To think 1 minute isn't late?

[AnArrowToTheKnee]

DS1 starts school at 8.50, we got there at 8.51 and were told we had to sign in at the office. AIBU to think that we weren't actually late?

Had the other children all gone in OP ?

You were late, by one minute.

You could argue that you were not materially late, ie: the lateness was not sufficient to cause a problem.

Signing in at the office probably took longer that just dropping him down so instead of 1 minute late to the classroom he was more than that?

You were late

There should be a minute or two leeway.

What would be the leeway cut off point then? 8.51? 8.52? What about the person who turned up at 8.53 and said, "but it's only a minute after the minute or two leeway!"

There has to be a cut of point at some point.
There will always be someone who turns up after that cut off point saying it's unfair.

Late is late.

OP;

You were late.

Christ, OP. You sound like my late pupils, as in tardy not dead.

You were late. The school's clock is correct.

We have to get kids in the doors by 8.55. Sometimes you are lucky and the door is open for an extra minute or two, but if it isn't, then it's signing them in at the office (only other entrance, and your child is then collected and taken through a staff-only door). Reception classes tend to be more amenable to opening their doors onto the playground and letting in a slightly-late child, but by 8.57 or so the main gate is locked and you have to buzz in.

The gates open at 8.45 so you have the leeway for 10 minutes before school starts - I aim for this but it's usually 8.50, when lined-up classes start to go in, and often closer to 8.55, thanks to ds's ability to spend 10 minutes locking up his bike...

You were late as PP have said there has to be a cut off. You were after that cut off. In our school playground open at 8:30 teachers are on duty the bell goes at 8:45 children line up & go in at 10 to. Anyone after that goes through the office & has to sign in.

Our school doors are open from 8.40-8.55, everyone is told this. At 8.55 the doors shut and if you are late you have to go via the office and sign the late book.

They've allowed ample time for you to get your child into school and they have to close the doors sometime so on time is very reasonable.

Sorry OP, you were late, end of...

School used to have the kids line up at the bell at 9am and then troop in with their teacher. Took a good 5 minutes. Now kids can enter from 8.50 with the aim being they are set to get learning at 9am. Gates get shut when then 9am bell goes.

The first month saw a lot of parents stomping about snarling about how ludicrous it was that the gates shut at 9.

Arriving at 9.01 is late. Get over it OP.

But it is late.

Leave a minute earlier.
Sorted

The other children had gone in, but only just. We literally got there as they closed the door, so hadn't even taken the register yet.

You were late and I'm always early but I agree that making you go to the office was ludicrously OTT

It depends ... what does the OP mean by "start" at 8.50 ... if the children are still lining up outside or walking into the building then yes it is a little OTT. However, if at 8.50 the children are in the building, in the classroom, then it is not OTT to insist that anyone trying to access the school building has to go through the office otherwise you could have any number of random adults roaming the corridors after "dropping off their 2mins late child" which is a safeguarding issue.

One of the primary schools I worked at had automatic locking doors as extra security, you had to put in a code (known only to teachers and changed every so often) to open doors from outside the building and you have to press a release button to leave from the inside (high on the wall so impossible for primary kids to reach). Once all the classes were inside for morning registration, the only door that was still open was the main entrance, which lead directly to our reception desk where any latecomers had to sign in before you could be buzzed through into the school ... so if you literally got to the students entrance from the playground as the door closed and nobody noticed or heard you knock on the door, you had to go to the main entrance and sign in.

Ours is 8.55. My children have been signed in at the office at 8.57 several times even though they don't start taking the register until 9.00 and don't officially close it until 9.05.

Late is late and disrupts the class.

If you do it once and it was one minute then nothing more will be said. A child who is habitually "just" one or two minutes late causes and experiences problems (admittedly minor) in the class.

We're more late than we used to be as DC3 has been potty training so our normal routine and contingency is out. So we're working on setting off earlier...

as in tardy not dead.

echt!

Not to derail this thread, but as a teacher I was summoned to the HT's office to tell me I had been nearly late on a number of occasions.

I pointed out, in writing, that nearly late is on time.

I suspect there is a good 10 minutes leeway. Check the times - don't they actually say something like "gates open at 8:40 - school starts at 8:50". That means that 8:40 is the time to aim to be there. You can be up to 10 minutes late after 8:40 and not have to sign the late book.

This happens at the DC's school. The warning bell sounds at 7.50 and people are expected to be in class and ready to start work by 8.00. The cutoff for the front door is 8.00 and the door is shut at 8.00 and anyone coming in after that time has to sign in at the school office as late.

They have to set a time and keep to it or they'll be people straggling into class for the first 15 minutes which will be distracting for the teacher and the pupils.

Does the school go into the building before 8:50 it's the only way I could see how you could have been late. Our bell goes at 9am and the pupils don't line up they do have more than one door though so the children go in a specific door for their part of the building and it probably only takes literally a minute or two for them all to get in but at 9:01 nobody would be late they'd just be near the last in but the rest of their class would still be heading to the cloak room to change their shoes and leave their coats.

And imagine if all the teachers who stand at the gates continued to do so after whistle had gone and the kids piled into class.

Imagine how much teaching over the year would be wasted with the teacher stuck at the gates providing leeway to people who presumably know what time school starts and by now know how long it takes to get there.

"What would be the leeway cut off point then? 8.51? 8.52? What about the person who turned up at 8.53 and said, "but it's only a minute after the minute or two leeway!""

Now you will see the wonder of mathematics.

Let us propose a leeway system where the allowed leeway time halves after each missed leeway point.

So, after 8:50, leeway until 8:51 say. 1 minute leeway.

After 8:51, 30 seconds leeway, takes us to 8:51:30

After 8:51:30, 15 seconds leeway, takes us to 8:51:45

and so on (I'm starting with one minute because sums are easier!).

So, the question is folks, with such an infinite number of leeways, what is the time after which the leeways no longer apply and you are finally, officially late?

Helps with parents, you can truthfully say that the school has an infinite number of leeway points...........That you have just missed all of them...............so are late as well as feeling pretty shit for having missed an infinite number of things!

Or perhaps why they don't let the maths teacher rationalize the timetable and make everything more efficient...........................

You were technically late but a bit silly making you go to the office, at DC's school as long as you show up before 9:00 then you go into the class as the register hasn't been done yet.