Teachers - how to manage drop offs and pick ups at primary?

[Caramelbiscuits]

I’m guessing the only solution is wraparound care, but am conscious that my children would end up there until around 5 once a week, which seems like a long day for younger children, especially with breakfast club too. I’m guessing there’s no easy solution, just interested in what others do.

I used nursery when mine were small, I would drop them to my parents who would take them to nursery for 8am. When at school we used breakfast and after school club, was easier when I was part time and didn't have a class (cover teacher). I also didn't work for a few years and I have now left education. It was actually more stressful in some ways when they were in Y6 and Y7 as they came home independently and were home alone for a few hours; they ate rubbish and the house was a tip!

I agree with you OP, school I work in most kids are picked up by a parent most days. Also my own dd schools most are picked up by a parent for the majority of days! A lot do work from home or have greater flexibility in their jobs. Only child in my class who does 5 days before and after school parents are both teachers.

Fortunately my dp finished at 2 so can pick up my dd and has Monday off!

But unfortunately it has to be a childminder who allows early drop off I had one which allowed 7.15 so I could be at school for 7.45. Though know what you mean about that feeling rushed feeling, even if you have an hour before the kids arrive!

My DD is a toddler still so I appreciate that I’m not the target audience for this thread, but we’re both teachers. DH is FT and I’m 0.6. On my working days I drop off at childminder at 8am and we mix up who collects between 4:30-5 based on meeting/parents eve/gym etc. Our childminder does school drop off for older children so hoping to stick with her when DD eventually starts school.

@Stickstickstickstickstick - we haven’t started yet. Trying to plan ahead in considering school choices, part time and so on.

My children are older and independent now but, when they were younger, I dropped them off at childcare at 7.30am and picked them up at 5.30pm. I had no choice. I was a single parent and had zero grandparent support. So it was all down to me.

My friend is a teacher. She hasn't changed her childcare provider so they still go to the same crèche they went to as babies snd pre schoolers . So she drops them off in the morning and crèche brings them to school and collects them at their respective finishing times. So no change really to her childcare arrangements

I used a childminder before school (from 7.15 am to allow commuting time) as it was a calmer and more ‘homely’ environment. They’d sit with the CM and her family to have breakfast, then clean their teeth and chill quietly before her other mindees arrived and she did the school run. After school, they did the school wraparound club as it was more flexible and was much more ‘playing with their mates’.

I arrived early at school (printing and chopping the resources for the day; getting out practical equipment; briefing the TA) and then left fairly early, taking everything that I could do at home - marking, paperwork, planning, resource creation - with me. Picked up the children, was present for them - clubs and activities, homework and reading, supper, bath and stories - and then worked once they were in bed. As they got older and more independent, I would interleave work with their evenings, to balance out later bedtimes..

I have noticed that since Covid, there's loads more parents actually at pick up and drop off. Before Covid, it was SAHPs, grandparents, and childminders pretty exclusively. Now, most families, at least where we are in a relatively affluent London suburb, have at least one parent who is WFH almost every day, and they do seem to be able to do drop off and pick ups around their work. I do agree that this is something that will make teaching less attractive, at least in London where absolutely loads of graduate jobs are WFH at least a couple of days a week. But to answer your question about what teachers do, they a) work part-time - almost every female teacher with primary school aged children at my school is part-time, b) use grandparents c) their WFH partner does some of the school runs, and d) they use wraparound care. We also have clubs like football, gymnastics, choir etc which finish earlier than the wraparound care, and my kids have always preferred those, it's more of an activity than just child care. Thankfully, there's lots more capacity in the wraparound care now that so many people no longer need it. Pre-pandemic we had to book months in advance, now we can book the day before if necessary.

School is much harder to organise childcare when you work FT.

Dh and I shared drop offs/pick ups where possible, like many parents we had to use breakfast and after school which thankfully had spaces. ds loved it as it was extra play time with classmates.

Holidays were even harder to organise, and then age when they think they are too old for afterschool but not quite old enough to get home alone. One of ds's friends mum kept her childminder until her ds was older, and that seemed to work well, it meant he could go back to hers then go out to play with friends until she got home after 6.

My husband is a teacher and I work ft office hours too, we can't do drop offs or pick ups, like the majority of people who work ft. We use wraparound and my parent's help too. They get used to the long day quite quickly, we've done this since age 3 (the nursery is part of school and you can use the same wraparound). When they go into wraparound they get there at 7.30am and are picked up by 5.30pm. My kids love breakfast and afterschool club, they actually complained they don't go everyday (they are now 5 and 7).

My son will start reception in September and it’s already a headache. There are no childminders in my area who offer wrap around care to the school and the breakfast/after school club is oversubscribed with a large waiting list. He’s been with a lovely childminder since he was 1 year old (7.30-5.30 M, T & W) but she’s located where I work - a 40 min drive away from home.

Don't know if this helps but my kids absolutely love ASC. All their friends go. They get fed, play games, occasionally watch a film.

At first I felt so guilty about having to send them. I would rush to get there at 4pm to collect them and without fail they would ask if I could come back at 6pm when it finishes, so now I leave them there till 6pm even though i'm at home!

They go two days a week but regularly ask me why they can't go more days like their friends.

Not a teacher but my DH is a lecturer and my work was full time then 80%, needing to be in the office 8.30-4.45 for the primary school years. We used a childminder before they started school and then subsequently as school wraparound care. Long days but we had no choice and kids could chill at her house as well as at ours - really nice environment. They did homework there when they got a bit older. My teacher friends use wraparound care too, TA friends have kids at the same school coming into the classroom to wait for them to finish up.

You’re already minimising the time in wraparound by working 3 days a week. So it’s only 3 days they’ll be doing this for - it’s a lot less than plenty of other people. They’ll be fine.

Think it also depends on the ASC. My Dc went to one that was great. Lots of games, outdoor play if they wanted, nice selection of food, good staff and a safe environment. We moved house and I didn’t think to check the ASC at the new primary before we enrolled. It was absolutely awful in every way and I couldn’t use it. Actually had to give up my teaching job. It is worth viewing the ASC when you’re choosing primary schools. They are not all the same.

I do 0.8 but my school I fab so I change tt every year. I've used nurseries and pre school plus childminder in various combinations and breakfast and asc. I always get 2 afternoons off, have to stop p4 as pre school ends early but when in school can end p5 so practically a full 6 period day anyway. So next year I will do till p5 2 days, so only bc, 1 half day or full day off and 2 full days so bc and asc. Childminder can pick up if required for later etc or my parents come. My husband does some drop offs because pre school starts at 8.30 earliest but won't be needed next year apart from parents eve etc when he will collect from asc.

Mine go to a cm - 7:30 - 5:30. But we get all the holidays together so it’s not all bad.

I think you are a little, but I was the same before my eldest started school. I'm not a teacher but I was office based with an hour's commute and DH likewise when he started school, so he was in breakfast and after school from the get go.

Honestly, it was fine and probably more chilled than nursery - they were hanging out with friends, doing whatever took their fancy (board games, playing outside, reading, drawing and craft...) Our after school club always put a film on after tea for kids who fancied it as well.

Its a familiar environment with people they know - I wouldn't worry too much!

It’s really lovely to hear so many children enjoying and getting a lot out of ASC, thanks

Sorry, not fully relevant to the thread, but if the provision only starts at 8am, then the person dropping off is unlikely to get to work at 8am!

Many schools do have morning meetings starting at 8.15 some days, so that would limit OP to schools where there's only a 15 minute commute between her DC's school and her school, which is not ideal.

Anyway, OP, as it's not every day of the week, I do think it'll be okay- and at least you don't have the issue of holiday childcare!

Unless your partner is also a teacher, he does drop offs and pick ups

In primary, 8 am is usually the ‘latest feasible arrival’, just because getting everything ready for a 5 subject day is a little high wire when started later. Remember that adjusting planning and resources for the day usually happens after previous day’s marking, and eg TAs need to be briefed.

Our primary school had no breakfast club & very limited after school club places. It was really stressful for a few years & in the end DH got a job there. It still wasn't great as he used to leave at 7 and kids would be hanging around for an hour and a half before school.

The nights where you both have a late meeting or a parents evening are difficult.

I'm a full-time teacher with two in infant school and use a childminder. I prefer it to after school club as they have a more home feel- they adore her.

My husband (not a teacher) dropped them off in the morning. They went to after school club and I picked them up from that.

It's a nightmare for all teachers I know with kids in my kids' school. Breakfast club starting at 8 isn't early enough. One year I had to pay a childminder during school hours to 'save a place' for my kids just so I could access her wraparound care.

A couple of teachers have gone to 0.8 so they can do the mornings.

Now I have managed to find another parent to take two of my kids in the mornings- which is fabulous, but she's not qualified so I'm aware it's dodgy.

I think someone did ask the school if they could start even 15 minutes early- but I get why they don't, to be honest, because most parents don't need it.