted that most parents know their own DC best.

There are also countless parent drop in sessions in the working week - it really does feel like they have no understanding of what a working parent’s week might look like. And an expectation that mothers don’t work at all. Hooray to the 1950s!

Amen to that sista. I give you emails at 9.30am asking if any mums want to come in and hear reading, or help clean the PTA shed, sign up sheets for parents evening in the school office, costume requests 3 days before they are needed and my favourite “we’re going to swim today, can you please bring swimming kit to school”. No! Because I’m 30 miles away in a meeting! (They have their own pool and seem to just decide to swim on the go.

Horrendous isn't it? I'm sure it benefits some children, but certainly not all. I would have absolutely hated it as a child, all these bitty little days of eking out the "new and scary" feeling. Ugh. Even as a child I preferred to have the worst thrown at me so I could get over it. I do feel like the "rip the plaster off quickly" approach would be better - just send them in full days with the option of half if it's at the parent's discretion

I had no idea until literally past the deadline that this staggering was even a thing. I started full time on my first day, so have all my niblings. If schools are doing this, they ought to make it really clear on their website, rather than "oh BTW, prepare yourself for weeks of this". And I speak as a SAHM who would have been able to manage this.

MoltoAgitato

whether 1:4 or 1:8 it's still significantly lower than in a reception class and the points mentioned are still valid.

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.

IMO saying that most schools/children cope just fine without a staggered start doesn't negate an argument that they would be better with a staggered start .

Most children cope just fine in classes of 30 but would cope even better in smaller classes .

Good user name .

Amen to that sista. I give you emails at 9.30am asking if any mums want to come in and hear reading, or help clean the PTA shed, sign up sheets for parents evening in the school office, costume requests 3 days before they are needed and my favourite “we’re going to swim today, can you please bring swimming kit to school”

That's just a crap school. My children's schools both give loads of notice for dress up days, parents evening is booked online, etc.

There are also countless parent drop in sessions in the working week - it really does feel like they have no understanding of what a working parent’s week might look like

Our primary school actually send out surveys asking if we want more or less workshops, parent drop ins etc. The head teacher has actually said that some parents complain that that there aren't enough of them whereas others have complained that they shouldn't have them at all as they can't go so their children are on their own. Our school tried to do something after 5.30 one day and only 5 parents said they would go. It's very difficult for schools.

I would have thought for many children the hotch potch of childcare that may ensue for those with working parents will be more confusing than starting full-time in Reception.
I can understand a couple of half days, but surely if you start getting weeks of half days it must be a shock for the children to then go full-time. Much better to be able to have the option of half days if you feel your DC will need them and let all other children go full-time. In England YR is still very play led so it’s not like they are sitting at desks writing for 6 hours.
When DS started YR he started on a Thursday , so did half day and didn’t stay for lunch, then came home after lunch on the Friday and then was full-time from the following Monday. He coped absolutely fine.

DS's school are doing half days (just mornings). If you're a working parent, you can leave your child in the school nursery for the afternoon.
This just seems so BLOODY SENSIBLE. It recognises that half days are best for most children. And it recognises that they put a strain on working parents and provides an easy solution. You can even let your child do mornings for the first week (which is only three days), see how they're getting on, and then put them in the nursery for the second week.

I found this a nightmare and also had it for 2 weeks. I’m a teacher and couldn’t book the time off so had to get grandparents to come and stay!!

DD is a summer baby and at the induction they said they offered half days for as long as the kids needed. Figured I’d pick her up at lunch for a few days (work from home).

I duly picked her up on the first day at lunchtime to be met with fury that she had to come home when everyone else was still there

It’s outdated and awkward practice tbh. You have my sympathy!

@peridito

My Dcs pre school is 8-6 and has a 1:13 ratio. Only 2 fewer students than a school with a TA, and their day is 9-3. Please explain why my child won't cope with full days?

I'm an experienced ex infant teacher and in my experience it certainly isn't always the case that the child who has done well in ft nursery will take easily to ft school. They are different environments with different expectations in the main. There's nothing worse than seeing a little one besides themselves because they are absolutely exhausted and just need to sleep.

I'm personally an advocate of acting in child's best interests although as a working (once single) mum myself I do appreciate the logistical difficulties.

My dc school does one week of half days. Half the class do am and half pm. Only for the first week though.

We've always been told it was to give the teacher and TA more 1 on 1 time with the dc so they get a better idea of their individual capabilities.

Never understood this because 90% of the class will be coming from the schools nursery. So surely the previous teacher can pass on all the relevant info on the dc that I know they collect in nursery. Wouldn't take long to have a bit of 1 on 1 with the newbies.

Honestly though get used to having to take time off for school things. I've used half of my annual leave between April and July attending school events. My dh will start going when I have no annual leave left to take. I don't go to everything either e.g in reception they have stay and play where the parents come in once a fortnight and play with their child. My dc have to kiss out on this because I just can't have that much time off. Breaks my heart especially since most dc have someone there

That should obviously be miss out not kiss out 🤦‍♀️

Stay and Play

The hellishness of reception

My class will all be in all day from day 1. No messing about. They may be tired for the first few days, but it's a short week anyway.

We do look at individual cases of a child isn't settling, but as a general rule they are all in full time. We need 'bums on seats' for our census too, to make sure we have the right funding.

If we don't instil in parents and children the importance of being in all day every day from the very beginning, then we risk higher instances of absences, which has a negative effect on learning.