To want to drop and run at school?

[Cuppaand2biscuits]

My dd is 6 years old, in year one. The school got a new head teacher in September who implemented a new morning routine that I just can't get on with.
Old morning routine = Assemble in playgroup, bell gets rung, all children into lines, teacher leads into.classroom. Parents welcome to follow if children requests or they wish to speak with teacher.

New morning routine = Everyone assemble in classroom. Some mornings we have to choose a book and read with our children for 5/10 minutes other days it's 'Wakefield Up Shake Up' where we have to dance along to a bouncy routine! Then the tambourine rings and we kiss goodbye and leave.
Obviously I don't object to the interaction with my child but there's 30 pupils in the class, each with an adult and lots with a younger sibling or 2. It's too many people, it's too hot when we're dressed for the cold. It's a bloody faff!
Anyone else successfully challenged this sort of shit?

What a pain. And my dd would find this much more difficult than a quick goodbye as she seems to get more clingy when it's drawn out. I'd also really struggle with toddler trashing the classroom or screaming in buggy.
But dd would find it even worse if I didn't come in and other parents did! Sounds very unusual.

Aint no one got time for that shit

Seconded

Fucking hell. Just no.

"I'd be dropping off at 8:55 on the dot."

Don't you mean 8.59 and 55 seconds?

Our school doesn't allow parents in the classroom (I think not even in the playground from Y1) except if you are the one with the 2yo who is potty training and is fascinated by the classroom loos. But we have a "window" (earliest you can deliver them is 8.50 and latest is 9.00) and the teacher or TA receives them at the Reception classroom door.

The teacher is firm if you try and drop off early (one dad who had a hospital appointment was having quite an argument with our lovely classroom teacher one day), and the gates shut if you are late.

I like it this way as it's not a melee at the classroom door as it would be with a single drop off time, but you do get the chance to mention anything really urgent that might be missed in the home-school book (e.g. DS said his tummy hurt on the way here but he's been off for a week with CP so I think he's just nervous).

Wtf? No way would I be doing that.

Fortunately the classrooms in DSs school are way too small to do this. Just the available parents going in for a termly reading morning packs the classroom out enough to make knee capping on the miniature tables a serious hazard They really wouldn't want preschooler DS2 rampaging between people's legs in the mix.

It sounds horribly unsettling for all. We do the line up, parents stay out, a few approach teacher if necessary, children file in. Sorted. It must be much harder for young children to settle with parents coming in and extending the transition. I bet the teachers hate it too!

"one dad who had a hospital appointment was having quite an argument with our lovely classroom teacher one day"

Does your school not have a breakfast club? Ours runs from 8 a.m.

As a teacher that sounds completely ridiculous. It will make the whole morning routine so much longer, and take the children longer to settle.

If I was your child's teacher I would be happy for you to 'drop and run'!

Tell the Head that 'Kiss & Drop' is the way forward.

I can't be done with this enforced joviality shit. Especially not first thing in the morning with everyone wrapped up for winter and 70 people in one room. For the love of fuck. No.

My dds infants school used to do this. It was crazy!
The doors opened at 8-45, and all children and their parents filed in. Some mornings you had to read with your child or do an activity like a jigsaw etc.
Then the tambourin went at 8-55am.
Some teachers also insisted on a singalong! The school had their own school song and you were encouraged to join in!
I also remember one morning dd1s teacher had moves like jagger playing Zumba style!
The children were all dancing, there were also some parents joining in.😂
I had two children in the school, so I timed it so we didn't have time to participate. Drop one, see ya later, off to the next class.
It was very odd.

I've never heard the like! My kids are past school age now, but we've never had to tolerate this kind of carry on. The drill was - arrive in the playground - at 8.55 the teachers came outside. Whistle blew, all the kids lined up in front of their teacher, then all filed in with teacher bringing up the rear. Door shut. Parents had seen their children safely in. Job done.
What you describe sounds like bloody chaos!
(And if you wanted to talk to the teacher, the morning rush was not the time to do it. You could arrange to do that when you collected them)
It all sounds like a right palaver, but I can imagine that if DD felt left out because I didn't do it, I might have been guilted into doing it. I'm getting anxious just thinking about it. YADNBU.

Some teachers also insisted on a singalong!

Oh man, I hope this crazy hippy shit doesn't spread.

What? I'd expect this at a playgroup for toddlers. Why are they making everything so difficult and involved?! We just wait in the playground until the bell, they line up and go in. Just drop off and leave, I can't imagine why the teachers would want all this messing about every morning with parents coming and going

Jesus how have you put up with this for over a term? At our school you're only allowed to take your dc in to the class room or past the 2nd set of gates during the first few of weeks of reception. After that you let them go outside the main school gate or after the 1st set (the grounds are surrounded by a seperate fence & gates that are open 7am-8pm). Much less faffing.

Gosh I am so grateful for my dcs primary school over 20 years ago.
Gates open from 8.30 am when playground staff on duty - parents not allowed in playground - had to stand outside gates, absolutely no taking into classroom after reception settling in period of around a fortnight. No expectation for parents to stay after dropping dcs off. School started at 8.50 am when children lined up into classes.
I went back to college when my youngest dc started year 1 and eldest in year 2 - dropped off at side of road at 8.30 am, watched them cross road with lollipop lady and they then walked down the path to school gates on their own whilst I drove home to then walk to college.
If you wanted to speak to teacher you made an appointment at reception desk when dropping off - if urgent teacher would be called from staff room to speak to you.
After school KS1 children were brought to gate for parents/carers to collect, KS2 children left school on their own and it was fine for me to wait in car at side of road whilst dcs walked up pathway on their own. Meant I could arrive after the first rush had gone and dcs would just wait for me (finished 10 minutes later than KS1).

This is so strange, i hate the school run, i want to drop and run and get there as the kids are coming out and leave, going in and dancing is like my worst nightmare.

I agree with the consensus, drop off and leave they can't make you stay, who has time for that kind of nonsense in the morning? as for the singing, hell no.

Our school is currently having an extension done so we aren't allowed in either past the gates

Even without the extension, having parents and children altogether would be a logistical nightmare and I'd hate the faux social niceties you get with some parents anyway. What about all the parents who start work earlier? My ex starts work (shiftwork) at 7am. Surely they can't force you to do it?

Surely not everyone does it - what if you have more than one child in different classes?

All this batshit capering around Wake Up Shake Up stuff aside ... surely part of a child being able to cope with school is that they learn not to need their parents there to 'settle them' into the classroom?

I can see why you'd be able to take them into the classroom when they were starting in Reception, for a couple of weeks until they got used to it, but after that it seems a bit much. When I was a kid parents weren't allowed to send their kids into the playground and then if they wanted they could wait at the gates until they were called in, but parents only ever came on to the actual premises if there was something of desperate importance that they needed to tell the teacher.

WTAF? They expect parents to do a song and dance routine every time they drop their kids at school? That is both unreasonable, unnecessary and most importantly it's bollocks. There is NO WAY I would be doing this every morning - people have jobs to get to! And who wants to stand there making a tit of themselves in front of other adults at 8.30am Monday to Friday.

Fuck that.

Wow! Just wow!
None of mine would have coped well with this. The ones with asd wouldn't have been able to cope with that many people, or the singing and dancing. And the youngest is a Klingon, if I stepped over the threshold into the classroom, I would never get out again. No, just no!

I'm more amazed that the parents stay and join in with the singing than the school has implemented it!
There is no way I would do this either OP, drop and run!