...to be irritated at the school about wet weather?

[silverten]

Frankly I'm not sure why I'm starting this thread. I think I need a bit of a rant and it's probably better to do it here than IRL.

So, school sends out letter about drop off in wet weather: basically, take your child to their classroom door, use doors x,y,z, pushchairs to be left in the shelter. Pretty reasonable stuff on the whole.

I read the letter and think carefully about how to manage this as I have a baby as well as DD to manage. Switch to smaller pushchair, change clothing for stuff that's easier to manage in the wet, consider which door to use, that sort of thing.

Turn up to school today in pretty torrential rain. DD is relatively dry (underneath the coat, obviously), so that's a bonus. We go to the door described in the letter nearest her class, to find it locked, with classroom assistants studiously ignoring us on the other side. Encounter other similarly confused parents, one with a double buggy who has run the gauntlet of the scary Deputy Head and got special dispensation to take it inside (as well as the two in the pushchair she was dropping off two kids, so totally fair enough, but the school seems to have worked quite hard to make her feel bad about not being able to be in four places at once). We faff about a bit and conclude that we are going to have to join the hordes at the main entrance and start working out how we are supposed to get babies inside without them getting wet, find the classrooms and try not to lose anything or anyone and drip on anything important.

Then the class teacher appears at the door (the one we were bloody told to go to in the sodding letter last week!) and tells us we are not supposed to use this door, and we aren't allowed pushchairs in. But she'll let the children in now as they are about to start anyway.

I'm just irritated now. I've done what I'm told like a good girl, and I just know the Headteacher is at this very moment drafting a spectacularly patronising and fundamentally unhelpful reminder of the procedure for wet weather. It is going to give me the Rage.

Grrr.

Get the PTA to fund an outside shelter/covered area for parents to use.
In the short-term, demand clarification and an apology. The staff probably weren't informed of what was supposed to happen.

Why didn't you bang on the door to get the classroom assistants attention?

Did you keep the letter? If so, in your position I'd be bringing it with me either to pick up or drop off tomorrow so I could talk to the teacher or pop into the school office to ask 'for clarification' with a confused look on my face.

Email the head, politely, explaining what happened this morning and ask how he/she intends to remedy the situation and ensure it does not happen again. Quote the original letter if necessary. Get your point of view across first!

I would phone the school and ask for clarification. Have the letter to hand so that if they tell you something different you can quote it back to them. If they tell you the same as the letter than ask why the teacher does not seem to have been informed as to the correct procedure.

Actually there is plenty of shelter outside the door we were trying to use (which we knocked on, Worra- they ignored us), they have a verandah type thing. I'd have been perfectly happy to stand in the rain until they were ready for us- we'd just walked in it for 20 minutes so another 5 or 10 wasn't going to make a blind bit of difference. I was trying to follow the instructions in the letter.

Oh right, I'd do what the PPs suggested then and speak to the head.

There's obviously been a miscommunication issue between the head and the staff.

quite often letters get sent home from the head and no one tells the staff the contents Speak to the head

I agree letters/texts often go out without explaining to staff first. I often get told 'it was on the newsletter you gave out' I think 'yes the one I was handed 5 mins before home time on Friday whilst trying to organise 28 5 year olds with lunch boxes, book bags, homework etc'
Of course I read it...

I am confused. Why do pushchairs and babies need to go in the school? I never did this. Our children said goodbye to the teacher outside who checked their parent/carer was there to collect. Rain, snow, sun it was the same routine. What a mountain some schools make out of dropping off and collection! There were two school collection points and you waited at the one appropriate for your child. Simple and effective.

Is it usual to take your child into school?

Our school has a separate entrance for each class and you just drop off at the door, you don't go in at all.

am confused as to why parents are trying to get inside anyway - with or without pushchairs...

but, that aside, what Worra, Cricketballs and PigRiver have said - take the letter with you, and see if you can get the school to all know what they are doing together. It's just a bit of miscommunication, easy to sort, I'm sure.

aha - cross posted with 2 more making the same point.

I've taught in 11 schools since the term started, the differences in drop off and collection rules and routines is astounding!

Don't they already have a wet weather routine? (Are they actually in the UK? ) At my dd's school when it's raining children just get dropped at the main entrance where a few teachers are holding the doors open and they all go into the main hall. Where they then line up and are collected by their class teachers. There's none of this taking them all to their individual classes malarkey, which wouldn't work anyway as several classrooms are on the second floor.

The school sound very disorganised.

How very odd. Firstly why are you all going inside with pushchairs? Don't you just drop the children off and then they're shepherded in by waiting teachers?

That would be most sensible. Pushchairs don't need to be in a school at all.

Parents are not allowed in at ours, children are dropped at the door in wet weather.

Count yourselves bloody lucky. Even in a torrential downpour my kids have to stand in the playground, line up as normal and wait until the bell rings at 9, teachers arrive to attend with them, head appears and allows the lines to troop in. Everyone gets soaked. And there's not enough shelter for people to wait under.

In wet weather one brave (poor old) teacher stands outside in the pouring rain when the gates are opened ( at 8.35) and shepherds the incoming children in the right direction. The rest of the staff man the classrooms ( hide from the inclement weather). Parents simply drop off at the gates, turn and run as fast as possible in the opposite direction! The teacher --(drowned rat) then locks the gates at 8.55. Anyone arriving after this uses the main entrance and braves the wrath of the office staff who have to leave their office to let you in!

If you have to go in I would invest in a decent sling for baby. Baby in sling under coat and umbrella with you so dry, eldest in rain coat. No pram

Boba 4g great. Goes on front under 1 year approx, on back after. My almost 5 year old can still fit in on back ( I tried last week at home just to see). But in general we still use for 3 year old a fair bit at airports/ out late at night

I second buying a sling, I also have the Boba 4g but I can use a front carry with my 15 month old (had to in Spain getting the bus to the airport as I had a rucksack). We use it mainly on back though, really easy and comfy and I have an awful back as well. My 3yo fits in it fine too.

Well, personally I'd prefer not to go inside at all, pushchair or no pushchair, what with there being loads of wet, distracted children milling about. I actually think it would probably be much less chaotic if they just let us wait in the playground, under the verandah bit if we really wanted to get out of the rain. The school is on a weird shaped site which basically forces everyone to walk for at least a couple of minutes to get to the playground, so dashing in without a coat or an umbrella isn't possible unless you enjoy getting wet. Making a crowd of soaked parents navigate through the corridors seems pretty daft to me.

However the wet weather procedure is apparently to take your child into the school and queue with them outside their classroom until the bell goes.

Presumably pushchairs aren't allowed because of the space they take up, but I can't actually see the practicality of making parents struggle with a wet baby on top of the wet schoolchild plus bags etc. It was clearly leading to bottlenecks at the main door as people faffed about trying not to drop stuff or lose children as they parked up their pushchairs.

Ah, the inevitable sling suggestion. I did try a sling with DD as a baby. It did not agree with me at all. DS is considerably heavier than her but sloppy to carry with it as he's so young, so I doubt a twenty minute walk carrying him would be much fun. No, he'll be staying dry and restrained inside his pushchair, then I can actually enjoy the walk to school with DD.

Your school must be massive OP. There is no way all the pupils, parents and buggies would fit inside ours

D'you know, windchime, I have literally no idea how big it is? I've never been in- DH did all the acclimatisation visits as I was busy with the baby (who they wouldn't have allowed in anyway...)

How heavy is your baby? Slings carry a huge weight. Did you use a babybjorn type before, if so that's why as baby hangs off you with them. Baby very dry in sling, get cover and umbrella