...to consider yr 4 pupil missing 15mins end of each day for this reason

[NineteenForever]

DS10 due to change to comprehensive sept 2012. He has ASD and we truly hope he gets a place at a suitable school about half an hour away. He will be elligible for a taxi. DH is a SAHD and is concerned that the return of the taxi from comprehesive, when school closes at 3, will mean he is at the primary school collecting DD who will be 8 and yr 4 in sept 2012.

Would it be unreasonable for DD to miss 15 mins at end of each day so he can be at home to meet taxi? What will this do from an educational point of view?

There is an option to pay for an after school club @ £30 a week, possibly ask after school club to let DD stay for 1 hr instead of 2.5hrs.

The other concern is that if she is at the after school club, her own homework will have to be done late evening eg 6.30 when she's knackered (and this school sends home a lot of homework in yr2 alone).

Just to confirm, DS is at the primary school in a special unit and they know our family.

Comments welcome

[halcyondays]

altinkum, she might enjoy going to the after school club. I can't see why having a childminder collect her would be a better option.

Op, I would think your best bet is to see if the school would let your dd go to the after school club for an hour and reduce the cost accordingly.

[cjbartlett]

Agree dandy

[fgaaagh]

Dandy - well said.

[savoycabbage]

Me too Dandy.

[amistillsexy]

emmanumber3 I must say, our escort takes total charge-I never have anything to do with the drivers. I never really thought that it might adversly affect them!
Now wondering if I should take DS2 and 3 out of school 15 minutes early so we can be on time to meet the taxi!

seriously, though, what are we supposed to do? We can't be in 2 places at once, can we?

[Pixel]

Taxis are often minibuses taking children from the same area (ds's is) and it would mean all the other children waiting in reception too if that was the case.

[skybluepearl]

could he not just wait in school reception for 10 mins after school and then catch taxi. Dh should be home by then maybe?

[emmanumber3]

amistillsexy - I do just have to add to that that we came to our arrangement because DS1's taxi driver absolutely, categorically, refused to wait for us at home. The escort was a lot more flexible but the driver "has a job to do, love" & had another pick up from another special school immediately afterwards.

[emmanumber3]

I had this exact same scenario with my DSs until DS1 moved from a Special School for primary to a mainstream secondary school in Year 7. DS1's taxi used to meet me at DS2's primary school each afternoon. The only snag was when DS2's school had an inset day on a day when DS1 still had school. I'd look like "the idiot mother waiting around outside who'd forgotten school was closed" .

It worked perfectly well otherwise. Mornings were not an issue as DS1's taxi picked him up about 10-15 mins before we had to leave to take DS2 anyway. Another thought is, is there a grandparent or other family member living nearby with whom your DS could be dropped off each day? DH could then pick him up on the way home with DD.

[spiderpig8]

Bit OT but a secondary school finishing at 3?? Ours finishes at 3.55 that's nearly 5 hours less education a week assuming they start at a similar time (8.45)

[amistillsexy]

My DS1 comes home from his school by taxi. His school closes at 3, and the taxi arrives at our house at 3.25/3.30.
The school DS2 (and, from September, DS3) attend finishes at 3.15, but they are often out later than that. The school is a good 2 miles of steep hills away. By the time I've got back to the car and strapped the boys in to their seats, negotiated the lanes and got home it's usually 3.40.
The taxi escort is aware of the situation with school and is usually waiting at the door with Ds1 when I arrive home. He is very accomodating and always brushes aside my apologies. He knows the timings are impossible and him waiting for me to get home is the only option.
I hope you get this sorted, but rather than making official arrangements (which might mean you lose your transport), it might be as well to just encourage DD to get out quickly, and ask the escort to wait if DH isn't back!

[AlsoAvailableSober]

Do you not get DLA for your DS? Could you use some of this funding to pay for DD's after school club?

[manicinsomniac]

What about your daughter waiting in the foyer, near the office? the staff will still be around. She could do her reading or something while she waits and you would avoid after school club fees (although of course the school might say no for exactly that reason!)

Is your son currently at the same primary school now? If he is then I would have though the staff will be sympathetic and helpful about helping you work out a solution during the year as they know him and understand your circumstances.

[Karstan]

I think having to go to the school to meet up with the taxi on inset days or days when the daughter is ill is preferable to missing 15 minutes of school each and every day. Lesser of two evils imo.

Of course there might still be better options but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand on the basis of what could be a couple of occasions per year.

[Pixel]

"Also the drop off at primary school should not be encouraged either- if that is the "official" drop off point what happens if DD is ill/inset day etc and not in school? "
Was never a problem with us as long as we let the taxi driver know in good time, and we had his mobile number. He had other kids to drop off so he would just drop ds off at home afterwards.

[chocolateyclur]

If I were you, I would look into other alternatives. I used to work in a support team in school and worked with a girl who had the same issue - she needed to leave with her sister and miss the last 15 mins a day. "On paper" it sounded like nothing - but doing the maths, 5 days a week = 75 minutes - over an hour of school a week. It also caused the families some difficulties with education welfare, and the girl some issues with classmates because they saw it as "preferential" - even though obviously the circumstances were anything but.

[youarekidding]

I would definatly speak to after school club about fees. I'm a LP and only need pick up on 3 days - so essentially minibus ride back but no snack and not there long enough to participate in activities. They charge me solely for the minibus ride on those days and the full fees on the other 2 days even though I collect him no longer than an hour after they return.

[NineteenForever]

Thank you for pointing that out, Lindax. As you can imagine, i just feel a bit agrieved that this 'bill' comes about just because our son has special needs. We know that we will work this out, and i'm fortunate DH is a SAHD so we havent both got jobs to worry about.

[Lindax]

dd will be able to go to afterschool club for as long as you need whether it be 2 mins or the full session. The problem is the way these (normally) work is you pay for the full session regardless of how much you use as they need the staff ratio for the number of children at the start of the session.