3 weeks of half days for reception children.

[Tohaveandtohold]

So my child is starting reception in sept and we got an email on Friday of their plans for
their transition and the new term. My main issue is they expect them to do 3 weeks of half day so half of the class will do 9-12 the first 2 weeks and then at week 3 they’ll be there for lunch so 9-12:45. The other half of the class will do half day in the afternoon.
I just feel this is out of touch. My child currently goes to nursery 4 days a week doing 8-6 though she’s picked up around 5 anyway and has never been clingy, so I can’t see how 3 weeks of half day will benefit her. Also we both work, luckily I’ll only go to the office 2 days a week so dh will pick up those days and we’re not using up all our annual leave unnecessarily. Can I request she only does half day for a week and that they have to provide her with full time education.
Like I don’t want to be ‘that’ parent at the beginning of her school journey but I feel 3 weeks is just ridiculous and out of touch

I don’t think it helps at all. Our school used to do it and stopped before my kids started as they said it created two periods of adaptation, one to the half day and then again to the full day.
I remember reading on here once that if you ask school to take them full days at the beginning they have to, so definitely worth looking into that.

I’m work at a school that does this and I don’t agree with it at all, it doesn’t help the children or working parents.

Moving to a school is very different to being settled in a nursery. Nursery will be more cosy, there is less expectation on the children and they will get down time/rest time.
I think school are right. I am a TA (not currently in Yr R but I have been in the past, plus I have 4 children of my own). It’s highly stressful and very tiring for the children in YrR to transition from nursery to school. Physically and mentally tiring.

Oh I remember that well with my two. Their school was exactly the same and it was ridiculous. By the time I'd got home I'd almost be going back to collect them and then when youngest started I'd have another trip back to the school later on to collect the eldest ! My children had been attending pre-school 8 until 5:30 as had many others. Total nightmare for working parents.

I would say it's pretty rare now for children to have not attended a pre-school setting so the staggered entry is overkill.

It’s inconvenient and hard to manage, but it’s very very normal. It’s easier for a teacher to get them initially settled in a class with smaller numbers, and mine found full school days more tiring than the full 9 hour childminder days they’d been used to. It’s not a weird thing your school has decided to do - it’s quite usual. I’m sure you can ask but I have no idea what they’d say. Also your DC might find it hard if everyone else except her gets collected at lunchtime?

Our school did this too and I hated it. But there were other kids in the class that had never been in a formal setting and needed the transition.

Being in a nursery and starting reception are very different

Just because you think your child ‘will be ok’
Doesnt mean all children will be

You cant ‘request’ that they ‘have’ to provide her with full time eduction

Yeah I think it's ridiculous. My sister used to teach reception - her view was always start full time, but for those kids that can't cope it's absolutely fine to have some flexibility on an individual basis. Like your child, most kids now will have been doing long nursery days since they were a year old. I do agree school is a leap and is harder, but most kids can cope with it. There really is no need for extended settling in.

Three weeks does seem excessive. DD is starting in September and they're doing three days - day one (Weds) we pick them up before lunch, days two and three (Thurs/Fri) we pick them up after lunch. Then normal days from the following Monday.

DD did two mornings until lunch, one morning plus lunch, full day on the Friday. From day 2 they could catch the bus in the mornings, from the Friday they got it home as well. None of the class had issues.

Wow I hope DD's new school isn't doing this, local schools here are doing a couple of half days max.

Yes you can. The schools adjudicator ruled on this back in 2013. The schools admission code is clear what is offered is a full time place (that’s 21 hours of lesson time).

My kids did this but for six weeks!! Totally pointless imho

I’m so glad that my DC’s school didn’t do this.

They started Reception full time from day 1. So our school clearly feels that most of the children can cope with that.

I think this process is daft. Both of mine did 3 half days, the. For the following 2 weeks they had to do mornings, but could be collected at lunch, after lunch or 3pm depending on what they needed, what their parents work was like etc. (Pre pandemic so very little wfh or flexibility then). Teachers mentioned on pickup if they thought anyone was struggling to change the following day.

I can understand the need for settling in, it’s just the length of it. One week seem okay or maybe 2 at a stretch. The 3 just seem like an overkill when the term is 6 weeks without anyone having an option to opt out.
It’s interesting to hear that it’s the same in many other schools too.

My DC's school did a staggered start over the first four days (2 half days to lunch, 2 half days with lunch, one full day on the Friday) It was much more manageable for working parents and the children all seemed to cope well.

I taught reception for years. We tried doing this kind of slow start and we tried the straight into it start. There was no real difference in my opinion. Some children need a slower start and we always gave the option of doing half days but they generally wanted to come in the afternoon as they soon realised they were missing out on stuff.

Assuming you are in England then it used to be the case that you could insist that your child attends full time. I would think it’s still the case now.

Thanks for this. It’s something worth looking into further.

Our school does a week of going in for an hour in groups of 6-8, then 2 weeks of 1/2 the class doing mornings, 1/2 doing afternoons, then switch to 2 weeks of afternoons or mornings (depending on what they did first). They don't even start full time until after the October half term. It's a pain for working parents, but our school did have a wrap around facility in the adjoining school house for children who went there for preschool. It seems to work well with helping the kids settle in the long run, and I'd much rather the gradual approach than a school that insist they start full time from day one in reception. Mine were always so exhausted in the first few weeks getting used to a new environment with new children, teachers and expectations, it was good for them to do it gradually.

It's daft, it's really hard for parents and I don't think such a drawn out transition benefits the children either.

At my DCs school the first day is a half day, the rest of the first week you have the choice of full days or mornings and from the second week they're all full time.

Both of mine were full time from day 2.

My DGS had to do alternate mornings and afternoons for his first fortnight in reception. It was awful. He’d been used to nursery from 08.00 to 18.00. Utterly cruel and stupid to mess little children about like that, let alone the difficulty for parents with full time jobs.

But equally there are some children who haven’t gone to any kind of nursery or preschool. It’s cruel to them to drop them off at the door for a long first day.

Legally they have to offer you a full time place from Day One. Do you know other parents? It would probably be easier to approach as a group.

I hated this- drop eldest DD off in the morning, return after lunch to
drop younger DD, return after school to pick up- and they both also finished at different times 20 mins apart (one in juniors and one in infants) so more hanging about. This went on until after oct half term when they were allowed to go full time, children with autumn birthdays were allowed to go full time straight away but no
other allowances for parents who worked or who had no other help/ support for pick up and drop off. Our school was not in walking distance (rural) and it was a right faff going back and forth on the bus. 15 years ago now, I can’t believe they are still
doing this ridiculous thing as if working parents have time to juggle this for several weeks.