To think that if school comes out at 3pm....

[Sparklingbrook]

There is no need to get to the school in the car at 2pm? Just driven past the school, there are parents there already.
That's five hours a week-waiting.

Don't you get absolutely freezing sitting in your car for a whole hour at this time of the year?

MalcolmTuckersMistress - completely agree.

Those huge cars are good for getting into the grass verges Back. The ones the head mentions in the newsletter in the bit where she tells you not to park on them.

And 'Coaches Only' must be code for 'Entitled parents please park here'.

I live 2 mins walk from school. Most parents have to walk past my house. School finishes at 3:30 and yet most days people start going past just before 3. Why would you want to stand around for over 30 mins?!

it would be freezing Sir. You would be warmer going for a brisk walk for an hour....

Imagine if they rang to say your DC was sick and to come and pick them up when it's 2pm and you are sat outside?

Perhaps they are Mumsnetting on their phones, listening to the Archers, dealing with their work or home e-mails. I quite often have a quiet sit in the car where no-one can get to me or ask for something. BLISS

But freezing Windmill.

I'm from New England. It would have to get an awful lot colder here before I felt the cold. I'm quite happy to go about in a t-shirt in this weather.

They aren't freezing in their cars for an hour. They have the engine running.

I'm in a slightly awkward situation, in that I live on the road the school's on, but don't have a drive. The children obviously walk to and from school. I, however, have to drive to work (25 minutes along a bypass in the car, or an hour on public transport which all routes through town).

The thing is, I have to leave work at 2:30 to get home at 3:00 for a 3:30 end time. Any later than that, and there's nowhere to park until after 4:00.

I don't sit in my car - I sit in my house, but it would be awesome to have a drive so that I could leave work half an hour later and still be able to pick up the kids on time.

One of the schools we drop off to is a rural one: if you don't live in the village - and most don't - there is no choice other than to drive.

It also has parking problems and the locals are up in arms about it.

In the mornings, parents are supposed to drop their kids off in the supervised playground and leave to ease the parking.

Most of them ignore this and stand around gossiping, even after the bell has gone. They can be there for anything up to an hour
I have even seen some of them still standing there with a class going on in another part of the playground.

Causes utter chaos with the parking, of course.

It's a fairly new development - I've been dropping off to that school for 12 years and it's only in the last 3 or 4 that parents seem to be treating it as an outdoor version of Costas.

Carabos - that's true. Engines running, so nice and toasty, and no walking at all required by either the driver or the child. Why on earth the schools don't let them pull up to the classroom doors I don't know.

DS's old primary was in a small rural village, which was comprised of two roads and the school was on the corner where the roads met. We used to have to get there an hour before in order to park legally. The PCSO's would come regularly and ticket cars. Every time they came it would mean that people would arrive even earlier to get a place. We had four years of DS eating his breakfast in the car , before he was old enough to be dropped (School wouldn't allow this until Y4). I read countless novels during this time. Now he is at secondary, I can turn up 10 minutes before hand, and I am still on the same book I started in September!

Many years ago when dropping off R year DS at 8.40 there were some Mums gossiping by the school gate. I went into town did a load of shopping and drove past on the way home at 11am. They were still there.

lol, Sparkling, I've been in that sort of a conversation. Usually punctuated with "ooh, I really need to get to x, but did you hear about...?" and other similar phrases. Usually ended by "Eeek, look at the time, must go!"

For those of you griping about people driving rather than walking:

On the day I pick DD up I work from home. It takes 5 mins to drive to school, 20 mins to walk. If I'm particularly busy workwise (and I quite often am) that's an extra 15 mins work I can cram in before I knock off. So I'll drive.

Wasn't there a bestselling novelist who wrote her forst book in the periods she was waiting for her kids in her car?
I forget who.
I don't mind as long as they aren't in a tank-like behemouth, and aren't parked on the pavement, like so many of the fuckwits outside ds's school.
Like most people, there are 3 people I see every morning on my street taking their kids to school (7 mins walk) in their cars. Then driving home. Even if they were going to work after, they could leave 5 mins earlier, walk there, and walk back and get their cars. Instead of beeping each other, not being able to find a parking spot,driving backwards up onto the pavement and generally acting like twats.
If the 100 or so idiots in the surrounding area that are too lazy to walk 14 minutes actually left their cars at home, it would be safe to let an 8 year old walk to school alone. Twats.

FTR I walk to school and get there on time not early generally. However, I am friends with some of the other mums and I speak to them (I know, gasp, how awful.)

I understand being annoyed by people in parked cars in front of your houses for excessive amounts of time but

Many years ago when dropping off R year DS at 8.40 there were some Mums gossiping by the school gate. I went into town did a load of shopping and drove past on the way home at 11am. They were still there.

Why the hell do you care? Is it affecting you?
I have to say for most of the thread I've just wondered why on earth some people are bothered by these things which have no effect on them whatsoever.

Do uou live in the UK Tanith? If so, I don't understand why, in rural areas, there's no option except to drive. If you live too far away for your child to walk then the Local Authority provides a bus to get the DC to school.
I live in a village and hardly ever drove to the primary school. My Dc walked. However, when they got to yr 5 and could walk to school by themselves, I used to worry about their safety due to the numbers of parents who were too lazy to walk drove to the school and parked dangerously all over the road, inckuding on the zig zag yellow lines. There was always plenty of parking in the next road, but that meant walking a whole 200m so obviously that wasn't going to happen....

For those of you griping about people driving rather than walking

No-one 'griping' about driving rather than walking. The gripe is against people who never, ever walk despite living within easy walking distance, or those who arrive hours before school finishes to get the 'best' spot right outside the school gate (they would park in the playground, but the school has put those pesky metal gates up...), leaving their engines running causing carnage with their crap parking.

Wow, I'm impressed that anyone can FIND a parking place near the school if they leave it until 5 minutes before the bell to drive up. If I drive I have to leave 5 minutes earlier than if I walk, else I'll be walking 1/3 the distance home anyway just to get back to the parked car. I drive once in a while if it's hailing or somewhere else to dash off to quickly right away.

There's no perceived value in a 40 minute walk for exercise, vitamin D or fresh air either, I guess.

I hate the dog mess on pavements & the often whinging small people. Having to rely on their good will to arrive in time. I still find walking better overall.

Sometimes on my day off I have driven home from whatever I was doing, but instead of going right home I've parked outside the school, left my car there in a fantastic parking spot, facing the right way and everything, and walked the rest of the way home. Then at 3pm, I've walked back to school, picked up DC and driven them home, meaning we are back home at 3.15 instead of 3.30.

Do I win a flaming?

Edna of course it doesn't affect me. I can still be surprised though. It doesn't bother me in the slightest-why would it? Are you one of the gossipers?

Balloon that is disgusting as well you know, but no flaming as excellent use of time IMO. Soz.