School Parking

[ChatTime]

At my childs school some staff park cars in the school playground this has been given the go ahead by the current head. I have voiced my concern with regard to health & saftey also to the fact that due to major building working going on at school the closure of one entire playground means lack of play space. I had no responce however today i happened to see the Head at school gates and mentioned my concern and that other parents were in agreement with me. Heads responce was she had made the decision that cars can be parked no change will happen and if i didn't like it to take my child to another school. Where do we as parents stand, after all we as Tax Payers pay for the children to play in the playground and not for staff to have their private car park.

That is what she said. I was very plesant with my inital approach only when i said that i thought it was worringing now that space was at a premium did the Head come down hard, however she is known for her very direct if not rude manner to anything that she does not agree with. We have lost many good teachers due to this but if the school is doing ok LEA let things be.

Galena thank you for your corrections will make sure i dot my i's and cross my t's in future

This has been my first time on Mumsnet and although i did not get all the abreviation i got the jist of the replies. Did not realise that i would get such a varied responce both negative and positive. Thank you to all hope i did not offend was not my intention. Need to go and do school run. Will be going on foot. Hope to catch up again will give updtae as to the Car Park sage if anyony interested....BYE for now

I meant Car Park saga, i can spell kind of

Galena i know abbreviations has 2 b's slip of the finger sorry

ResponSe, ffs!

As for cars being parked on a playground, I bet the governors were involved in the decision. Most heads wouldn't make the decision lightly, and would consult the governors beforehand.

Teachers do have lots of stuff to carry to and from school:

30 x literacy books
30 x numeracy books
2 x 30 x afternoon subject books (science, geography etc)
Laptop
Folders
Other books
Handbag
Trainers and PE clothes if a PE day (in some schools teachers have to change for PE)

Marking does not involve simply a quick tick. How would this provide children with any suggestions as to how to improve their work. Proper marking involves 2 or 3 positive comments and one thing to improve on (some schools call this 3 stars and a wish). I takes ages, hence why it can't all be done at school, and many teachers are working til late.

YABVU

Just started to load the car ahead of leaving at 7.30am, but planning to get going earlier due to having to defrost the car. So far: 1 large wheelie box, a large stack of large games, 3 sets of lever arch files, two bags.
Further stuff that I don't want in the car overnight (like lesson plans with names on) and laptop - and of course packed lunch - will go in tomorrow. I pop to my car during the day to bring resources in if I have not had time to yomp it all in in the morning. I share a small room and can't leave it all in school.
I also often leave after 6 and it is dark, cold, often raining. Why should I make longer multiple trips to the car in those conditions?

when I started school hardly anyone had a car(call me ancient)and no provision was made in school grounds for them,by the time I left teachers parked in a small part of the playground,no hassle.This school was replaced by a new build and has staff parking and a turning point for parents to drop off and pick up,do they hell they park and sit on the pavements and even on the grass in the grounds the head has spoken to parents about this and gets a deaf ear,I'd get a warden in and book every one.

lilyliz - our school had similar troubles even after installing a barrier which a select few were allowed through (disabled parents, deliveries). That still didn't stop parents who didn't need to be there, coming into the school grounds and parking all over the place or threatening the safety of the children.

In the end the barrier is now down for everybody. Nobody gets in or out by car between 8.30 to 9am and 3 to 3.30pm. There were moans but some people think the rules apply to everybody but them so what else could the school do?

It means the teachers have to be there by 8.30 which is OK, as they were anyway and it also means that they can park. No way could they park off site, even with parking down the road like the OP.

Last time I parked in the narrowish lane outside my school, I had a wing mirror knocked off. That's annoying for anyone but doubly so when there's space on-site for staff to park safely.

given the tone of the OP and the alledged responSe of the Head I would say that the OP has previous with the school.

This was the 1st time that the Head was approached i asked my question with an open mind just explaining of my concern that space was taken away from pupils when already 1 playground was out of service. While talking with Head 2 mums came over to show their support. Since i have been made aware that Head has in the past been very abrupt with other parenets when she is questioned about issues at school. I am quite an easy going person who lets most things slide. At pick up when i told parents what had been said to me there was shock. Even my 16 yr old when she told her friends at school were taken aback at the responce i had received to quite frankly was an innocent question. Well it started out that way

But, with respect ChatTime, your account of what was said was probably slightly biased. And of course people tend to agree with you in the flesh. It's places like Mumsnet where you're more likely to get people's true thoughts.

'after all we as Tax Payers pay for the children to play in the playground'

Oh really??? And here was I thinking it was for children to be educated!!!?

I don't think yab remotely unreasonable. Parking cars in a school playground is against every guideline going - how does it fit in with sustainable transport, the school travel plan, eco-schools, healthy schools, sustainable schools and the Every Child Matters agenda?

Not at all, that's how.

FGS, people don't hve a god-given right to hve parking at their place of work. Teachers aren't the only people who have to carry things, lots of other workers do as well, particularly in these days of hot-desking. Can't believe the sense of entitlement some people have got tbh. Car-share, get a trolley, do what other people do - don't take up playing space that is designed for children and then complain that we have an obesity epidemic.

OP contact the education dept at your LEA and complain and also contact the school travel plan advisor for your area - they are usually based in the highways dept, either in the road safety or sustainable transport section.

They won't think the HT is being reasonable.

Actually OP I don't think YABU and I have been shocked by some of the reactions to your post. If parking around the school is unrestricted I can see no reason at all why the teachers can't use that to park their cars. If you say the school is currently undergoing building work then I am guessing that when many of the parents applied to the school it was because there was lots of space for the children to play in both in an organised, ie PE and games, and non organised way. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard teachers say that primary education is about much more than numeracy and literacy.

At my children's primary school there were computers in every classroom so I am at a loss to understand why some of the teachers on here have to lug laptops around. I work for a very large HE establishment, not as a teacher, but I do a lot of work at home. I take it home on a memory stick.

As for lugging two or three lots of 30 books, if there's that much marking banked up I would suggest that there may be difficulties with time management. If 90 pieces of work need marking in one night - can't some of the work be completed on paper and then stuck into the book to ease the burden.

The head at my dc's primary was obsessed with walking to school for children and families. 60% of her staff lived locally yet drove to work!

I also think the head's response was inappropriate. The head at my dc's primary was very similar, the school was in a very nice part of South West London. Many parents had choices and by year six year after year there were fewer than 50% of the original cohort left. Not because families moved away but because they had the choice to move to the independent sector. It is not the way for a school to be part of the local community and regrettably the one I'm thinking of only made such comments because of the ginormous chip on her shoulder.

Final point, once one of the teachers' cars parked in the playground gets scratched or dented, how much longer will the children actually be allowed to play freely at playtime. It's a playground not a car park IMO.

This school wouldn't possibly be expanding from 45 to 60 would it?

Stop picking on her spelling, you know what the op is saying.

so is there any need to keep pointing it out?

Well if 45% of parents agree with you that's less than half so you are in the minority. If 50% agree that's evenly split for and against. So why would you expect the deciding vote about who parks where?

I could understand it if it was the only playground, then you would have a point. But it isn't so you don't. Sorry.

'maybe the teachers should car share, use a bus or walk, just like they ask the pupils to do'

Most teachers in their right minds live well outside the catchment area, often not near a colleague either.
Most teachers take sets of books home and bring resources in. Some of which are exceedingly heavy.
Most schools who have limited playground space stagger playtimes so that the area is used to best effect, and not overcrowded.
By all means, write to the governors with your concerns and ask them to explain how all H&S rules are being met.
How long will the playgrounds be out of use as playgrounds?

onceamai you know nothing of my workload or time-management skills. Do you really think I would have chosen to bring home that amount of marking had I any other choice this week? For the record, I had two lessons sprung on me last minute (by the Head) on Friday, to be used for a staff meeting on Tuesday. Unreasonable, yes, but needs to be marked. On top of normal workload.
And I think one of the reasons the OP has had some stick on here is her tone against the school and the implication that staff somehow have it easy, e.g. books having the "occasional tick"??!! Where is this school? And if that truly is the case, then I'd say OFSTED would have far more of a concern than half a playground being out of action. Temporarily.

Half the parents don't agree, the school has 700 pupils and around 45-50% of Y2 parents agree with the OP.
So that's probably around 40ish out of 700.