to speak to the school about this?

[Queen0fFlamingEverything]

DD is in Yr 6 at a small village school. Every day, almost without fail, her class are at least 5 minutes late out of school. The other classes are generally out on time, and on the one day a fortnight that her class has a different teacher to the usual class teacher, her class are also on time.

They are meant to finish at 3.15 but the earliest her teacher has ever let them out is 3.19. Most days its more like 3.25 and several times it has been 3.30. DD says this is because the teacher insists on everyone standing silently before anyone leaves.

There's no shelter in the playground and its pretty unpleasant waiting with smaller children. I often just turn up at 20 past now, but for people with DC in other classes thats not an option.

More seriously though, DD wants to start walking home on her own. Its a 15 minute walk over fields with no major roads to cross, which I am otherwise happy with her doing - but I want to know when to expect her back and when to start worrying if she's late...

Wow, am surprised at all the 'Parents, know your place!' comments. Not very good for the home-school partnership to see parents' time so devalued.

Would the teacher fanny around for 10-15 minutes after the bell if she were being observed? I bet not.
If she did fanny around for 10-15 minutes after the bell would she get a good write-up? No.

Maddy - why should those children who are standing quietly be punished? Even if you believe that whole-class punishments work (and not everyone does, these days) it is clear that this whole-class punishment is not working in this situation, and therefore surely it is bad practice on the part of the teacher to carry on with this strategy, instead of trying something else to achieve her (sensible) goal of having the class quiet before they leave?

So is it okay then for me to send my DC into school 10-15 mind late nearly every day because they weren't silently waiting with their coats on for a moment before I'd leave the house?

Teaching them that things are not always now is one thing but deliberately delaying their exit every day and inconveniencing every parent waiting is another.

And no, I haven't asked if it is my daughter who is causing the disruption but I would think that 8 she was I would have been made aware of it by now.

If school finishes at 3.15, surely you wouldn't expect them out til 3.20 anyway, would you?

Actually, I would interpret 'school finishing at 3.15' to mean that is when they should be coming out. Though I wouldn't worry about a few minutes later, because as the owner of three dses, I am well aware of how much they can faff around. Tbh, I think parents have to assume that the time they are told that school finishes is the time their children will be leaving the classroom, because if they decide to get there later (to allow for end of day faffing), they might not be there to meet their children when they leave - and I am sure the teachers would not be happy about having to mind children whose parents were going to wander in 5 or 10 minutes late to pick them up!

Don't schools/teachers build in time at the end of the day to do those 'end of day' things like handing out notes/birthday sweets, getting coats and bags, and quieting down ready to leave?

If the school expects teaching to continue until 3.15, perhaps they should tell parents that - 'Dear parents, teaching time will end at 3.15, and then there will be a five minute period for handing out notes etc, getting coats and preparing to leave the classroom. Love and Hugs, The School'

Sorry - I don't think my first paragraph made sense.

What I meant was, I am pretty sure that, when a school says that school ends at 3.15, that is the time that they want parents to be in the playground to collect their children - and to me, that means that should be the time (give or take a few moments faffing time) that they come out.

Clearly in the OP's school, most of the teachers are interpreting it thus, and it is only this one teacher who is keeping her class an extra 10 minutes.