to not want to pick up ds early everyday?

[stinkysox]

My 1st post on aibu so please be gentle!

Ds attends pre-school, afternoons, 12.15-3.15. It never opens early (usually closer to 12.20) It is attached to an infants and primary so the majority of the parents collect their dcs just after 3 when the older children get out.
I usually get there around 3 but today I didn't arrive until 3.10. As I walked up to the school I heard one of the teachers say 'oh here's mummy, ds' I looked up to see ds at the window wearing his coat & waving.
I got to the door (outside door to reception, there is then another door to classroom) and instead of being let in as normal, ds was ushered out to me with a quick goodbye.
I explained I had fees to pay so they let me in, halfheartedly looked around the office for a few seconds, complete with eye rolls, then said they couldn't find the receipt book and could I pay tomorrow. I said fine, and noticed a few of the staff members already had their coats on ready to leave.
AIBU to think this rude, and that I shouldn't be expected to pick ds up 15 minutes early when I pay for him to be there?

I am amazed. I work in a preschool where the opposite happens.
We count ourselves lucky if all the parents appear at home time.
Some are always late, even an hour late, and I have known days when not one parent was outside at end of day.
Many of them seem to think they are doing us a favour by coming back at all!
We hang round endlessly, trying not to hurt the children's feelings, but really desperate to get away and collect our own children.

Bunty that's shocking. Do you not charge for late pick ups like my one?

Yes we do, but the charge doesn't cover two staff wages, so we make a loss every time.
Also, some just don't pay their last bill, so we are out of pocket anyway.

Ragusa I'm not sure to be honest, but surely it's not really an excuse? I've no problems with the actual school, ds adores it and the staff are lovely with the children. I doubt high costs come from the venue though, the whole thing is just a portacabin!

I suppose that's why we had to pay a deposit, to avoid things like that happening. How awful for you, it must be terribly frustrating

Our portacabin has a high cost as we pay a large rent to the school whose land it is on.
It is also like heating a sieve so expensive to run.

I've just read that it's run by a committee but I'm not really sure what that means

If it's a registered Preschool, it has to have a committee of chair, treasurer etc and a quorum of parents on the committee to vote on, for example, policy changes.
The committee employ the staff.

Just out of interest, is your preschool in England? I just wondered, as if so, they are subject to the same rules as we are.
I'm fairly sure charging a deposit is not actually allowed, and would love to know how much you pay.
It would help us, of course, if people were afraid of losing their deposit, and I'm wondering if we could do that.

Yes it's in England, bunty. I pay £6 per 3hr session and paid 2 weeks deposit.

That's interesting, thanks Stinkysox.

My DD´s school was like this when she was 2/3 - official hours were 9:00 to 12:00 but the DC came out at 11:45. It made for a very short and inconvenient morning.

I don't know how they get away with it. We have 30 minutes paid time after a session, when we clean and set up for next day. Often we can't do either properly, as we are still looking after at least one child.

Then some parents expect a daily heart-to-heart after every session. We regularly leave 30 or more minutes late, and do hours of report writing in our own time too.

No problem Bunty I hope you can sort something for yours, it all sounds very frustrating and inconvenient for you, I would be having words with those parents! feeling brave after standing up to someone for the first time

Bunty - if I were you I'd demand a deposit and fees in advance and make it clear that if you pick up your children late as a result of parents picking up late from your setting there will be an additional charge to cover that.

As for getting ready for next day a lot of pre-schoolers like to 'help' or will H&S not allow this.

Thanks sox

ProudAS, thanks, I will be raising this.
We do give children little tasks to make them feel involved, but we have to mop and hoover and carry rubbish over to school skips, can't with them there.

"I don't think they are in any danger of being full whether my ds does 5 days or not."

Says a lot!